This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and supported by the Pulitzer Center. Texas will lose out on $3.2 billion in sales tax revenue over the next two years thanks to an exemption for the state’s booming data center industry, according to the comptroller’s office. That figure is likely...
Oil companies accused of massive accounting fraud in New Mexico
Oil companies ExxonMobil, Empire Petroleum, and their subsidiaries engaged in accounting fraud that could cost the state nearly $200 million, a lawsuit filed in New Mexico District Court alleges. If successful, plaintiffs say the case could change how old oil and gas assets are sold, leading to fewer orphan wells in the future....
The skylines of the future will be made of wood
Picture yourself in a wind-swept forest. Leaves are rustling and trunks are creaking as trees sway to and fro. This oscillation might seem precarious, but it’s actually an ancient adaptation: If pines and firs and all the others were perfectly stiff, a gust would snap them. So instead, they flex. ...
How the Trump administration’s climate math doesn’t add up
When President Donald Trump talks about climate change, he often recycles one well-known, shaky argument: that doing anything about it will be a financial disaster. After pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, he said it was costing the U.S. “trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying.” He’s...
There’s hope for the offshore wind industry — yes, really
After taking a beating for the first year of the Trump administration, the beleaguered wind energy industry may finally see a glimmer of hope. Trump and Interior Department chief Doug Burgum have spent months in an all-out assault against the technology, and in particular against offshore wind projects in federal...
What to expect when you’re expecting the end of the world
Jem Bendell had postponed his personal crisis long enough. For years, he’d been setting aside the worrying news about climate change he came across in a folder on his computer, waiting until he had the time (and emotional capacity) to look at it. In 2017, he took leave from his...
Georgia’s forestry industry is in crisis. One solution could be in your medicine cabinet.
Georgia is one of the leading states for forestry, ranking first in annual harvest volume and the export of forest products. The state’s forests that are managed for a commercial product offset about a third of Georgia’s greenhouse gas emissions. But a recent rash of paper mill closures coming on...
In Nebraska, wildfires are turning cattle ranching into a tricky business
For 21 years, Mike Wintz and his wife, Kayla, have worked to maintain their nearly 11,000-acre ranch near Bingham, Nebraska. The couple took over the cow-calf operations from Kayla’s parents, who had been in the business for over 25 years. In less than six hours, nearly all of that land...
How EVs could solve a problem with America’s rickety grid
There’s a technology sitting idle in garages and driveways across America that provides a solution to its own potential problem. As more and more electric vehicles tap the grid, their giant batteries add to the system’s load. Timing is also a challenge: When people get home from work and plug...
Why this NASA climate scientist wants you to stay angry
Last month, climate scientist and author Kate Marvel resigned from her position at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, where she had spent more than a decade studying a warming world. In her resignation letter, she cited the Trump administration’s attacks on the field. “I anticipated that our work would...