Gas-Industry Funded Report Says Fracking Made You $1,200 Richer

Is the gas industry mature enough to have a serious discussion with the American public about hydraulic fracturing, one that explores the benefits of domestic natural gas drilling but also carefully considers methane leaks, groundwater contamination, earthquakes and other potential risks that peer-reviewed research has linked to fracking activity? Fracking…

Dallas Doctors Ask Texas to Clean Up Luminant’s Coal Plants, Citing Asthma, Heart Attacks, and “Premature Death”

Luminant, the Dallas-based energy generator, has long been a ripe target for environmentalists, who complain that its aging, coal-fueled power plants — in particular North/Northeast Texas’ Big Brown, Martin Lake, and Monticello — are fouling the air with extraordinary amounts of toxic pollutants and greenhouse gases. Under the Obama Administration,…

Congress Wants to Know Why the EPA Keeps Backing Off its Own Fracking Research

The Environmental Protection Agency has a tendency to walk away from its own research suggesting that fracking pollutes drinking water. A Congressional hearing scheduled for today will look into why that is. The hearing, called “Lessons Learned: EPA’s Investigations of Hydraulic Fracturing,” will be held jointly by the House Science,…

NASA Satellites Reveal East Texas Is Running Out of Groundwater

Some 285 miles above the Earth’s surface, a pair of NASA satellites can measure changes in groundwater levels at river-basin scale. And what they’re telling us about Texas and much of the South is disturbing. The satellites are identifying hot spots that blanket East Texas and much of the Panhandle,…

A Dallas Banker’s Million-Dollar Quest to Solve a Math Problem

Andrew Beal isn’t your typical banker. For starters, he’s a lot richer. He’s No. 43 on Forbes’ list of the country’s richest people, worth an estimated $8.5 billion. And he’s always been less interested in conspicuous displays of wealth than in things like rockets, poker strategy and mathematical theory. His…