College students foiled the will of permanent residents in Denton's vote to halt hydraulic fracking, the ban's opponents claim. The Tribune crunched the numbers, and found the argument difficult to support.

Over the last two weeks, we've shared our 15-part multimedia series on how the state's explosive oil and gas growth is changing lives and fortunes across Texas. Take a look back at the Shale Life project in its entirety — the result of a crowd-funding drive and six months of reporting by more than a dozen journalists. 

Want an oil and gas job? Head to West Texas. Energy companies are sending recruiters to weekly job fairs, in search of qualified workers to fill a seemingly endless list of positions. Most job candidates believe the boom won’t last forever — and say they better cash out while they can. This video is part of our Shale Life project. 

What's it like to live in Texas’ biggest oil-producing county? We attended a Friday night football game to find out. The fans described challenges and opportunities: deadly roads, new job offers, transformed landscapes and growing economies. This slideshow is part of our Shale Life project.

How many people have moved to the Eagle Ford Shale as a result of its energy boom? That’s a tough question to answer. While thousands of people have flocked to the region for new jobs, the transient nature of the work presents a big challenge for local leaders, who struggle to plan for housing, schools, pipelines and roads. This animation is part of our Shale Life project.

Across West Texas, wages are soaring for oil and gas industry workers — but so is the cost of living. For those who don’t hold top-dollar energy jobs, just paying the rent has gotten tough. In the middle of this multibillion-dollar boom sits Breaking Bread Kitchen, a community center that opens for one hour every night to provide free hot meals to residents who need them. This video is part of our Shale Life project.

Advances in hydraulic fracturing have helped drillers unlock oil and gas once thought to be unreachable. That has reawakened Big Lake, a town that in the 1920s helped cement Texas’ reputation as an oil-rich state. What does the town's growth really look like? Soar a few hundred feet above it to see. This slideshow is part of our Shale Life project.

Grant Swartz has spent much of the last decade in the air, as an agriculture pilot dusting crops over rural Glasscock County. That’s been long enough to see the oil and gas boom drastically alter the landscape of his community east of Midland. What was once a simple flight is now an obstacle course peppered with rigs, miles and miles of power lines and crews of oilfield workers on the ground. This video is part of our Shale Life project.

Some Texas towns are welcoming the bars, strip clubs and “man camps” that come along with an oil boom. Not Karnes City, which is pumping its sudden wealth into schools, parks and a convention center, hoping to attract folks who will stick around when the oil is gone. This story and its audio slideshow are part of our Shale Life project.  

Full video of my 11/6 TribLive Conversation with Christi Craddick, chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.

Just hours after Denton voted to ban hydraulic fracturing, the state’s General Land Office and biggest petroleum group filed off legal challenges to the new rule. The Texas Oil and Gas Association called the ban unconstitutional, saying it supercedes state law and deprives mineral owners of their property rights.

A North Texas town on Tuesday became the state’s first city to ban hydraulic fracturing, setting up a high profile property clash likely to be fought in courtrooms and the Legislature.

At our 10/31 symposium on the impact of the shale boom on Texas, Jim Malewitz talked with state Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, and Texas Railroad Commissoner Barry Smitherman about what it will take to keep the boom booming.

The surge in Texas energy production has brought a new set of hazards to communities facing the bulk of the drilling — including an increase in traffic accidents and chemical spills. That means more work for already understaffed emergency response units across small-town Texas. This video is part of our Shale Life project. 

State Rep. Poncho Nevárez, D-Eagle Pass, DeWitt County judge Daryl Fowler, environmental advocate Sister Elizabeth Riebschlsaeger and La Salle County judge Joel Rodriguez discuss air, water and road infrastucture.

State Rep. Jim Keffer, chairman of the House Energy Resources Committee, and Barry Smitherman, Texas railroad commissioner, discuss how to keep the boom booming.

San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor, Midland Mayor Jerry Morales, Karnes City City Manager Don Tymrak and Thomas Tunstall from the Institute for Economic Development at UTSA will discuss the transformation of the Texas economy.

While many rural communities have eagerly welcomed Texas’ drilling boom, most of Glasscock County’s 1,251 residents would have been happier if the drillers had passed them by. This story is part of our Shale Life project.