Articles by Erin Douglas, The Texas Tribune

EPA Finalizes Regulation Requiring Oil and Gas Operators in Texas to Reduce Methane Emissions

The Environmental Protection Agency on Saturday finalized a long-anticipated climate regulation that will require oil and gas operators to dramatically reduce how much methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is escaping from equipment in many oil fields across Texas. The rule …

Climate Change, Natural Disasters Sent Texas Homeowners Insurance Rates Skyrocketing in 2023

Insurance companies across Texas have dramatically increased home insurance rates this year, state filings show, as climate change spooks executives and inflation pushes up costs to rebuild after natural disasters. Texas is prone to hurricanes and flooding, both of which …

Summer Heat May Have Cost Texas Economy $24 Billion: Dallas Fed

Each degree of warming in Texas slows the state’s economy, an analysis by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found. Extreme heat this year may have cost the Texas economy $24 billion, or reduced the state’s nominal gross …

Texas Lawmakers Allocated $2 Billion to Increase Water Supply, Reduce Flooding

During this year’s legislative session, Texas lawmakers allocated part of the state’s historic $32.7 billion surplus toward better protecting the state against droughts and floods — an investment that followed one of the hottest summers on record and the worst …

Dairy Farm Fire Kills 18,000 Cows in Texas Panhandle

LUBBOCK — More than 18,000 cows died and one farm worker is in critical condition following a dairy farm fire in the Texas Panhandle. The fire started Monday night at South Fork Dairy Farm in Dimmitt, about 66 miles south …

Earthquakes in Texas Doubled in 2021. Scientists Cite Years of Oil Companies Injecting Sludgy Water Underground.

MIDLAND — One local said it sounded like a pickup truck had rammed into the side of their house. Another said it sounded like the air conditioner fell off the roof. A third compared the experience to getting off of …

Texas Rule to Require Power Companies to Better Prepare for Winter

Texas utility regulators on Oct. 21 approved a rule requiring power companies to better prepare for winter weather — based on recommendations that were made, but never acted upon, a decade ago by experts and federal regulators after a 2011 …

Texas Regulators OK Rule Requiring Power Companies to Better Prepare for Winter

Texas utility regulators on Oct. 21 approved a rule requiring power companies to better prepare for winter weather — based on recommendations that were made, but never acted upon, a decade ago by experts and federal regulators after a 2011 …

Texas House Panel Advances Bill Requiring Power Plants to Prep for Extreme Weather

Several bills responding to Texas’ February power outages including one mandating that power plants prepare facilities for extreme weather and another reforming the Electric Reliability Council of Texas board — were advanced by the Texas House State Affairs Committee on …

Texas Oil, Gas Interests Left to ‘Self-Regulate’ in Aftermath of Winter Storm

After being battered by withering criticism of its management of the power grid during February’s winter storm, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) saw several of its board members resign and fired its CEO. The chair of the Public …