Martha Pskowski | Inside Climate News

The agency that regulates the state’s oil and gas industry voted to adopt the new policy before sharing it with the public. It added more “listening sessions” when the public can speak to agency staff.

As oil and gas companies run out of places to dispose of their wastewater, Texas regulators are drafting permits to treat and reuse it outside the oilfields.

Utilities serving thousands of Texans exceed legal limits for radium.

Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright led the agency’s efforts to reform oilfield waste rules. Oil billionaires are now backing Bo French to unseat him.

While environmentalists say the new rule doesn’t do enough to protect groundwater, oil and gas operators are contesting stricter requirements for waste pits near wells.

Deaths from heat are notoriously difficult to quantify because of how complex and subjective the process is. It leaves officials with an incomplete picture of who heat kills.

An exclusive Inside Climate News analysis found that companies have spilled nearly 150 million gallons of toxic, highly saline wastewater in Texas over the last decade.

In 2020, rebellious Mexican farmers occupied a dam in parched Chihuahua state to prevent the federal government from sending its reservoir water to Texas under a 1944 treaty. With the clock ticking toward another treaty deadline, the two sides are struggling for a solution.