In 1891, the Railroad Commission of Texas was created by the Texas Legislature to protect Texans from the flourishing railroad industry’s abuse of power and discriminatory rates through regulation. The Commission was Texas’ first regulatory agency and initially maintained jurisdiction over the rates and management of railroads, terminals, wharves...
Energy Density Trumps Climate Policy
Fossil fuels are winning in consumer-driven, taxpayer-friendly energy markets, clouding political attempts to control greenhouse gas emissions associated with natural gas, coal and oil. Despite governmental policies to shift grid electricity to wind and solar, and to jump-start electric vehicle markets, it is still a...
The theme for this issue is the outlook for the oil-and-gas industry in 2021. That is an impossible task, even under the best of circumstances. But when you add a little pandemic and a lot of political uncertainty, given the express animosity towards the new industry from the new...
What exactly does “green energy” mean? Is it the amount of emissions involved? If so, are we talking about emissions connected with energy generation, energy distribution or energy equipment manufacturing?Or, is it about the amount of land consumed and the degree of disturbance? If so, are we including the...
Affordable broadband continues to bubble up as an issue, too long unresolved, for underserved rural areas in Texas and other states. Because sparsely populated regions are not attractive for private-sector carriers, limited or expensive service constitutes the only option. Though satellite broadband internet is certainly available anywhere in the...
Now that the unexpected has occurred, and Donald Trump is President-elect of the United States, a lot of pundits and analysts will be trying to forecast future policy directions. The Trump presidency is unique in many ways, not the least of which is his frequently cited credential as a...
The perennial policy tug of war between energy development and its effects on the environment has many components, and the position of any given politician, interest group or individual citizen is usually heavily influenced by the particular component that is considered to be paramount. But that doesn’t mean that...
Construction has been completed on the building where breakthrough supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) technology for clean, compact, and high-efficiency power generation will be demonstrated. The transformational technology dramatically improves environmental performance, economics, and operational flexibility, and it is much more compact than conventional steam power cycle technology.
Located on Southwest...
There is a time for planning and a time for action. As the 85th Texas Legislative Session wound down this past month, it took action and passed Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 26 out of both the House and the Senate in a bipartisan effort to highlight Texans’ concerns about...
With all elections, we must recognize there are a multitude of factors that determine the results. Despite the consistent success delivered by the Trump administration in energy and environmental policy, Joe Biden has secured the necessary votes in the Electoral College to officially seal President Trump’s fate as a...
