Texas
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Critical List: Climate change could reduce plants’ power output; Texas power prices could triple
Power plants depend on river and lake water to keep their operations cool. Climate change is going to make that water warmer and keep plants from making as much power. Power prices in Texas may triple. Utility commissioners worry that without higher prices, the state will consume too much energy and face summer blackouts. Activists […]
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Solar eclipse this weekend!
The Western U.S. is getting an annular eclipse this weekend, which is an eclipse where the moon’s shadow turns the sun into a “ring of fire.” A swath of the country from Oregon down to Texas will see the whole enchilada, and most other Westerners will get to see at least a partial eclipse. Those […]
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Critical List: Peru’s mysterious animal deaths; wolf puppies
Pelicans and dolphins are dying in droves in Peru — 1,200 birds and 800 dolphins have washed up dead on the coast — and the government is warning people away from the beaches until it figures out why. Dinosaurs might have passed enough gas (i.e. methane) to match current levels of greenhouse-gas emissions. The Crawford […]
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Houstonians want walkable neighborhoods
Car-centric Houston tends to be one of our go-to examples for everything that can go wrong with a city, ever. But we may not be able to use the city as a whipping boy much longer. According to a new survey, Houstonians are seeing the light on walkable and transit-accessible neighborhoods. More than half of […]
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Texas got a CRAZY amount of hail
I know this looks like a firefighter standing in a crack in some rocks, but no, my friend: those are four-foot hail drifts in Amarillo, Texas. The reason they look so dirty is that this is basically the only precipitation the drought-stricken state has been getting lately — Texas was covered in mostly dust, so […]
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Critical List: The return of the loan-guarantee program; Texas least prepared for climate change
The Energy Department is reviving its loan program. (AAAH! SOLYNDRA! AAAAAAAH!…say Republicans. We’re pretty sure this will all work out fine.) Environmental groups want final rules governing coal ash and are suing the EPA to get them. Texas: not very prepared for climate change. California: doing better than everyone else, at least. In China, drought […]
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George Bush’s hometown is running out of water, thanks to climate change
The president whose State Department thanked Exxon executives for their "active involvement" in helping to determine climate change policy is watching the town in which he grew up squirm in the grip of Texas' epic, climate change-enhanced drought.
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Critical List: Obama to expedite portion of Keystone XL; World Water Day
It’s World Water Day: How much do you use? (The average American household uses 350 gallons. I KNOW.) Obama is set to expedite the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. The Supreme Court decided that the couple who wants to fight the EPA over whether their property counts as a wetland can go ahead […]
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Critical List: Chevron execs face ‘environmental crime’ charges; even small doses of BPA are dangerous
Everything about Frozen Planet is awesome, except Alec Baldwin’s narration. Chevron execs in Brazil must surrender their passports and face criminal charges for “environmental crimes” connected to oil spills off the country’s coast. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals like bisphenol A and the pesticide atrazine can have significant health effects even for people exposed to only small doses, […]