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Houston

‘Heat Batteries’ Leave Some City Blocks Scorched

Even measures designed to help, like air conditioning, can create vicious cycles that lead to hotter temps. 

By Lauren Dalban

A man on the street wipes his face with orange fabric and another pedestrian holds an umbrella to block out the sun.
An aerial view shows multiple barges on the water.

The Loosely Regulated Petrochemical Barge Industry Is Commandeering a Texas River

By Salina Arredondo, Public Health Watch

White whooping cranes in Aransas County, Texas, in January 2025. Credit: Pu Ying Huang / Texas Tribune

The World’s Last Flock of Wild Whooping Cranes Gets More Living Space

By Dylan Baddour

In 2021, Dr. Robert Bullard, from right, talks with Fifth Ward residents Water Mallett, Doris Brown, then-EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner during Regan's tour of Houston to highlight environmental justice concerns. Credit: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Petrochemical Expansion in Texas Will Fall Heavily on Communities of Color, Study Finds 

By Dylan Baddour

Jackie Medcalf is looking at the camera with a serious expression, arms crossed. Behind her is the river.

A Community Burdened by Chemical Waste Is Demanding Cancer Data. Texas Health Officials Won’t Give It to Them.

By David Leffler

Sandra Edwards, who lives in Houston’s Fifth Ward, is still trying to recover from Hurricane Beryl, which badly damaged her home last July. “The government doesn’t care about us,” she says. Credit: Mark Felix/Public Health Watch

Texas Is Unprepared for Compound Climate Disasters

By Jana Cholakovska, Public Health Watch

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has recorded high benzene emissions for nearly 20 years outside K-Solv, a barge-cleaning and chemical distribution facility in the southeastern corner of Channelview, Texas. Credit: Jeffersonn Castellanos/Univision45

Levels of Cancer-Causing Benzene Reached New Heights in Beleaguered Channelview. Regulators Never Told Residents

By Savanna Strott, Public Health Watch

A view of the ExxonMobil Baytown refinery in Baytown, Texas. Credit: Mark Felix for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Federal Appeals Court Upholds $14.25 Million Fine Against Exxon for Pollution in Texas

By Kayla Guo, The Texas Tribune

Letitia Plummer, at-large Houston City Council member, speaks during an election forum in Houston on Sept. 21, 2023. Credit: Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

In Houston, a City Council Member Questions ‘Advanced’ Recycling of Plastic and a City Collaboration with ExxonMobil

By James Bruggers

Cindy D. Taff, Chief Executive Officer of Sage Geosystems, explains how they use a well to store energy on March 22, 2023 in Starr County Santa Elena, Texas. The startup is testing storing energy in the ground. Credit: Gabriel Cárdenas/The Texas Tribune

How a Technology Similar to Fracking Can Store Renewable Energy Underground Without Lithium Batteries

By Dylan Baddour

Wright Waste Management in July. Credit: CBS News

Houston’s Plastic Waste, Waiting More Than a Year for ‘Advanced’ Recycling, Piles up at a Business Failed Three Times by Fire Marshal

By James Bruggers

An aerial view of the ExxonMobil Baytown Complex in Houston. Credit: Mark Felix/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Three Facilities Contribute Half of Houston’s Chemical Air Pollution

By Dylan Baddour

CenterPoint foreign assistance crews work to restore power lines on Thursday in Houston after Hurricane Beryl knocked out power for millions of people in the city. Credit: Danielle Villasana/Getty Images

Hurricane Beryl Was a Warning Shot for Houston

By Dylan Baddour

A Waste Management dumpster is seen at the company's facility on Feb. 12 in Austin, Texas. In 2021, Waste Management sought to expand the Hawthorne Park Landfill in Houston. Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

After Fighting a Landfill Expansion, Houston Residents Await EPA Consideration of Stricter Methane Regulations

By Keaton Peters

The GAF roofing shingles factory in West Dallas on Dec. 13. The factory reclassified itself as minor and averted public participation requirements in 2022. Credit: Shelby Tauber/Inside Climate News

‘Major’ Problem in Texas: How Big Polluters Evade Federal Law and Get Away With It

By Dylan Baddour, Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News; and Alejandra Martinez, Texas Tribune

The ExxonMobil Baytown Complex in Baytown, Texas, at dusk. Credit: James Bruggers/Inside Climate News

The Missing Equations at ExxonMobil’s Advanced Recycling Operation

By James Bruggers

Jan Dell, founder of The Last Beach Cleanup and a chemical engineer, examines the contents of a large container of bagged plastics at a Houston Recycling Collaboration all-plastics recycling depository in the Houston community of Kingwood in September. Credit: James Bruggers/Inside Climate News

Dumped, Not Recycled? Electronic Tracking Raises Questions About Houston’s Drive to Repurpose a Full Range of Plastics

By James Bruggers

Oil refineries near the Houston Ship Channel. Credit: Loren Elliott/AFP via Getty Images.

Texas Quietly Moves to Formalize Acceptable Cancer Risk From Industrial Air Pollution. Public Health Officials Say it’s not Strict Enough.

By Dylan Baddour

In a file photo, a sign reads "Heat Alert" and warns drivers and pedestrians about excessive heat in Chicago. Credit: Tim Boyle/Getty Images.

New York, LA, Chicago and Houston, the Nation’s Four Largest Cities, Are Among Those Hardest Hit by Heat Islands

By Aydali Campa

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