Utilities Sector

Some Sanity Coming To Houston's Heavy Trash Pickup?

Solid waste, in terms of heavy trash pickup, is one of those essential but annoying city services you'd just as well like to take for granted. It's essential because, obviously, you want your crap taken away when the city says it will take your crap away. It's annoying because often that job can s ... More >>

Anyone See Halliburton's Missing Radioactive Rod Lying Around?

Hair Balls has lost car keys, wallets, cats, and once even a rare Monet, but we'd like to think that we'd never lose a "potentially lethal" radioactive rod. But that's exactly what some Halliburton truck drivers did in the desert around Odessa last week, according to news reports. The "seven-inch l ... More >>

Declassified KBR Contract Shows How It Gets a Free Pass for Willful Misconduct

These dudes know how to write a sweet contract.​A KBR government contract protected the company from liability for injuries or deaths caused by willful misconduct, according to recently declassified Army documents. Although the existence of the clause was revealed as a part of a lawsuit file ... More >>

CenterPoint Energy Nightmare: Cypress Woman Nailed With Sky-High Bill Due to "Meter Tampering"

​In August, Carsie Launey opened her monthly electric bill. A number approaching four figures was before the decimal point. "CenterPoint Energy had billed me $923.39, claiming the electricity meter installed at my property was tampered with," says Launey. "I never tampered with that meter. I ... More >>

Too Much Pavement

Houston's strip malls increase heat, pollution.

Fetuses In A Public Landfill: Not The Way It's Supposed To Happen

Just no​We all know that the souls of aborted babies go to live with Jesus, but what of their earthly remains? Well, in Texas, they legally can't be disposed of in landfills -- which is exactly where the remains from two abortion clinics have been going, according to Texas Commission on Enviro ... More >>

Feds Sue Kinder Morgan for $1 Million in Unpaid Overtime

The Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Houston's Kinder Morgan that seeks more than $1 million in what it says is unpaid overtime owed to "4,500 current and former operators, technicians, maintenance workers, laborers and administrative nonexempt employees." Kinder Morgan provides serv ... More >>

Fred Durst & Austin's Solid Waste: A Match Made in Heaven

Fred Durst's recycle face​Austin is looking to rename its Solid Waste Department, because come on -- that's a name far too untrendy and icky for a forward-thinking burg like Austin. The city has opened up the name change to a vote, and residents have come through as only they can in that city ... More >>

Electric Cars In Houston: There Will Be A Charging Station At Spec's!!

Photo courtesy eVgoeVgo: Jes' juicin' up mah ride​Houston will be home to the nation's first electric vehicle charging ecosystem. Just what is an electric vehicle charging ecosystem? It's a network of charging stations for electric vehicles strategically setup across the Houston area. These c ... More >>

Texas' Environmental Agency & The Feds: This Week May Be Crucial

This week's decision will be watched closely​All eyes are on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality this week as its three commissioners will decide whether to grant an air permit to a proposed $3 billion petroleum coke-fired power plant in Corpus Christi.The Las Brisas Energy Center has be ... More >>

The T. Boone Pickens Road Show

A former wildcatter and corporate-takeover tycoon preaches alternative energy across America.

The Most Unimpressive Hacker Ever

Those wily IT guys.A computer tech who was a contract worker for the energy giant Calpine is going to federal prison for a year and a day because he hacked into an employee's computer and used it for nefarious purposes.Actually, not all that nefarious -- he used the financial information contained o ... More >>

A Safe, Free Way To Get Rid Of That Electronic Junk

There's a lot of very bad stuff in old computers, and we're not just talking about your dad's porn still lurking somewhere on the hard drive. The screens, the plastic, the guts all contain some bad crap. Not to mention that much of the hardware, once it's freed from that junk, can be recycled a ... More >>

Paola Mayorga's Latin Grammy Journal

[Ed. Note: Paola Mayorga is a 21-year-old Missouri City woman who won a contest sponsored by Reliant Energy for a trip to the Latin Grammys, including backstage and green carpet access and accomodations at the Four Seasons. Rocks Off asked her to write up her experience.] Paola Mayorga and her mot ... More >>

More Boots On The Ground In Galveston

Hey Houston! You're "Extremely Pleased"!

Hey Ike, Thanks for All the Debris

That Crap On Your Sidewalk Will Likely Remain There For A Long Time

It's Boom Time For Trash Collectors

Garbage Pick-up Not Going Smoothly In The `Burbs

Garbage, Debris and How We Are Trashed

Power To The People -- Eventually

It Could Be Worse -- You Could Be An Entergy Customer

The City's New Recycling Effort: Is It Any Good?

Houston Turns Back to Tap Water

That stuff flowing from the faucet is safe, cheap and environmental

Wind Power to the Rescue

Discovery Green Don’t Come Cheap

It's Getting Hot in Heere

Bishop Is Back

The former kingmaker is back, sort of

Bring It On

Why Houston should want a nuclear power plant

Bite the Bone!

A Mighty Wind

A mountain of garbage in northeast Houston is looking to get bigger. Neighbors cry foul.

Bash-Free Zone

Is the Texas Book Festival protecting George W.?

All Aboard

Since 9/11, tanker sailors are having a tough time making it to dry land in Houston

Blunt About High Fashion

Roll up more than your sleeves with this clothing line

Menacing Mayor?

A water district director wants police to protect him from Kemah's King

King Kinder

Rich Kinder has made a cool billion dollars since leaving Enron. Now he’s ready to take over the world, or at least the nearest pipeline.

Diva of the Deal

How Enron's high temptress turned massive projects into a $2 billion wet dream for the company -- and an estimated $100 million profit for herself

Preaching to the Choir

Plus: Feudal Follies, Life in the Slow Lane, Facts and Fantasy

Unstable Ground

Businessman Michael Shelton thought he had beaten the system. Then he learned the legislature can be as unpredictable as the salt domes where he wants to store toxic waste.

Red Light, Green Light

With billboards of windmills promising gentle, nonpolluting energy, Green Mountain offers Texans a new power avenue. Will they take it? Should they?

Lard Have Mercy?

Spring Branch worries that a secret grease treatment won't pass the smell test

Lost in The Woodlands

A former slave colony finds it isn't even worth basic water and sewage systems

Trash Talk

Condo groups want the mayor to pay up on a campaign promise

Trench Warfare

There's a hole carved out of the earth 32 feet deep, 210 feet wide, and 400 feet long near the Texas-Mexico border.

Waste Not, Want Not

Local residents unite to fight the mountain of landfill trash headed their way

The Insider

The Insider

Got Mad, Got Even

Two former HL&P workers took revenge against the Light Company, but say the city settled for "chump change"

Trashing Houston

To a world worried about waste, Houston may offer an answer -- or at least a place for the garbage to go