For media inquiries, contact Brett Holmes at brett@respectbigbend.org.
This seminar is second in a series is designed to engage a broad constituency of Big Bend community members to better inform them on recent energy projections, potential impacts on communities and conservation values, and to develop creative strategies to conserve the unique resources and...
Free and open to the public, this seminar series will be held at the Espino Conference Center at Sul Ross State University in Alpine. The series is designed to engage a broad constituency of Big Bend community members to better inform them on recent energy projections, potential impacts on...
On Tuesday, George P. Mitchell would have turned 100 years old. After his death at 94 in 2013, this newspaper declared him the “Houstonian of the Century” — not the 20th century, in which he lived most of his life, but the 21st, which his legacy will help define. The list of words...
Photo: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department The Big Bend region is considered one of the most biodiverse in the Western Hemisphere, while also sitting in one of the most energy-intensive areas of the world — and experts say if that energy is not developed responsibly, the sustainability of the...
A view from the South Rim trail at Big Bend National Park on a hazy day. (David Fulmer via Flickr) The Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation, along with other partners, hopes to protect the Big Bend region from encroaching energy development by creating a new initiative called the Respect Big...
The sun sets over the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park. The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation has begun a multiyear effort to preserve the wider Big Bend region against some of the side effects of energy development, including oil and gas drilling and renewables. Mike Lee/E&E...
The West Texas energy sprawl is continuing to expand, with little sign of stopping, and in response, a new coalition has been formed in hopes to mitigate the environmental impact that development could have on the Big Bend region. Marilu Hastings, Vice President of the Cynthia and George Mitchell...
Midland—The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation will offer a press briefing on Thursday, May 2 at 10:30 am in advance of George Mitchell being honored posthumously that evening by the Petroleum Museum. Marilu Hastings, a Midland native, member of the Department of Energy's National...
A Sneak Preview of “The Long Game” The producers of The Rational Middle of Energy, in collaboration with the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, will introduce “The Long Game,” a short-documentary series that addresses energy development's impact in the greater Big Bend...
As part of the Respect Big Bend campaign, we want to showcase all that the Big Bend region has to offer, including local talent such as Carolyn Nored Miller, who has provided photographs for this website. Carolyn is a native Texan and Fort Davis resident with roots dating back to the settlement of...
“Perhaps it was an underlying thought to get people thinking about the effects of our urbanized areas on our nighttime environments,” Wasilkowski told The Washington Post. “I also wonder if we don’t often consider what day versus night means when looking at maps —...
The Environmental Defense Fund concluded that oil producers burned off more natural gas than they reported to the state. But Texas officials expressed skepticism of those findings during a state Senate hearing Wednesday. Read the story...
The designation draws attention to the decreasing number of places where true darkness can still be experienced. Read the story at: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/devils-river-state-natural-area-named-texas-third-dark-sky-sanctuary/...
See the original post at: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2410974788926817&id=1784099564947679...
Innovation, investment and inviting geology have given new life to an oil patch that once seemed spent. The oil field is now the world’s second most productive. Read the story at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/business/energy-environment/texas-permian-field-oil.html...
The bipartisan measure would create more than 1.3 million acres of wilderness out West, add three national park units and expand eight others. Read the story...
Watch the video at: https://youtu.be/OEaVr0LoYIo...
It doesn’t take much to see the Permian Basin’s economy is doing pretty well right now. Just look at Midland and Odessa, the two cities’ unemployment rate is around two percent, wages are high and property values are rising. It won’t be a surprise to anyone the reason for...
Houston oil company Apache Corp. has doubled a gift to help save a revered West Texas swimming hole. In addition to donating $1 million to repair the shuttered Balmorhea State Park Pool, the company has donated an additional $1 million to create an endowment to preserve and support the iconic West...
“Fixing this problem is easy. You do what the prior administration had a suggested. Mainly you look for where the biggest leaks are and you fix those.” Read or listen to this story...
West Texas is famed worldwide for its vast crude oil reserves. But for over 75 years, a small patch of the Permian Basin has also been valued for its pitch-black night sky. Those two prized natural resources have clashed in recent years as oil drilling has brightened the sky near McDonald...
My view from the window seat of a small regional jet landing in Midland, Texas, is either a testament to the advances of human civilization or a sign of its impending demise, depending on your perspective. Countless oil wells, identified by their glowing red flames, dot the dark landscape. We are...
An unprecedented drilling boom in the Permian Basin is great for business. But it’s polluting the air, overwhelming communities and threatening the planet. Read the story...
For people working in the oil and gas industry in the Permian Basin, finding housing can be a challenge. The blue-collar workforce often ends up in hotels, motels, and so-called man camps. Sometimes, companies even rent blocks of rooms to put their employees up. But in the past,...
For an oilman who’s worked on the Gulf Coast, near the Russian Arctic and in Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s headquarters in The Hague, being stuck in traffic on a dusty West Texas highway is not the stuff of dreams. The GMC Yukon rented by Amir Gerges, general manager of Shell’s...
Route 285 is the formal designation for one of the main roads used to carry supplies to and from the oilfields of West Texas. Locals call it something else: "Death Highway." Last year, 93 people died in accidents involving trucks just on the Texas-side of the Permian Basin, or 43 percent more than...
This piece is Part 1 of our Untapped series about 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,...
This piece is Part 4 of our Untapped series about the new West Texas. 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...
This piece is Part 3 of our Untapped series about the new West Texas. 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...
This piece is Part 2 of our Untapped series about the new West Texas. It was almost three years ago when the oil industry took a nosedive. The headlines told stories of lost jobs and struggling towns,but now, despite the continued downturn, things seem better. At...
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