News & Commentary

No fossil fuels, no problem? Texas investments in wind and solar pay off, generating record-breaking renewable power to meet all-time high electricity demand during nearly 10-day heat dome—despite fossil fuel plant failures.

It wasn’t easy, but the U.S. power grid defied record-breaking heatwaves and doomsday warnings to survive the summer without major service interruptions.

In a month that has seen Texas sizzle under record-breaking heat, solar, and wind power have been key to helping keeping the lights on—and air conditioners humming.

Blaming any one power source is a mistake. We can’t make any one source of power foolproof, but we can make a grid that’s nimble, resilient, and reliable.

Among the animals at greatest risk from the impacts of seismic testing is the Gulf of Mexico whale—one of the most endangered marine mammals on the planet.

Electric grids across the Midwest, South, and in Texas failed a key resilience test during last month’s winter storm, and one key conclusion is clear: The grids connected via transmission lines fared significantly better than those isolated and on their…

The deadly winter storms and power outages in Texas last month are just the latest example of why the United States needs a National Disaster Safety Board.

Although both California and Texas recently faced traumatic weather events, the consequences for electric system reliability were dramatically different. 

Texas was just a glimpse of what’s to come. With increasing wildfires, drought, flooding, and sea-level rise, we must make sure our water systems can continue to operate during such events.

The extreme cold snap and the disaster it brought to the state is a reminder of the importance of good governance in a modern society—and the danger we court when we pursue policies untethered to the public interest.

States must update emergency response plans to avert the next water crisis.

Freezing cold temperatures put the Texas electric grid into distress this week, with likely dozens of deaths and other human suffering, more than 4 million losing power, and more than 40% of the state’s gas, coal, and nuclear fleet offline…

The Chihuahuan Desert is the largest desert in North America and home to the most biodiverse grasslands in the world, including 500 species of birds.

90 percent of the grassland bird species that breed on the Great Plains in the United States and Canada winter in the grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert, which encompasses the northwestern region of Mexico, spreading into the states of Arizona…