For the past year I’ve worked as a reporter on the Texas-Mexico border covering business in the Rio Grande Valley. I’ve written about education, agriculture, healthcare, international trade and the energy sector.

I discovered that a venture capitalist firm planned to export electricity to Mexico while the region experienced frequent power outages. After my investigation, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, the nonprofit that oversees most of the Texas power grid inked a deal with the company that required the switchable plant to sell power back into the United States in the case of an emergency.

When several liquified natural gas export companies expressed interest in the local deep sea port, I went beyond the talking points of both industry and environmental activists. I explored the impact on the local economy in terms of potential jobs but also the shrimp industry and dolphin tourism on a nearby island.

Inside a local wildlife refuge known for its large salt water lake, I noticed that there was still an active mining operation. The salt was sold and used as a byproduct in lucrative drilling mud for oil and gas wells.

After a major manufacturing plant stalled for nearly five years, I dug deep to understand how international trade policies impacted the ability for the company open its doors. An audit conducted by state officials found that the governor’s office clawed back significant chunks of money but also renegotiated to trim back its job creation requirements. But I also attended the company’s first job fair and met a woman who had been waiting for a chance to work with the firm for years.

Several international bridges in the region were hoping on increased trade as the result of the energy reforms in Mexico. I pieced together that there are multiple pipelines being built under the Rio Grande quenching Mexico’s thirst for energy instead of the product being moved by trucks.

A rural county along the border is hoping to revive its local economy with potentially one of the largest wind farms in Texas. It’s owned by Duke Energy. But there’s also a new natural-gas fired plant that had to be constructed to temper the wind from those hundreds of wind turbines.

Meanwhile, a local city that’s swelled in population is now dealing with natural gas flares from long-time wells but also interest in the drilling of new wells within city limits.

Once I wrote about a local woman that sought to legally sell peyote, a native cactus with hallucinogenic properties that grew on her ranch in an effort to pay her overwhelming property taxes.

Most recently, a family-owned general contractor defaulted on $92 million worth of taxpayer-funded projects. I’ve been carefully reporting the fall out and what it means for several local cities, school districts and hundreds of subcontractors.

Did I mention that I love kayaking on the Rio Grande, aka Rio Bravo river?