Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

"Poor, heavily Hispanic neighborhoods shoulder a disproportionate fracking wastewater burden in Texas' booming Eagle Ford".

"State regulators defend the decision because it allows for increasing use of renewable energy, but it also extends coal's life in the state."

"The recent series of strong quakes have spiked public concern and accusations that industry is negligent in disposing of wastewater deep underground."

"In Oklahoma, now the country's earthquake capital, people are talking nervously about the big one as man-made quakes get stronger, more frequent and closer to major population centers. Next door in Kansas, they're feeling on firmer ground though no one is ready yet to declare victory."

Residents of the historic African American community of Mossville in southwest Louisiana plan to protest pollution from a chemical palnt nearby run by SASOL, a petrochemical company that helped prop up the apartheid regime in South Africa.

After a mild and dry Christmas Day, a fierce blizzard whipped across the rolling plains of West Texas and eastern New Mexico. The wind blew mercilessly for 48 hours, leaving snow drifts as high as 14 feet."

"SandRidge Energy Inc., the financially troubled oil producer focused on earthquake-prone northern Oklahoma, is defying a state directive to shut down six disposal wells linked to quakes."

"Texas is leading the nation by far in the growth of new power generation from both wind and natural gas as more states continue to retire their coal-fired power plants."

"The Barnett Shale's emissions have been vastly underestimated, sweeping Environmental Defense Fund-backed study finds."

"It took decades for the stand of hardwood trees near Lake Texoma to grow tall. It took less than a day for 3,000 gallons of drilling wastewater to destroy them."