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August 9, 2015

Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region: August 10, 2015

Featured

  1. Comply or not? Texas officials now must decide about emission rules (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News, 8/3/2015)
    “To comply or not to comply. That’s the question now facing Texas officials regarding the Obama administration’s ambitious Clean Power Plan. The sweeping regulatory initiative, unveiled today in its final form, aims at transforming the nation’s electricity-production system to slash emissions of climate-disrupting air pollution. Actually, whether to comply with the new Clean Power Plan – or refuse, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging states to do – is not the only question confronting Texas leaders…”
    http://texasclimatenews.org
  2. Conserving water is a smart strategy to employ before the next drought (Houston Chronicle, 8/4/2015)
    “The last few weeks have been hot and dry in our area. Still depending on what indicators you use, most of Texas – including Harris County – is no longer experiencing drought. That’s great news for our state, which has endured drought conditions since 2010. The bad news: Harris County – along with the rest of Texas – will suffer through droughts again if history is any guide, and future droughts will likely be aggravated by climate change. A new bipartisan report states: ‘By the end of the century, the Southeast and Texas will likely experience dangerous levels of extreme heat.’ Hotter temperatures will only increase the need for water for farms, fish and people.”
    www.chron.com
  3. The Black Twig Borer Poses a Threat in East Texas Trees (Ronald Billings and John Warner – Texas A&M Forest Service, 8/4/2015)
    “The forests of East Texas are attracting a variety of invasive pests. Laurel wilt, carried by the redbay ambrosia beetle, was recently detected in Hardin and Jasper counties. And the emerald ash borer, discovered last year in northern Louisiana, is knocking on the door, if not already here. Another pest from Asia, the black twig borer, has been here since at least the mid-1980s, but the damage it causes is just now becoming noticeable. The black twig borer, with the scientific name Xylosandrus compactus, is a tiny ambrosia beetle barely 1/16 inch long. It bores into the thin twigs of over 220 trees and shrubs, including southern magnolia, grape, sweetgum, pecan, dogwood, water oak, red maple, redbud, grape and many other plants.”
    The Black Twig Borer Poses a Threat in East Texas

EcoNotes

  • 9 August
    • ERCOT’s Heat Challenges: Balancing Electric Supply And Demand (Ed Mayberry – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
  • 7 August
    • Texas power companies more upbeat than elected officials about CO2 plan (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org
    • Tracy Hester On What The Clean Power Plan Means For Texas (Andrew Schneider – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
  • 6 August
    • Nonprofit Provides Humane Honey Bee Removal (Syeda Hasan – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Want better roads? Demand a plan (Dug Begley – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • What’s Downside Of Using ‘Cleaner’ Natural Gas Instead Of Coal? (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Watch Jon Stewart roast climate deniers — and more classic moments from The Daily Show (Katie Herzog – Grist)
      http://grist.org
    • Texas breaks another record for power use for the second time in two days (Joshua Cain – Houston Chronicle)
      http://fuelfix.com
    • HP to use 100% renewable energy to power Texas data centres (Climate Action)
      www.climateactionprogramme.org
    • August Appreciation Celebration Makes it a Hot Time to Jump Into a Vanpool (Guidry News)
      www.guidrynews.com
  • 5 August
  • 4 August
  • 3 August
    • Comply or not? Texas officials now must decide about emission rules (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org
    • Obama Unveils Climate Rules, With Texas-Wide Implications (Jim Malewitz and Kiah Collier – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Help Save Elephants in the Wild and Go Gray for World Elephant Day! (Rebecca Salinas – The Houston Zoo Blog)
      www.houstonzoo.org
    • Conquering the four tallest Texas peaks in one day (Russell Roe – Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwmagazine.com
    • The top 10 bird songs in Texas (Cliff Shackelford – Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwmagazine.com
    • From the Pen of Carter P. Smith (Carter P. Smith – Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwmagazine.com
    • Cooling Your Heels (Stephanie M. Salinas and Alayna Alvarez – Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwmagazine.com
    • Looking back at ‘Old Yeller’ and Texas author Fred Gipson (Cynthia Pickens – Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwmagazine.com
    • Construction underway for IKEA wind farm in South Texas (Sergio Chapa – San Antonio Business Journal)
      www.bizjournals.com
  • 1 August
    • What grows in a community garden? Community. (Andrea White – Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • Crabbing a fun way to connect with bays (Shannon Tompkins – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Jesse Jones Park Volunteers kick off fundraising campaign for storage facility (The East Montgomery County Observer)
      www.yourhoustonnews.com
  • 31 July
  • 30 July
    • Texas AG urges EPA to extend effective date of new water rule (David Yates – SETexas Record)
      http://setexasrecord.com
    • Galveston Bay Foundation Receives Second Place Gulf Guardian Award in the Civic/Non Profit Category (EPA News)
      http://yosemite.epa.gov
  • 29 July
    • Researcher finds way to cut cost, save water and help the environment by changing one simple thing (Kimberly Moore Wilmoth – Phys.org)
      http://phys.org
    • Texans Urged to Prepare for Hurricane Season (Public News Service)
      www.publicnewsservice.org
  • 27 July