Kiah Collier

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

COVID-19 has spread rapidly in Texas, and many congregations closed their doors and moved religious services online. But there are some religious groups who say it’s their right to remain open because they believe they provide an essential service to their communities.

A dramatic drop in oil prices over the weekend could harm Texas’ oil and gas industry and economy, but experts say it all depends on how long they remain low — and how the COVID-19 epidemic plays out.

The grandson of the late President George H.W. Bush failed to make the runoff in a crowded GOP race to represent Texas’ 22nd District. Experts say the reasons are more complicated than the decline of the Bush family’s political influence.

The Texas Oil and Gas Association reported that companies paid a record level of taxes and state royalties last year amid a historic oil boom. But association President Todd Staples said that continued growth is not guaranteed.

After recommending Wednesday night that residents leave the area, Jefferson County officials have told residents it’s safe to return home.

An analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project found that 30 states have cut funding to environmental agencies over the past decade. In Texas, lawmakers slashed spending by more than a third between 2008 and 2018.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt approved the settlement agreement between a scrappy environmental coalition and plastics giant Formosa. The settlement is the largest in U.S. history resulting from a citizen environmental suit.

A subsidiary of Tulsa-based Williams Cos. is suing Texas’ oil and gas regulatory agency after it approved a request from Dallas-based Exco Operating Co. to burn off natural gas from wells in South Texas while they were hooked up to Williams’ pipeline system.

The Southeast Texas chemical manufacturing plant, owned by Houston-based Texas Petroleum Chemical Group, has been fined multiple times by state and federal regulators for air pollution violations.

Alcoa has put its shuttered Sandow Mine site on the market for $250 million, advertising it as a country paradise. Testing has found that groundwater under a landfill in the middle of the property is contaminated with toxic heavy metals.

After centuries of fighting back water in a low-lying nation, the Dutch have become the world leaders in flood control. And their expertise is helping Texas design what would become the nation’s most ambitious — and expensive — coastal barrier.

At a public hearing on Monday, state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst — who has long tried to strengthen protections for landowners facing condemnation — challenged officials from fossil fuel groups who said her latest legislation would drag down energy production.

An analysis of government satellite data by the Environmental Defense Fund shows that the amount of natural gas that energy companies burned off in 2017 is twice as high as what they reported to state regulators.

An unprecedented drilling boom in the Permian Basin is great for business. But it’s polluting the air, overwhelming communities and threatening the planet.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian told House lawmakers on Wednesday that the biggest threat to a burgeoning oil boom is “the acceptance of the politically-correct-driven environmental anti-oil and gas science.”

A study by a Texas environmental group and a California think tank found that about half of Texas’ major industrial facilities released illegal levels of pollution into rivers, lakes and other waterways over the past two years.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has dropped a lawsuit against the city of Brownsville over a 2010 ordinance that imposed a $1 per-transaction fee on plastic bags offered at grocery stores and other retailers.