oilandgas

Texas made few power reforms despite warnings. 'An incredibly dangerous situation'

FORT WORTH, Texas — Over a couple frigid days in February, as demand for power soared, generators across Texas tripped up and failed to operate in wintry conditions. Long outages ensued across the state, and millions of Texans were left without power. Even more wondered how something like this could happen here. "You would have never thought you would see the day in the energy capital of the world," said one oil company CEO. Plenty of sentences like those have been written in the last 48 hours, but everything described above is actually from 2011. Yes, Texas has been here before. Although temp...

GM's bet on carbon neutrality rides green wave in Washington

WASHINGTON — General Motors Co.'s plan to become carbon-neutral by 2040 and drop gas and diesel engines in all new light-duty vehicles by 2035 reflects a newly Democratic-controlled capital pivoting to an aggressive climate agenda. The automaker's leadership was emboldened by changes in Washington, where President Joe Biden is touting a similar pledge — net-zero emissions nationwide by 2050 — as he promised significant help to businesses and consumers to advance the technology needed to get there. Achieving the automaker's goal will span several administrations, Dane Parker, GM's sustainabilit...

Austin is winning recruits among the tech elite, but that's not Seattle's biggest danger

Civil War Gen. Philip Sheridan famously said, "If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell." The situation has obviously changed. Not only is Dallas a major corporate center and Houston, the nation's fourth most populous city, the capital of the oil industry, but Austin is a rising tech star. Austin's ascendency was emphasized recently when software powerhouse Oracle said it would move its headquarters there from Silicon Valley. In truth, the reality is more nuanced and the threat to Silicon Valley minimal. The same can be said for Seattle. After losing Boeing's headquar...