I write about energy for @nytimes. I used to cover Tesla, oil and gas for @WSJ. Story ideas? rebecca.elliott@nytimes.com
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It’s been three months since Harvey. Not a single Houston flood victim has moved into a trailer, secured an apartment or seen repair work begin through the state's interim housing programs.
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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Standing room only at today's Houston meet and greet for @BetoORourke, who's challenging hometown Sen. @tedcruz in 2018.
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Some news: Starting Monday, I'll be covering Tesla and car technology for @WSJ. I can't wait. Tips or story ideas? Please reach out: rebecca.elliott@wsj.com
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So, @OrbitAstros just did a tshirt toss at Houston City Hall. Yes, this appears to be real life.
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A personal note: After three amazing years at the Houston Chronicle, I’m leaving to join the Wall Street Journal. I’ll be covering energy from Houston. I’m incredibly thankful for my time at the Chronicle and exited to join the Journal’s great team here at the end of the month.
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I’m very excited about this and grateful to @WSJ for six wonderful years!
We're thrilled to announce that Rebecca Elliott is joining the Business desk as an energy reporter.
nytco.com/press/rebecca-elli…
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Hurricane Harvey hit more than four months ago. Not a single Houston flood victim has received a FEMA trailer.
City, state and federal officials all gave me different reasons why.
houstonchronicle.com/news/po…
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Trump now leading Clinton by just 3 points in Texas, per new @UHouston poll. Romney was up 17 points here in Oct '12 chron.com/news/politics/texa…
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.@RandPaul gets huge cheer after saying he wants to be "the first president who doesn’t grab more power" but gives it back to states/people
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“Everyone’s building battery factories and EVs,” JB Straubel told me recently. “The beginning of the supply chain didn’t keep up.”
@RedwoodMat's new plant is expected to be among the first in the U.S. to produce key EV battery ingredients
wsj.com/articles/redwood-mat…
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Tests show Houston City Hall water supply has "significant contamination" — likely due to flooding — and is unsafe to drink, per city memo.
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Clinton leads Trump by 10 points in Harris County, per @UHouston poll. Obama won the county by < 2 points in 2008. chron.com/news/politics/texa…
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BREAKING: Houston housing director says the city won't close any shelters. "We will provide clients the option to move to NRG if they want."
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Houston's housing authority has been charging its public housing tenants rent for units Harvey left uninhabitable
houstonchronicle.com/news/po…
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Houston has collected $130 million in taxes over 10 years for affordable housing. It has 463 homes to show for it.
houstonchronicle.com/LostMon…
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Two months after Harvey, Houston is moving on. Yet thousands of families are still battling in the lonely aftermath
houstonchronicle.com/local/h…
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Residents have tied two kayaks to a speed boat to try to rescue people stranded in Greenspoint's floodwaters.
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"This @RedCross stuff is a joke. They're not organized."
Houston shelters run out of space, supplies during #Harvey
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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It's still raining in Greenspoint (how?!), but it appears we may be through the worst of #Harvey here. Greens Bayou Sunday v today:
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.@RandPaul calls for "hardball" against the Clintons: “We have to go head to head, knuckle to knuckle," he says.
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At Houston book signing, @tedcruz calls Cuba move "a serious mistake" houstonchronicle.com/news/po…
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Tesla is pausing its plans to make battery cells in Germany as it looks at qualifying for U.S. battery and EV tax credits.
Story w/ @MikeColias on how the Inflation Reduction Act is reshaping the industry: wsj.com/articles/tesla-shift…
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"If it rises any higher, Lord, you know I can't swim."
The story of one of the 2,000+ at Greenspoint's shelter today
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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I just made it to the Greenspoint area's M.O. Campbell shelter. The @RedCross was expecting 500 people. There are 2,000.
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After pivoting to discuss metadata collection, @RandPaul calls for right to privacy: "We should not give up on it so easily."
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“Coal isn’t coming back. You can’t legislate it.”
By some measures, U.S. coal is declining more quickly under President Trump than under President Obama, despite efforts to revive the industry.
Story w/ @sparkyrandles: wsj.com/articles/trumps-prom…
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“There’s a mentality out there that oil and gas is finished.”
The economic crisis caused by the pandemic, combined with a growing distaste for the oil business among potential young employees, is creating a new problem for the industry.
wsj.com/articles/oil-industr…
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Greenspoint this morning is quiet, eerily so, as Greens Bayou picks up steam during #Harvey. Some 2,000 apartments here flooded 16 mos ago.
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These are the days of reckoning for America’s big fracking companies. Pioneer Natural Resources, a leader of the U.S. oil boom, has second thoughts.
Story with @bradnews: wsj.com/articles/a-leader-of…
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"We have 200 cots and 400 blankets for 2,000 people," shelter manager tells me. Food reserved for kids, elderly, pregnant and sick.
I just made it to the Greenspoint area's M.O. Campbell shelter. The @RedCross was expecting 500 people. There are 2,000.
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Texas and Louisiana both developed rapid home repair programs after devastating floods. In the time it took Louisiana to repair more than 10,000 homes, Texas has fixed two.
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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SCOOP: HUD has found Houston in violation of the Civil Rights Act, says housing procedures "perpetuate segregation." chron.com/news/politics/hous…
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A reminder that, a week into #Harvey, Trump has yet to speak with Houston Mayor @SylvesterTurner.
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Last year I asked @HUDgov why they continued to subsidize apartments in the floodway...
"We simply have no choice."
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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Houston's proposed development changes are far more sweeping than the mayor's a.m. announcement indicated. New rules would require ALL new buildings -- not just those in the 500-year floodplain -- to be built at least two feet off the ground.
houstonchronicle.com/news/po…
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Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer, is among those pushing for Texas to curtail oil production by roughly 500,000 barrels a day.
“What I’m trying to do is prevent the oil-and-gas sector from disappearing over the next 18 months.”
wsj.com/articles/u-s-conside…
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Shale drillers are looking beyond West Texas' Permian Basin as oil prices rise. My first for @WSJ: wsj.com/articles/shale-drill…
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With Chevron and Occidental competing for a bigger slice of the Permian Basin, a look at why Anadarko is so coveted: wsj.com/articles/rivals-vie-…
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A stranger just knocked on the City Hall press room to thank journalists for our work. Pretty sure I acted like a deer in the headlights.
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FEMA's experiment with post-Harvey housing helped fewer than 8,000 Texas families in six months, and the state now expects to spend just $1.1 billion of the $2.6 billion officials say FEMA budgeted for the programs.
My latest w/ @Jamesjdrew:
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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Houston Mayor @SylvesterTurner has joined 60 other mayors in pledging to honor the #ParisAgreement
New: In open letter, 61 U.S. mayors - including Orlando's Buddy Dyer - pledge to "honor and uphold" #ParisAgreement bit.ly/2rZhS3W
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Hurricane Harvey was supposed to be a game-changer for Houston, but Mayor Sylvester Turner hasn't had an easy time convincing council to restrict development in Houston's floodplains.
@mmorris011 and I talk about why: houstonchronicle.com/news/ar…
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Ben Carson is coming to town Friday to speak about Hurricane Harvey relief. The presser is in Southside Place, a tiny, wealthy city that ... didn't experience widespread flooding during Harvey.
houstonchronicle.com/news/po…
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Line outside the Buffalo Soldiers Museum in Houston, waiting to hear @billclinton this morning
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Some shale drillers want consumers to know that their natural gas was sustainably fracked
My latest on how concerns over climate change are affecting the oil patch: wsj.com/articles/sustainably…
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Trump surrogate warns of taco trucks on every corner -> Houston taco trucks start providing voter registration forms houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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Not long ago, barbers could earn $180,000 a year cutting hair near oil drilling sites in West Texas. But the oil workers who used to pay a premium for a cut have all but disappeared as a massive oil bust has taken hold.
Story w/ @cmatthews9: wsj.com/articles/this-is-wha…
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Rain is still throttling Greenspoint, and the water ripping out of this apt complex is making it difficult for even boats to get people out.
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.@TexasDSHS has updated its marriage license application form, swapping man and woman for applicant 1 and 2 #SSM
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Six Katy schools were built in/near reservoir flood pools that Harvey inundated. School leaders didn't know.
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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Are electric cars really better for the environment?
@russellgold & colleagues put together an awesome visual story comparing the lifetime CO2 emissions of a Tesla Model 3 and a Toyota RAV4: wsj.com/graphics/are-electri…
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Houston has new floodplain regulations, everyone. Rules passed 9 - 7.
Turner, Davis, Cohen, Boykins, Martin, Cisneros, Gallegos, Robinson, Edwards in support.
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Throwing my flooded rain boots in the garbage just brought me such joy. Goodbye #Harvey.
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Last month, I met @afhallmd in Texas, and he told me about a game that a cadre of die-hard @Tesla owners have been playing for years. They're racing to visit as many of the company's fast-charging stations as possible. Behind the game with no end in sight: wsj.com/articles/tesla-super…
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Christie literally challenged the head of the Chronicle's editorial board to a duel.
Councilman Christie currently is ripping into @ChronOpinion for criticizing his anti-vaccine stance.
Background: houstonchronicle.com/opinion…
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Pioneer CEO: “Probably 50% of the public E&Ps will go bankrupt over the next two years."
Investors soured on shale. Then, coronavirus came. Now, U.S. drillers face a fight for survival in an oil-market price war. Story w/ @CollinEatonHC: wsj.com/articles/u-s-shale-d…
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“It was kind of like the Wild, Wild West.”
My final oil and gas story for @WSJ, about a profession about as old as the American petroleum industry that's changing—and shrinking— as the world transitions to renewables: wsj.com/articles/landmen-who…
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Big cheers as @HillaryClinton calls for criminal justice, immigration reforms, ensuring end to discrimination against LGBT community
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"I still feel like we need a comma there, emotionally."
Tales of co-writing with @mmorris011
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The Confederate statues debate comes to Houston: 11 people are set to talk to council this p.m. about removing the Spirit of the Confederacy
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Shale driller Encana’s supersize fracking operation is producing far below forecasts. The results don’t bode well for the future of fracking.
@bradnews on the challenges of cube drilling: wsj.com/articles/a-fracking-…
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"If Harvey doesn't qualify for the rainy day fund, then what does?" Mayor @SylvesterTurner testifies to the House Urban Affairs Committee, reiterating his call for the state to tap its $11b fund.
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EVs are widely seen as the automobile industry’s future, but a battle is unfolding in states across America over who should control the chargers that could gradually replace fuel pumps. wsj.com/articles/spread-of-e…
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Oil and gas companies are scrambling to reduce methane emissions—both unintended and deliberate—that in the U.S. alone equate to the exhaust from 69 million cars a year and contribute to global warming wsj.com/articles/the-leaks-t…
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With the Houston mayor's race behind us, I'm thrilled to be joining @mmorris011 covering City Hall for the Chronicle
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.@HillaryClinton announces Saturday trip to Houston, where she'll be holding an evening GOTV event #houvote #hounews
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Harris County closes early voting just shy of 1 million votes (977,279). That's 44% turnout so far.
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It’s cutting car prices. It’s struggling in China. The stock price is falling. GM? Ford? No, Tesla. wsj.com/articles/tesla-stock…
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Montoya Thomas, about to age out of foster care, was just weeks from moving in. Then her housing voucher was revoked
houstonchronicle.com/news/po…
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In Houston, for example, HUD funding made up nearly three quarters of the housing department's revenue last year. nitter.app/jdelreal/status/839661…
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My story from Houston this election night: Democrats turn Harris County a shade bluer chron.com/news/politics/hous… #houvote
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This - from the city of Houston in response to a request to expedite the case challenging term limits ballot language - is hilarious.
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.@BetoORourke opens his Houston meet & greet by promising not to drop an f-bomb like he did in Dallas
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With oil so cheap, people are floating schemes to sock it away wherever they can until prices rebound: in caverns, school-bus-size tanks, even giant pools.
wsj.com/articles/wanted-some…
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Mayor Turner has appointed the city's interim public works director, Carol Haddock, to the post permanently, per a memo to council members.
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So, my day featured a giant green alien, a tshirt toss at City Hall and a councilman challenging a Chronicle editor to a duel. Amazing.
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Boston Marathon Runners Marry Despite Bomb Explosions buzzfeed.com/rebeccaelliott/… via @buzzfeednews
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I'm working on a story about Harris County's early voting. New voters (now 22% of the early vote) dominated last week. Where they came from:
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Councilman Greg Travis commends @HoustonChron investigation: "It was a hell of an article, and I have to say I'm embarrassed."
Mayor @SylvesterTurner just laid out 5 housing policy changes in response to @HoustonChron Lost Money investigation
houstonchronicle.com/lostmon…
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Houston City Council just allocated $479,444 to elevate a Meyerland home that's worth $375,068.
Mayor Turner: "It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to do it this way, but here is where we are."
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BREAKING: Mayor Sylvester Turner's press secretary used Houston's publicly-funded TV station to promote contestants in a reality show she was developing as a private business venture
houstonchronicle.com/news/po…
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Of course residents have been working on repairing their own homes. I’m specifically referring to the state’s FEMA-funded interim housing programs.
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A must-read story from Houston, where the city's housing director publicly accused the mayor of steering affordable housing money to a particular developer. The mayor, who denied the allegations, promptly fired him.
UPDATED: Housing chief accuses Turner of directing 'charade' bid process to benefit developer
We've learned a company with a 10% stake in the deal, per state documents (tdhca.state.tx.us/multifamil…) is run by the mayor's longtime law partner:
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
w/@dylmcguinness
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Houston City Council voted 10 - 6 with one person abstaining to join litigation over SB4: chron.com/news/politics/hous…
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Thrilled to announce that, starting today, I'll be covering local politics for the @HoustonChron
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American frackers trailed every major industry other than utilities in the amount of free cash flow they generated over the last five years: negative $25.1 billion, collectively.
Their CEOs still got paid. A lot. Great @CollinEatonHC story: wsj.com/articles/shale-compa…
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.@HillaryClinton: “Something really special is happening here, and I’m so proud and grateful to be back here at TSU.”
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Hurricane Harvey sent water pouring through Herman Smallwood's roof and rushing up under his house, causing his floor to sink and warp.
FEMA denied his application, along with those of 275,000 other Harvey survivors.
houstonchronicle.com/news/ho…
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