environment

While a new state law partly limits data center groundwater use, in reality, data centers avoid water permits entirely by buying water from utilities. Residents are demanding answers in communities like Luther and Yukon.

Lake Meredith, near Amarillo, was recently designated as "fully infested" with invasive zebra mussels. The mussels have been spreading across Texas for more than 15 years and Lake Meredith is the north-most body of water in the state to be infected. TPWD says the mussels have the potential to damage treatment equipment in what is a municipal water source for the region, but water officials with the lake say they're prepared.

Oklahoma has reached a new settlement with all six remaining poultry companies in a decades-long pollution lawsuit. The new plan could replace a federal judge's order and earlier settlements.

The December 2022 rupture was one of the largest inland oil spills in recent history, and the $40 million will go toward work on the pipeline to prevent future similar spills, a news release from the U.S. Justice Department said.

Nearly half of the power plants planned to supply electricity for data centers would be in Texas. Experts warn they will emit significant pollution that could harm the health of communities nearby.

Some Kansans are spooked by data centers as the likelihood of the state hosting more big tech facilities is rising. They’re worried about potential harmful impacts to the environment and just being heard during preliminary public meetings. One positive to all the hullabaloo? Heightened civic engagement early in local proceedings.

Kansas State University experts also warned in a recent memo of disease emerging in wheat fields in nine Kansas counties.

The United States has lost about 90% of its food animal veterinarians since the 1940s, according to a 2023 Johns Hopkins study.

The three-day conference in Dallas took a look at one of the state's most pressing energy issues.

Growers worry the bill, backed by the governor, will add bureaucracy and cut yields and profits. Advocacy groups say neonicotinoids are being used as an insurance policy.