Contaminated groundwater has spread beneath this Long Island town, spreading PFAS and 1,4 dioxane beneath properties near a large landfill. See my latest:

journalism is eternally humbling because you think you know what to expect and then... you're totally wrong

someone should study how much better my mental health is the day after it rains.

About half of all Oklahomans live within a mile of an oil and gas site. A new documentary from The Frontier and ProPublica exposes the failure of state regulators to protect residents from a massive underground pollution crisis.

The Montrose Center in Houston is hosting a vigil for Persia Amarra Conway tomorrow night. Persia was found dead in Southwest Houston on Memorial Day and her family identified her over the weekend.

puro pinche spurs 🤠

it's very confusing when i'm reporting on new mexico and state-level officials will actually talk to me! my texas reporter brain is so used to being ignored.

At long last, Texas Democrats have their statewide slate. From me: www.texasobserver.org/texas-democr...

Last night was the hardest moment in my two weeks as a Spurs fan.

If you're in the climate and environment space, it's time to learn about Bo French. He just won the Republican primary for the Railroad Commission, which regulates the Texas oil and gas industry. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/2705202...

twf when you get a good bunch of public records back and there are too many potential stories 😭

My water use last month was less than 1 CCF, so I get a discounted rate. What strikes me is that sewer and city trash removal cost more than double what I pay for water!

The recording of the "Trillion Gallon Time Bomb" @propublica.org panel is now available on YouTube. Thanks to my co-panelists Nick Bowlin, Justin Nobel and moderator Mark Olalde for making the event such a success. Follow @insideclimatenews.org for more reporting! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsrl...

A public records story: County: "That will be $163. Or you could come to our office to see the records for free." Me: "If the records are available to be viewed, why would it cost so much to digitize them?" County: "That was an oversight. You cannot come see the records."

Thanks to everyone who joined for our virtual discussion of the oil industry's wastewater crisis! Excellent dive into the issues with our reporter Justin Nobel and those from @propublica.org @insideclimatenews.org @readfrontier.bsky.social.

Important reporting by @jlbuch.bsky.social on right-of-entry requests being used by the Trump administration to rush wall construction on Texans' private land: www.texasobserver.org/trump-new-to...

I'll be on this panel next Tuesday about the oilfield waste crisis facing Texas and other states. Don't miss it!

There's another surface leak in the Permian Basin. This time it's under the First Baptist Church in Grandfalls. The Railroad Commission is on-site and investigating the source. insideclimatenews.org/news/2304202...

I keep missing my Texas master naturalist class for work but this week I am bringing them Gussie's tamales so I think we are... even.

I am also very happy to share I will continue in the environment and climate world! I will be joining the amazing team at @insideclimatenews.org covering Southern California. My new email is [email protected] and at the top of my account! Tips/intro emails are welcome.

It is once again a beautiful day to file some FOIAs.

Elephant Butte Reservoir could go as low as 2% capacity this summer. I reported from Santa Fe on the Rio Grande Compact Commission meeting as Colorado, New Mexico and Texas contend with less water after a dismal winter and warm spring. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/2004202...

Next Tuesday I'll be presenting with a powerhouse panel of reporters about the oil industry's wastewater problem. You can register here: 👇 events.propublica.org/wastewater-c...

The wells on Jackie Chesnutt's ranch barely produce any oil. She's tired of spills on her land. She just wants the wells plugged. But the company says no can do. Texas has tens of thousands of wells like this with no end in sight. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/1904202...

A West Texas river guide and church preservation group, along with a national advocacy group, are suing the Trump administration for bypassing federal environmental laws to speed up border wall plans in the Big Bend region.

I got really excited when I filled up on $3.66 gas in Las Cruces today. Asi las cosas.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian is peddling a new crypto token tied to the value of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest given his position as an official to the state agency that oversees Texas' oil and gas industry.

Perhaps the greatest skill I learned from six years working in Mexico was how to write a polite but firm email to a bureaucrat.

Texas' only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years: www.texasobserver.org/immigration-...

Jim Wright ran for the Railroad Commission of Texas six years ago as a reformer. But his reforms drew the ire of powerful oil tycoons who are now trying to unseat him. @insideclimatenews.org (1) insideclimatenews.org/news/1304202...

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

El Paso County is filing a lawsuit against the federal government over the failure to respond to a request for information about the planned immigration detention center in Socorro, Texas. My story:

Even ICE oversight inspectors are finding violations at Camp East Montana in El Paso, according to a report published yesterday. Inspectors found 49 violations during a visit in February. My story for the El Paso Times:

I obtained documents from Texas Parks & Wildlife that show how Border Patrol is seeking access to parcels in three state parks (Big Bend Ranch, Seminole Canyon and Bentsen-RGV) for border wall construction. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/0204202...

"I said to her, 'You don’t need to be in a war zone to do good journalism,' and she told me, 'I think my work is worth something when I am in those areas.'"

A planned 1.3-mile wall across Monte Cristo Rey has drawn opposition from environmentalists and the local Roman Catholic Diocese, which owns most of the mountain.

great opportunity to attend the IRE conference this year for border and immigration reporters! www.ire.org/training/fel...

"El Paso Electric said it chose the Enchanted Rock configuration because that’s what Meta preferred" I'm very glad Diego Mendoza-Moyers is back on the data center beat here in El Paso!! elpasomatters.org/2026/03/29/m...

It's Semana Santa in the Borderland, which means the annual Good Friday walk up Mt Cristo Rey. But this year the mountain looks different: federal contractors are blasting it for the border wall. I reported for @insideclimatenews.org w/ Puente News Collaborative insideclimatenews.org/news/3003202...

If TX continues to install A/C at its current pace, it would take ~70 years for all inmates to have climate control, Judge Robert Pitman wrote in an order throwing out TDCJ's motion for summary judgment last week. 90,000 inmates don’t. Plaintiffs are asking cells be kept b/w 65-85 degrees #txlege

Attorneys for Texas prisoners say the conditions expose inmates and staff to dangerously high temperatures and have caused several deaths.

El Paso had the highest fine particulate matter levels in the USA last year, thanks to all of our dust storms. I'm quoted in this article in Inside Climate News. Thanks @psskow.bsky.social insideclimatenews.org/news/2403202...

I dread every summer, but especially this one!

Caroline Tracey’s “Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History,” explores the rise and decline of saline lakes—and how “queer ecology” might help us navigate and belong within fragile, ever-changing environments.

With my colleague @keertigopal.bsky.social, I wrote about a new report on global air pollution--that shows how climate change is making it worse. insideclimatenews.org/news/2403202...

Mexican man detained after taking an Irish man, his British wife and their infant across the Niagara River in a raft www.cbp.gov/newsroom/loc...

I wrote about a camp, 27 girls who drowned due to astonishing failures to plan, and hundreds of families going back anyway. nymag.com/intelligence...

No one knows what happens when you line a dynamic river with hundreds of miles of industrial buoys. But that’s exactly what the federal government has planned for the Rio Grande.

The U.S. is quietly deporting thousands of migrants to Mexico who have no connection to the country. Many are homeless and quasi-stateless: undocumented in Mexico but unable to return home. “They’re sending them here to die,” a shelter official told me. www.latimes.com/world-nation...

The federal government plans to install 536 miles of massive, cylindrical buoys in the Rio Grande to prevent unauthorized crossings. The buoys could cost upwards of $3 billion, at a moment when crossings are at record lows. (photo by Michael Gonzalez)