NEWS & INFORMATION
Ever Heard Of Severance Tax? It's How Texas Makes Money Off Oil And Gas Drilling.
The tax rate hasn't changed since the 1950s, but some say it's time for an update.
In the Permian Basin, An Increase In Traffic Accidents Is Taking A Toll On EMTs
“These aren’t fender benders, these are violent violent crashes. I mean it looks like you’ve stomped on a tin can.”
Oil Companies Inject $100 Million to Bolster Crumbling Permian Basin Infrastructure
An influx of people as a result of the booming energy industry in the area has strained roads, and services like health care and education.
The Eyes of Texas Are on Falling Oil Prices, and Struggling Energy Sector Stocks
The continuing downward trend may affect local economies from Houston to the West Texas oil fields.
As Oil and Gas Exports Surge, West Texas Becomes the World’s “Extraction Colony”
An unprecedented drilling boom in the Permian Basin is great for business. But it’s polluting the air, overwhelming communities and threatening the planet.
Protecting the Dark West Texas Skies
McDonald Observatory has partnered with oil and gas organizations to protect the dark West Texas skies. This video details the issue of light pollution caused by oil and gas activities in the Permian Basin and their potential to effect the observatory's ability to study the cosmos.
The video also outlines solutions that are documented in an agreement for Recommended Lighting Practices for oilfield activity that has been published by the partnership of McDonald, the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and the Texas Oil and Gas Association. This project was made possible by a grant from Apache Corporation.
A Tourist Town Reckons With An Energy Boom
For generations, Texans have visited the desert oasis of San Solomon Springs for recreation, refreshment and rejuvenation. And for almost as long, the springs have powered the economy of the tiny town that sits next to them; Balmorhea. But now, an expanding industry is bringing big change to Balmorhea.
New Demand, Same Old Story: West Texans And Their Water
In arid West Texas, where rain is infrequent and rivers and lakes are few, groundwater – water from sources beneath the surface of the earth – is key to survival. And as the oil and gas industry in the Permian Basin demands more of this resource from the surrounding area, researchers are scrambling to study the systems of webbed aquifers that feed households, farms, ranches and industry in the region.
But for residents there’s a familiar tension over who gets to decide the fate of their water.
Untapped: The New West Texas
The Permian Basin in West Texas leads the nation in oil and gas production. Midland and Odessa have long been the heart of this industrialized desert. But oil and gas development is expanding outward. In the past year, drilling operations have moved south and west into a region long written off as undevelopable.
When Staying in the Dark is the Brightest Idea
PBPA gets behind an idea that is out of this world: the Dark Skies Initiative. Acting before drilling operations pose a serious problem in Reeves County and Jeff Davis County (and the Fort Davis area), oil companies get on board a plan to keep the skies dark above the McDonald Observatory.