A natural gas distribution system emits a flare during maintenance.

Texas says it’s strict on oilfield well emissions. The data shows otherwise.

Despite industry claims Texas is success story in controlling emissions, state regulators rubber stamp nearly every request to burn or vent gas into the atmosphere.

By Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News, and Mark Olalde, ProPublica September 3, 2025September 3, 2025

News

Trump moves to roll back protections for 4,000 acres of National Forest in Texas from logging, oil activity

The administration plans to roll back the Roadless Rule which protects 58.5 million acres of wild areas in National Forests.

by Sanford Nowlin August 28, 2025September 1, 2025

News

Environmental laws waived to build Trump’s border wall in Texas wildlife refuge

The Rio Grande Valley is home to ocelots and other endangered species. Now, the federal government will not have to follow the Endangered Species Act and more than two dozen other federal laws to build the border wall through a national wildlife refuge.

by Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News August 27, 2025August 30, 2025

News

Texas’ oldest wildlife refuge was set to expand. Then the Trump administration changed course.

Established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge was set to grow up to 700,000 acres to protect wildlife in West Texas and the Panhandle.

by Jayme Lozano Carver, The Texas Tribune August 13, 2025August 28, 2025

News

Feds move to eliminate petrochemical watchdog, putting Texans and others at risk

Amid increasingly intense weather, the Chemical Safety Board is the lone independent agency watching over the Gulf Coast’s petrochemical corridor.

by Elena Bruess, Capital & Main July 29, 2025August 1, 2025

News

Texas buys land for new state parks that will be developed using $1 billion voter-approved fund

The fund opens a new era of public land acquisition and park development for Texas, which ranks 35th nationally in state park acreage per capita.

by Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune, with graphics by Edison Wu July 28, 2025August 28, 2025

News

The San Antonio flood of 1921 held lessons we refuse to learn

There is nothing unknown about what triggered the brutal Hill Country flood of 2025 and so many others dating back to the nineteenth century.

by Char Miller, The Texas Observer July 22, 2025August 10, 2025

News

Study: San Antonio ranks among nation’s worst cities for air pollution

Breathing San Antonio air last year was the equivalent of smoking 144 cigarettes, according to the analysis.

by Michael Karlis July 22, 2025August 21, 2025

News

There’s so much poop contaminating Texas Coast, swimming could make you sick, new report finds

More than 90% of Texas beaches were potentially unsafe for swimming at least one day last year due to fecal contamination.

by Sanford Nowlin July 8, 2025July 23, 2025

News

Microplastics from Texas bays are washed out to sea, new study says

The first study of microplastics in Texas coastal sediment was funded through a local environmental activist’s landmark legal victory over plastic pollution, one of many such research projects.

by Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News May 17, 2025May 24, 2025

News

Saturday election will decide whether Elon Musk gets his own Texas city

Most of the eligible voters already work for SpaceX, making Starbase’s incorporation likely to pass.

by Stephanie Koithan May 2, 2025May 9, 2025

News

In booming Central Texas, wastewater is polluting rivers and streams

A bill in the Legislature would protect the last 21 pristine watersheds in Texas. But for years, previous attempts have been defeated by powerful homebuilders.

by Dylan Baddour, The Texas Tribune April 28, 2025June 17, 2025

News

Bill would stop Texas oil drillers from secretly burying toxic waste on private property

House Bill 4572 would introduce new requirements for pits where drillers bury oil and gas waste.

by Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News April 19, 2025May 18, 2025

News

Trump’s EPA plans to stop collecting greenhouse gas emissions data From most polluters

Climate experts expressed shock and dismay at the move. ‘It would be a bit like unplugging the equipment that monitors the vital signs of a patient that is critically ill,’ one said.

by Sharon Lerner, ProPublica April 12, 2025July 15, 2025

News

Jaguar Watch: What ‘finishing the wall’ means for borderland cats

Last week, the Trump Administration approved the first contract of its second term for new border barriers. Wildlife biologists and Indigenous rights organizers fear what comes next.

by Wendee Nicole, Deceleration March 29, 2025June 24, 2025

News

State regulators approve Elon Musk’s SpaceX to release wastewater into South Texas wetlands

Environmentalists say the permit violates federal law, and one engineer accused the TCEQ of ‘baffling shortcuts.’

by Sanford Nowlin February 18, 2025July 27, 2025

News

Project 2025 adviser takes the reins at EPA region including Texas

Scott Mason IV, a former deputy energy secretary for Oklahoma and member of the Cherokee nation, is the new administrator for the region that covers Texas and four neighboring states.

by Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News February 11, 2025May 23, 2025

News

Texas regulators finalize oilfield waste rule

The new rule modernizes some aspects of commercial oilfield waste disposal and recycling. But rules for burying oilfield waste on private property remain limited.

by Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News January 26, 2025January 29, 2025