Review: UT Study Declaring Fracking Groundwater-Safe Failed To Disclose Conflict of Interest, Should Be Withdrawn

An independent review of the University of Texas study that famously declared fracking could not be tied to groundwater contamination has recommended that the school retract it. The well-publicized report released earlier this year by the Energy Institute, “Fact-based Regulation for Environmental Protection in Shale Gas Development,” purported to bring…

The Sad, Absurd Chronicle of Incompetence at the Alamo

It’s something of a head-scratcher why the Texas Legislature decided in 1905 to entrust the Daughters of the Republic of Texas with the care and preservation of the Alamo, site of one of the fiercest — and most pivotal — battles of the Texas war for independence. The DRT is…

Anonymous Dallas Businessman Says Bigfoot Threw Enormous Rock At Him

A Dallas businessman, who for some unfathomable reason is choosing to stay anonymous, told an East Texas TV station that he has several photos of “a bigfoot,” taken in Shelby County and just outside Dallas. (The video above comes from KLTV.com-Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville, Texas | ETX News.) The man told…

What Texas Drillers and Regulators Learned From the Barnett Shale

The development of North Texas’ Barnett Shale did not go as smoothly as gas companies had hoped. The flaming water in Parker County, elevated levels of benzene in DISH, elevated rates of breast cancer in Flower Mound, and any number of other reports contributed to the perception among the general…

A Moron’s Guide to the Fracking of Dallas

In this week’s print edition, staff writer Anna Merlan provides a handy guide to natural-gas drilling debate in Dallas. Read on for a primer, a glossary of terms, a look at the opponents and supporters and a special fracking board game! Important civic issues have a way of sneaking up…

Take That, Time: West Nile Might Not Be Completely Our Fault

Earlier this week, Time magazine opined that West Nile disease, which has now killed 12 people in Dallas County and sickened almost 300 more, is a “self-inflicted wound.” Bryan Walsh wrote that an extremely mild winter and scorching summer created a great breeding ground for mosquitoes. Climate change also isn’t…