Abandoned “dry hole” oil wells are polluting Texas farms, ranches and groundwater. The state won’t fix them.

Schuyler Wight is a fourth-generation rancher who has raised longhorn cattle outside Midland for decades. Wight is no geologist, but over the years, he’s had to familiarize himself with what lies underground. Scattered across his sprawling 20,000-acre ranch are more...
Rancher sues ConocoPhillips to protect endangered cat’s habitat

Rancher sues ConocoPhillips to protect endangered cat’s habitat

A Texas rancher has sued a national oil and gas company that he accuses of harming the habitat of an endangered species of wildcat on his property in DeWitt County. Mike Hamilton, co-owner of his family’s ranch near Cuero, filed a lawsuit in late January against...
Wild rice sues to stop oil pipeline

Wild rice sues to stop oil pipeline

In 2018, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the 1855 Treaty Authority, an organization that upholds treaty rights for Chippewa bands, enacted legal personhood for manoomin — wild rice. Manoomin, which translates to “good berry” in Ojibwe, is a sacred food for...
“We can’t have land back without water back”

“We can’t have land back without water back”

Growing up in Sandia Pueblo, on the banks of the Río Grande in New Mexico, Julia Bernal heard tales about the world of her ancestors. Elders told her that the area was home to diverse flora and fauna, the likes of which she had never seen. The river used to overflow...
Texas could give landowners more say in eminent domain negotiations under bill sent to Greg Abbott’s desk

Texas could give landowners more say in eminent domain negotiations under bill sent to Greg Abbott’s desk

The Texas Legislature approved a bill early Thursday that will revise eminent domain negotiations between landowners and companies — such as railroads, pipeline and utility companies — that are seeking to condemn land, requiring that landowners be given the terms of...
A pipeline poisons the wells in Hill Country

A pipeline poisons the wells in Hill Country

From the moment Kinder Morgan and its business partners announced that their 430-mile Permian Highway Pipeline would cross the Texas Hill Country, landowners, environmentalists, elected officials and groundwater protection agencies along or near the route have fought...