An oil refinery along the Houston Ship Channel

​"A Quiet Hell," Chris Vogel's compelling expose of regulatory failures by Texas' state government, has been named a second-place winner in the annual Society of Environmental Journalists Awards. Judges called Vogel's article, which detailed potentially deadly air pollution along the Houston Ship Channel, "a classic example of accountability journalism," noting that it represented a "dogged and meticulous use of public records to document the appalling lapses of an important regulatory agency." Vogel, a staff writer for the Houston Press, has already been named a national finalist in the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Awards for his work describing how the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has routinely failed to protect Texans from toxic chemical releases by refineries and other industrial polluters.