Experts in the News

Groundwater has become exceedingly important for Texas and fundamentally underpins the state's growth, said Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs. But with its reliance on the "rule of capture" and the patchwork of local rules from various groundwater conservation districts, Texas' water future is uncertain.

The goal of President Biden's immigration plan is not to just push people back to the other side of the fence, but to "spread the burden to countries that serve as transit points like Mexico and Guatemala," said Tony Payan, the director of the Center for the United States and Mexico. "If they stop, detain, contain migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, it is too late; the problem is already at our doorstep.”

"Anti-science is arguably one of the leading killers of the American people, and yet we don't ... treat it as such," said Peter Hotez, fellow in disease and poverty.

Mexico’s state-run Pemex will likely gain “valuable advantages” from the Deer Park refinery purchase from Shell that can’t be ignored, including a steady outlet for its crude and a steady return of refined product, said postdoctoral fellow in Mexico energy studies Adrian Duhalt. “Fuel production from Deer Park, when commercialized in Mexico, can help Pemex sustain and even expand its market share,” Duhalt said. “This has been Lopez Obrador’s focus since his first day as president.”

The Department of Veteran Affairs’ decision to require its medical workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, plus recent court decisions about employer vaccine mandates, are indicators that American workers could see some sort of vaccine rule at their own workplace soon, said contributing expert Rekha Lakshmanan.