"Regulators in Texas did not stop processing permits for data center projects when Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a pause last month, according to an analysis of public records released Monday by the oil and gas watchdog group FracTracker."
As a veteran of reporting on the marine environment, David Helvarg is encouraged by recent improvements in the quality of ocean journalism, but sees a pressing need for more hands on deck. Offering inspiration from his own career, he notes that the world’s rapidly changing oceans hold an abundance of stories and urges others to dive in and explore them.
"Three new data centers near the Texas-New Mexico border, including two in El Paso, could significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions in the region."
"The Public Utility Commission of Texas is asking a Travis County judge to block the release of information showing where data centers and virtual currency mines operate, saying those details could aid terrorists."
"Norma Lopez Cadena tries to keep her granddaughters indoors — out of sight from the 65-foot flare burning excess gas from more than a dozen oil wells."
"Armed Border Patrol agents raided a protest camp in Lochiel, in southeast Arizona, making way for contractors to cut down the last standing cottonwood tree Monday morning for a double border wall, after protesters protected it for more than 70 days."
The Interior Department keeps an extensive database of thousands of permits it issues to use federal lands for grazing livestock. And as the latest Reporter’s Toolbox notes, that data can readily be used as an investigative tool to look for one thing the government would rather the public not see — a penchant for permit partiality.
"A federal judge on Friday barred the Trump administration from building a US-Mexico border barrier through Big Bend National Park in Texas while courts consider an environmental lawsuit challenging the project."
"The Trump administration plans to resume border security construction at Big Bend National Park in coming weeks, according to a notice submitted in federal court Tuesday."
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday it would “reconsider” air-quality regulations amid Texas’s diesel price “disaster.”
