Energy Technology

As Texas's Drought Continues, Opportunities at Conservation Finally Find Discussion

The rain came last week. Finally. It came in droves, surging over the curbs, washing away the oil and grime and refuse into a filthy chemical blend. It came for hours. It was needed, in a state suffering a drought that has covered nearly every city and town and farm Texas knows. And then it let up, ... More >>

Puerto Rican Violence Affects Houston as Population Continues to Swell

Don Teo has lived in Houston since 1959. He still maintains a slight Puerto Rican accent, but his life -- now in retirement, five years after selling the Tex-Chick restaurant he founded 33 years ago -- is here in Texas. But even Teo, much like the employees still working at Tex-Chick, cannot escape ... More >>

Dallas Beer Scene: Revolver Brewing Gets Serious in Granbury

It's been a big year for craft beer in Texas. One of the biggest stories, however, is news that hasn't quite made its way down to Houston. Dallas is currently experiencing a boom in breweries as big as, if not bigger than, the expansion Houston and Austin have seen in past years. Dallas/Fort Worth a ... More >>

Michelle Warner, 31, Buried By Ex-Boyfriend In Oilfield, Bayou Body Count No. 170

A man who has admitted burying his ex-girlfriend in an Odessa oilfield after killing her here has been charged with murder, Houston police say. Mark Augustin Castellano, 37, faces charges in the September 22 murder of Michelle Warner, 31, who was last seen in the 7200 Bellerieve on that day. Fami ... More >>

Your Environmental Road Trip

Exxon's New Giant Oil Find Could Meet World Needs For....A Couple of Months

Fighting with the feds over who gets that sweet, sweet oil​The energy world is marveling today at news that ExxonMobil's recent discovery in the Gulf of Mexico could contain up to a billion barrels of oil. "The only thing that surprised the energy industry more than Exxon Mobil Corp.'s mammot ... More >>

EPA Hits Texas, Other States With Tougher Air Pollution Regulations: Cue Outrage From Rick Perry, Greg Abbott

Feds up the ante in battle against TCEQ, Perry​The Environmental Protection Agency announced stricter rules on air pollution, rules that will especially affect Texas, whose politicians have been fighting tenaciously to avoid federal regulation of the state's many pollution producers. The EPA ... More >>

For Earth Day: Solar Help From Hurricane Devastation

UHGBCThey may not look like much, but you'll be thankful​As we honor Mother Earth on this her day, let us remember that she can be a bit cruel at times. Like knocking out power via a hurricane. It tends to happen in Houston every once in a while, and the University of Houston and the city hav ... More >>

Japanese Nuke Disaster Might Stop Texas Expansion

STNP, with a rainbow​Financial analysts are predicting that the series of nuclear accidents resulting from the Japanese earthquake will put an end to plans to expand the South Texas Nuclear Plant in Bay City, 90 miles southwest of town. The energy company NRG had ambitious plans to double STN ... More >>

Drilling Ban Lifted: Five (Possible) New Federal Mandates

The Obama administration has lifted the ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, but it is also enforcing steps to make sure a disaster such as the Deepwater Horizon leak never, ever happens again.Don't worry, we have a plan​The feds have outlined a bunch of tough new regulations and g ... More >>

The Green Scene in Fredericksburg

Photo by jonlThe Texas Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association at the 2008 Roundup.​Attention, Houston-area organic chefs, farmers and food producers: Fredericksburg wants you! The annual Renewable Energy Roundup and Green Living Fair, which takes place this year from September 24 to 26, is l ... More >>

TCEQ, State's Clean-Air "Watchdog," About To Be Sued Over A Local Plant

Austin's power supplier a major polluter, groups say​As the Houston Press has written about, and as the Obama administration has determined, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is a pretty lax watchdog.Now they're going to get sued over it.A coalition of clean-air groups has served forma ... More >>

Lone Star Landowner's Challenge Features Houston Contestant

​Last year's Landowner's Challenge -- a yearly contest sponsored by Lone Star Beer to judge who the truest Texan is among a group of finalists -- bestowed its winner with nearly two acres of land in Independence, Texas. This year's Landowner's Challenge will be held tomorrow night at Griff's ... More >>

Beyond the Motor City

Getting Detroit residents out of their cars and onto a bus or train won't be an easy job

Rep. Pete Olson, Standing Up Against Those Pesky Pollution Rules

Texas can police its own air, thankyouverymuch.​Republican U.S. Congressman Pete Olson may not officially be the poster boy for the oil and gas industry, but one could argue that he's really bucking for the job. Last week, Olson of Sugar Land announced that he and a few other politicians on Capit ... More >>

Nude Protest Over Oil: PR Spin Worse Than BP, Dammit

Who doesn't love a nude protest?​We don't know much about public relations, but if we sent out a press release titled, "Naked Protesters Bare All Against Dirty Oil," we'd at least deliver the naked protesters. But maybe that's not why we're in public relations, because this afternoon, inside the t ... More >>

Windpower Woodstock: George W. Bush, Limitless Swag & A Burgeoning Success Story

Windmills in Texas -- as romantic-looking as in Holland​We used to love when oxymoronic news broke because a former editor would always exclaim, "Dogs are sleeping with cats! Film at 11!" Canines definitely hooked up with felines at Windpower 2010 this week in Dallas, where former President George ... More >>

Rick Perry Blames God For Gulf Oil Spill

The alleged culprit, giving the order to blow Deepwater Horizon​A lot of people are quick to blame BP, or the people who put together the oil rig that is currently spewing black gold into the Gulf of Mexico, but Rick Perry -- the only governor we have at the moment -- knows better.Speaking at a Wa ... More >>

London Calling...With Love

​The Financial Times, a London-based paper that covers finances and times, has just given Houston a big, wet, sloppy soul kiss.Reporter Sheila McNulty wrote the article, headlined "Houston: Where Energy Is King."Let's just bask in the love....-- "With billions of dollars in investments being poure ... More >>

Houston 2020: The Future Is Unwritten

But hey, that's not stopping Noise.

Houston To Become Another Detroit, Expert Says

​If the Ike cat story was the feel-good item of the morning, here's your Debbie Downer special. Houston, and it's energy industry, is doomed, and we just might become a new Detroit, one expert says."So could Houston be replaced by Japanese consumer electronics firms? Yes, easily," says Dana Blanke ... More >>

The Ice at Discovery Green

Warm weather won't keep Houstonians from ice skating outdoors

ACL 2009: The Green Scene

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttYes, those are chickens. At ACL.​The freshly-planted grass isn't the only thing that's green in Zilker Park this year. Since we're in super hippie fun land Austin, after all, it only makes sense that there's a huge emphasis on the environment at the festival. From a dis ... More >>

Oil Industry Leaving Houston? It Could Happen, Some Analysts Say

Photo courtesy GHCVB​A Houston without an oil industry? Why, that's like Dallas without assholes.But it could happen, according to speakers at a panel here today. (The Houston part, not the Dallas part.)The RMI Oilfield Breakfast Forum featured dire warnings that Obama's tax policies might e ... More >>

Stimulus Funds Helping Houston Firm Give Out Free Home Fixes

Photo courtesy Sheltering ArmsPeople are sometimes suspicious when one of Scott Pool's inspectors calls. The offer -- to weatherize one's house for free -- sounds too good to be true. "We have to convince them that, really and truly, nobody's going to charge them," says Pool, the weatherization ... More >>

Texas Leads The "Filthy 15"!! Ummm, Yay?

Photo courtesy NIOSHIn case you were worrying that the air in Texas was getting too clean and all, you can rest assured it's not.Now it's coal ash that has the greenies up in arms.The National Resources Defense Council has released a list of states that are proposing to build enough new coal plants ... More >>

Pleasure Cruiser

Why is Paul Villinski's "Emergency Response Studio" parked outside Rice Gallery?

Star Trek for the Ages

From West U to deep space

John McCain in Houston

Bayousphere

Robert Redford introduces Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars

An actor/activist discusses the dangers of coal and the importance of unity

Kyoto Protocol: Chill Out

Skeptical environmentalist Bjørn Lomborg questions the Kyoto Protocol's effectiveness

Kyoto Protocol: You're Getting Warmer

The Kyoto Accord began the race to halt global warming. On its tenth anniversary, why are we barely past the starting gate?

It’s Not Like It’s Rocket Science

Woodwind Lakes subdivision built on oil and gas field turns on neighbor who pointed out the contamination

Hot Buttered Rum

Hot Buttered Rum performs Sunday, February 25, at the Last Concert Café, 1403 Nance Street, 713-226-8563.

Rescue in a Box

Par for the Course

Forget the money crunch, let's play golf

Shark Bites

JAWS Unleashed is as sloppy as it is gory

Best Architect

Best Talk Radio

Home Improvement Hotline

Letters

Scaling Green Mountain, Where Credit's Due, Horse-Whipped

Brothers of the Road

'The I-69 "NAFTA Highway" is supposed to create thousands of jobs. Thanks to your tax dollars, it's already provided a very good one for the underemployed brother of Tom DeLay.

Larry in Limbo

Is little guy Larry Duncan being made to suffer for the big guys' sins?