Energy Technology

Canary in a Coal Mine

Of Nelsons Willie and Don

Say, That Hits the Green Spot

Getting dumped

Despite shoddy science, bad economics, and catastrophic health risks, a West Texas border community may become the nation's nuclear dumping ground

The T. Boone Pickens Alternative Energy Show Rolls Across America

Despite shoddy science, bad economics, and catastrophic health risks, a West Texas border community may become the nation's nuclear dumping ground

Easier Being Green

Despite tough times, energy conservation bills gain traction in Legislature

Clearing the Air

Former County Judge Margaret Keliher keeps trying to blow away the smoke over pollution plans

Corndoggle

Dallas Is Banking On Ethanol, But Is It The Fuel Of The Future Or A Barrel Of Pork?

Is the City of Dallas Really Going Green, Or Just Talking Till It's Blue in the Face?

The city of Dallas has made much of its efforts to "build a greener city" ... which means what, exactly? That, more or less, was the question posed earlier this week during a confab at the downtown Dallas library during a program billed as a dialogue on the "green economy," a catchphrase that's beco ... More >>

Dallas Oil and Gas Man Discovers That Coffee and Federal Prison Are For Closers

​Speaking of missives sent from the U.S. Attorney's Office ...A press release just landed in the in-box concerning the tale of one Tommy Eugene Barber, a 32-year-old Dallas man who today pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to two counts of securities fraud. And what did Barber ... More >>

Mayor Tom Leppert Welcomes Windpower Expo to Dallas, A "Quiet" Green Energy Leader

Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>

Got Something to Say About Coal Ash Pollution? The EPA Wants to Hear From You Today.

Lower Colorado River AuthorityA new Sierra Club report says coal ash from Central Texas' Fayette Power Plant is polluting the groundwater nearby.​One month since the EPA's stolid road warriors blew threw Arlington to get your thoughts on pollution from gas drilling, the agency's making its triumph ... More >>

Liveblogging as the City Plan Commission Hears from the People on Gas Drilling and Food Trucks

This guy didn't make it to City Hall this afternoon, but plenty more folks have something to say about new gas drilling sites in Dallas.​We're down in the big room at City Hall, where the City Plan Commission's taken over the big boy chairs and taped their nametags over the City Council's placards ... More >>

Liveblogging's A Gas at City Hall, As Plan Commission Denies XTO's Drill Site Application

Flickr user Schlüsselbein2007Mountain Creek Lake in far western Oak Cliff, which could be the site of Dallas's first gas drilling operation.​[Update at 6:45: To spare you the trouble of reading all the way through, here's the news. With a 7-6 vote, the commission denied XTO Energy's application f ... More >>

At Friday's Screening of Gasland, Rallying the Troops to Keep Gas Drilling Out of Dallas

Photos by Patrick MichelsAfter the movie, director Josh Fox, center, stuck around for a Q&A joined by the Sierra Club's Peter Wilson, Dallas drilling activist Raymond Crawford, DISH mayor Calvin Tillman and drilling activist Sharon Wilson.​Gas drilling opponents from around North Texas rallied ... More >>

Oscar-Nominated Gasland Director Josh Fox On Gas Drilling in the Barnett Shale and the Backlash from Industry

Patrick MichelsGasland director Josh Fox answers questions at an October screening at the Magnolia, alongside DISH mayor Calvin Tillman and gas drilling activist Sharon Wilson.Almost as soon as Gasland nabbed one of this year's Academy Award nominations for best documentary, industry groups rushed o ... More >>

Maybe City Council Should Have Asked Some Questions Before Taking Drillers' Money.

Patrick MichelsGasland director Josh Fox answers questions at an October screening at the Magnolia, alongside DISH mayor Calvin Tillman and gas drilling activist Sharon Wilson.Almost as soon as Gasland nabbed one of this year's Academy Award nominations for best documentary, industry groups rushed o ... More >>

Raymond Crawford, Actual Citizen, Fought the City on Fracking -- and Won

When Dallas' drilling rules get tougher, you'll have a professional needlepointer to thank.

Kunkle and Rawlings Say That As Mayor, They'd Push for Gas Drilling Moratorium

Photos by Patrick MichelsDistrict 3 City Council candidates Dave Neumann and Scott Griggs joined all four mayoral candidates in a forum with Mountain Creek neighbors last night at Harmony School of Nature and Athletics.At a campaign forum in far western Oak Cliff's Mountain Creek neighborhood last n ... More >>

Want to Be on Dallas's Gas Drilling Task Force?

​After council member Angela Hunt pushed the city council to form the gas drilling task force Dave Neumann only talked about, it's time to assemble the dream team: Moments ago, Dallas City Hall sent word that it's taking applications from those interested in serving on the task force. For those wh ... More >>

Fracking Chemical Disclosure Bill Blasts Through Texas House, Enviros Unimpressed

From the rapidly spreading "Fracking Song" from ProPublica and Studio 20 NYU.​In these final days of the 82nd Texas Legislature, lawmakers in Austin are throwing support behind Eastlake Rep. Jim Keffer's bill that'd require drillers to report the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing at each of t ... More >>

UT Researcher Leading Fracking Study: "We're Gonna Look at Every Claim We Can Find."

UT-Austin geology professor Chip Groat​A week ago today, as you may recall, the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute announced they'd be joining the growing ranks of universities with major studies of hydraulic fracturing, with a $300,000, nine-month project of their own. Today, thank ... More >>

UT-Arlington Researchers Plan Study On Gas Drilling Operations' Affect on Water Quality

​Last month, we mentioned a far-reaching University of Texas at Austin study of complaints about gas drilling operations that's just now getting underway. Meant to connect the dots between air, soil and water quality complaints from the Barnett to the Marcellus Shale, the nine-month project from t ... More >>

Five Months After City Extended XTO's Gas Drilling Lease, Trinity East to Get Same Deal

From the city council's February 2008 briefing on gas drilling within city limits​First, a programming note: Plans are to liveblog, yet again, today's 2 p.m. meeting of the council's Ad Hoc Gas Drilling Task Force Nominating Committee, if only because last week's was such a humdinger as the counci ... More >>

Gas Drilling Committee Trims List of Task Force Applicants to Nine Slated For Council Vote

Photo by Leslie MinoraLinda Koop, seated next to outgoing council member Dave Neumann, chaired yesterday's meeting.​After postponing last Thursday's meeting so council members could ride in the Dallas Mavericks' parade through downtown, the city council's Ad Hoc Gas Drilling Task Force Nominating ... More >>

Fire In the Well: Weatherford Couple Sues Range Over Nearby Gas Drilling

​Maybe you've seen the ads: On Wednesday we're co-sponsoring a special screening of Gasland at the Texas Theatre, which isn't the only movie we're screening next week. More about that later. But Josh Fox's Oscar-nominated film, as you probably know, features that now-infamous scene of a Colorado m ... More >>

EPA to Study Whether Hydraulic Fracturing Taints Drinking Water in North Texas

Photo by Patrick MichelsAt the EPA's public hearing in Arlington in August of last year​All at once the in-box filled up with releases from the Environmental Protection Agency, both the national HQ and the regional offices. Long story short: After a series of public hearings held last year, includ ... More >>

A Few Council Members Take in Gasland, But Not Before Mayor Mike Makes a Promise to City

Photos by Leslie MinoraAngela Hunt was asked whether it's likely Dallas will be sued by gas drillers awaiting their SUPs.​Mayor Mike Rawlings took the mic before last night's Observer co-sponsored Gasland screening and told the audience of council members, activists and concerned locals, "I wi ... More >>

City's Gas Drilling Task Force Makes Its Official Bow With Vow to Protect Citizens of Dallas

Photos by Leslie MinoraLois Finkelman and task force member David Sterling at today's introductory meeting​Today's first meeting of the city's gas drilling task force meeting played out like the pilot episode of a new TV series: It laid out the basic plot line without giving away too much. Which i ... More >>

Finkelman Vows to Keep an Eye on Council Members Drilling In On Task Force Meetings

​I've heard from a few folks furious that council member Sheffie Kadane, a vocal proponent of gas drilling within the city limits, sat with the gas drilling task force yesterday during its inaugural meeting. As Marc McCord, an anti-drilling activist, put it in the comments below: "He showed up, to ... More >>

At Arlington City Hall, Locals Hammer TCEQ Panel for Stricter Gas Drilling Regulations

Photos by Leslie MinoraA panel of TCEQ reps maintained their poker faces for about two hours as citizens took the mic, almost all demanding tighter fracking regulations.​Shortly after the release of that Fort Worth air study, three reps from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality took a ... More >>

Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force's Field Trip Was Practical, Educational and Quite Hot

Photos by Taryn WalkerThe crowd at yesterday's Arlington trip sizes up an actively drilling Chesapeake site.Tuesday, Dallas gas drilling task force members -- and city council members Angela Hunt, Linda Koop and, but of course, Sheffie Kadane -- poured out of two white 15-passenger vans and into the ... More >>

City's Gas Drilling Task Force Received a Public Education at Last Night's Hearing

Photos by Leslie MinoraJeffrey Jacoby, the Program Director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, gave the task force a passionate three minutes, emphasizing their responsibility to protect Dallas citizens.​In the end, council members Delia Jasso, Dwaine Caraway and Scott Griggs skipped M ... More >>

Gas Drilling Task Force Absorbs More Info as It Inches Closer to Making Reg Recommendations

Photo by Leslie MinoraReal estate expert, Dan Wright, talks to the task force about drilling's effect (or lack thereof) on property values.​Yesterday afternoon, the city's gas drilling task force heard presentations (slideshows here) from three experts who explained the impact of drilling on n ... More >>

Sucking Up Water and Sand in the Quest for Natural Gas

For folks in the sandy hills northwest of Dallas, it's a devil's bargain for gas, water and jobs.

After Talking Water Supply, Cause of Quakes, Drilling Task Force Gets Down to Business

Photo by Leslie MinoraPhilip Dellinger, Regional Ground Water/Underground Injection Control Chief for the EPA, presents a fracking overview.​Water, water, everywhere -- more than ample supply to frack, according to Jody Puckett, the director of Dallas Water Utilities, who spoke at yesterday's ... More >>

Citizens Form Unofficial Drilling Task Force, Present Recommendations to City Council

Via.​The Dallas gas drilling task force sees many of the same faces at each meeting: a small and dedicated group of Dallas residents who show up every Tuesday afternoon and, as it turns out, have formed an unofficial task force with the same goal as the city's official entity -- making drillin ... More >>

What the Frack: Task Force Isn't Done, But City Moves Closer to Issuing First Drilling Permit

Click to enlarge this map from the city's April gas drilling ordinance presentation​XTO and Trinity East, two of the companies that have paid the city big money and signed leases to drill for gas within the city limits, have agreed to wait 30 months while the city rewrites its gas drilling ord ... More >>

After Months of Debate, Southlake Keeps 1,000-Foot Setbacks From Gas Wells to Homes

​The Southlake City Council Hall, once packed from floor to gallery with residents for whom gas drilling in town was either a looming menace or a windfall, had only a smattering of attendees a little after 11 last night. Many had already wearied of the debate, which had raged since February an ... More >>

While Faraway Lenders Grapple with Fracking, a Word From Local Appraiser in the Trenches

Photo by Taryn Walker​A rig in ArlingtonThe New York Times ran an interesting story Thursday on the growing reluctance of banks to grant mortgages to owners of properties that have been leased for gas drilling in the northeast. Landowners often aren't giving banks a heads up before signing on ... More >>

There's Another Gas Drilling Public Hearing Tomorrow. So Where Is City Heading, Anyway?

Photo by Taryn WalkerDrill, maybe, drill.​As chair of the city's gas drilling task force, Lois Finkelman has a pretty tough job, directing task force meetings, guiding discussions, fielding calls and emails from concerned citizens. (Did we mentioned she doesn't get paid? Strictly voluntary.). ... More >>

"Frack is Whack" and Other Highlights From Gas Drilling Task Force's Public Hearing

Photos by Leslie MinoraAnti-drilling activists show their support for one of the public speakers.​At last night's Gas Drilling Task Force public hearing at Dallas City, citizens' outcries ranged from polite thank-yous to pleas for tighter restrictions all the way to full-on verbal assaults tha ... More >>

Local Anti-Gas Drilling Activist Catches Execs Pushing PSYOP to Deal With "Insurgency"

​Last week, during an oil-and-gas drilling confab at the Hyatt Regency in Houston, execs turned their attention to a very touchy subject: how to get folks decidedly against gas drilling on their side. At which point, according to audio first obtained by CNBC earlier this week, gas-drilling spo ... More >>

Fear and Fracking in Southlake

In one of America's wealthiest suburbs, an unlikely band of drilling opponents helped drive away the world's biggest energy companies. Did they save the town or ruin it?

Gas Drilling Task Force Mulls Over Possibility of Injection Wells For Frack Water Disposal

Via.​Injection wells, like most aspects of gas drilling, elicit conflicting opinions, contradictory data and the frequent, familiar demand: "Not in my backyard!". While the wells used for the disposal of produced fracking water are not currently allowed within Dallas city limits, the issue pro ... More >>

EPA Report Ties Fracking To Groundwater Contamination in Wyoming. But What Does That Mean For Texas?

Photo by Taryn Walker A gas well in Arlington​For folks in Dallas, where the council-appointed gas drilling task force is running to stand still, or in Southlake, the subject of a recent cover story on towns grappling with urban drilling, this EPA report released today tying fracking to ground ... More >>

Shippin' Shale, or: What's That You Say About Our Energy Independence?

​The days of lease-bearing landmen making it rain on the Barnett Shale are over. The industry became so proficient at fracturing the rock thousands of feet beneath the surface and extracting the gas trapped within that they glutted the market. Gas prices took a swan dive and have stagnated eve ... More >>

Shippin' Shale: Energy Independence Means Exporting It So We Can Import It. Got That?

​Yeah, it doesn't make sense to us either. A couple of weeks ago we asked if America could stop pretending that politicians and their benefactors in the energy industry actually give two shits about "energy independence" or "energy security," or any of the other portent-laden, focus-grouped ca ... More >>

Rockwall's Rep. Ralph Hall Blasts EPA and Science at Fracking Hearing

Congressman Ralph Hall, the Republican from Rockwall​Allow us to re-introduce you to the octogenarian congressman who's currently perched atop the catbird seat in the oversight hearings every fracker in America is watching with bated breath. His name is Ralph Hall. He's the chairman of the Hou ... More >>

Keeping the Lights On In Texas is Really Starting to Scare State Lawmakers

​We watch a three-hour House State Affairs Committee hearing so you don't have to! Seriously, though, the future reliability of the Texas electrical grid is really starting to freak state legislators the fuck out. The watchword these days is "resource adequacy" -- bureaucrat-ese for "Remember ... More >>