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June 19, 2016

Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region: June 19, 2015

Featured

  1. Galveston commissioners pull plug on proposed Bolivar wastewater treatment plant (Harvey Rice – Houston Chronicle, 6/7/2016)
    “Galveston County commissioners on Tuesday voted to kill a $13.8 million project to build a sewage treatment plant on the Bolivar Peninsula, blaming changing requirements by federal regulators. The decision disappointed many Bolivar Peninsula residents, who say reliance on septic tanks is creating environmental hazards and polluting the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay. Commissioner Ryan Dennard, who had championed the project, said officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development constantly changed requirements for qualifying for the $13.8 million in federal money available to build the plant. ‘It is probably the single most-important thing that needs to happen to Bolivar for both health and environmental reasons,’ Dennard said of the project. Dennard nevertheless voted with other commissioners to kill the project because, he said, the hurdles were insurmountable.”
    www.houstonchronicle.com
  2. Oysters on a boat deckGalveston County declares oyster disaster (Harvey Rice – Houston Chronicle, 6/14/2016)
    “Oyster boat captains last year thought they were suffering through one of the worst years in decades for the Texas oyster industry as freshwater from heavy rains flooded Galveston Bay and killed oysters. This year is turning out to be much worse. Galveston County Judge Mark Henry on Tuesday issued a disaster declaration for the Galveston Bay oyster industry, but the problem is not restricted to Galveston Bay. Persistent downpours throughout eastern Texas are swamping oyster beds with deadly freshwater all along the Texas Gulf Coast. The surge of oyster-killing freshwater for the second straight year is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Texas oyster industry, which supplies about 30 percent of all oysters harvested in the Gulf of Mexico.”
    www.houstonchronicle.com
  3. Supreme Court rejects case challenging key White House air pollution regulation (Houston Chronicle, 6/14/2016)
    “The Supreme Court on Monday left intact a key Obama administration environmental regulation, refusing to take up an appeal from 20 states to block rules that limit the emissions of mercury and other harmful pollutants that are byproducts of burning coal. The high court’s decision leaves in place a lower-court ruling that found that the regulations, put in place several years ago by the Environmental Protection Agency, could remain in effect while the agency revised the way it had calculated the potential industry compliance costs. The EPA finalized its updated cost analysis in April. In a statement Monday, the EPA praised the court’s decision not to review the case, saying the mercury standards are an important part of a broader effort to ensure clean air for Americans.”
    www.houstonchronicle.com

EcoNotes

  • 18 June
    • May: Another month for temperature records, 13th record-warm month in a row (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org
  • 17 June
    • Rare, Blind Catfish Never Before Found in U.S. Discovered in National Park Cave in Texas (UT News)
      http://news.utexas.edu
    • Texas Budget Spared in Court Ruling on Drilling Tax Case (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • New EPA Rule Keeps Oil & Gas Wastewater out of Local Treatment Plants (Holly Pearen – EDF)
      http://blogs.edf.org
    • Mapping TX Neighborhoods at Risk from Toxic Oil and Gas Emissions (Public News Service)
      www.publicnewsservice.org
  • 16 June
    • Can Curbing Car Use Ease Pollution On L.I.? (JD Allen – WSHU)
      http://wshu.org
    • Challenged By Houston, CenterPoint Cuts Deal To Reduce Proposed Rate Hike (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Can Houston Learn From Another Gulf Coast City Drowned By A Catastrophic Storm? (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Ants of the Big Thicket researched (The Record Live)
      http://therecordlive.com
    • Title V/Clean Air Act: U.S. Environmental Agency Proposed Rule Removing Affirmative Defense Provisions from State/Federal Operating Permit Programs (Lexology)
      www.lexology.com
    • States and Cities Creating New Leadership Positions as They Rethink Their Approach to Transportation (Leah Binkovitz – The Urban Edge)
      http://urbanedge.blogs.rice.edu
    • The YIMBY Movement Wants More Development, Not Less. But What, Exactly, Does That Mean? (Andrew Keatts – The Urban Edge)
      http://urbanedge.blogs.rice.edu
    • The Sustainability Of Texas Water (KERA)
      www.kera.org
  • 15 June
  • 14 June
  • 13 June
    • Aerosols Strengthen Storm Clouds, According to New Study (UT News)
      http://news.utexas.edu
    • EPA Honors Texas Company during the 2016 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards (The Gilmer Mirror)
      www.gilmermirror.com
    • AgriLife Extension experts: Excess moisture causing crop losses across Texas (Kay Ledbetter – North Texas e-News)
      www.ntxe-news.com
    • Test Results Belie EPA Water Safety Assurances (Abrahm Lustgarten – AllGov)
      www.allgov.com
    • Why Your Aches And Pains May Be Linked To Houston’s Big Storms (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
  • 12 June
    • Flooding costs will soar in a warming world, economic analysts say (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org
    • Conroe City Council candidates display different fervor for water fight (Meagan Ellsworth – The Courier of Montgomery County)
      www.yourhoustonnews.com
    • Multi-billion dollar bullet train connecting Houston to Dallas expected to break ground next year (Vagney Bradley – The Pasadena Citizen)
      www.yourhoustonnews.com
    • Carla Campbell: Make sure water is safe and healthy (Carla Campbell – El Paso Times)
      www.elpasotimes.com
  • 10 June
    • USACE Galveston District awards $235,923 contract for environmental services (DVIDS)
      www.dvidshub.net
    • Going Beyond Green for a Racially Diverse Environmental Movement (Naveena Sadasivam – Texas Observer)
      www.texasobserver.org
    • Abbott seeks federal aid for recent storms, flooding (Matthew Tresaugue – San Antonio Express-News)
      www.expressnews.com
    • Marathon Petroleum, U.S. reach agreement on refinery pollution (Timothy Ahmann and Terry Wade – Planet Ark News)
      http://planetark.org
  • 9 June
    • Cypress Creek effort combines flood control, recreation (Mike Snyder – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Fake reefs boost Gulf of Mexico marine life, tourism (Lawrence Crook III – CNN)
      www.cnn.com
    • PUC To Houston And Dallas Electricity Customers: Start Shopping For Better Rate Plans (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Former Mayor’s “Clean Coal” Effort Struggles to Survive (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • The Texas butterfly effect (Layne Cameron and Elise Zipkin – Phys.org)
      http://phys.org
    • Texas Green Activist Plans “Guerilla Manuever” Against Fracking (Jillian Kay Melchior – Independent Women’s Forum)
      www.iwf.org
    • San Jacinto Toxic Waste Studies Delayed by San Jacinto Flooding (Swamplot)
      http://swamplot.com
    • Bumper crop of ‘community solar’ projects coming to Texas this summer (Houston Business Journal)
      www.bizjournals.com
    • Hate Mosquitoes? Consider a Bat House! Fight Insect-Borne Illness by Partnering with Furry Fliers (HMNS)
      http://blog.hmns.org
  • 8 June
  • 7 June
    • Galveston commissioners pull plug on proposed Bolivar wastewater treatment plant (Harvey Rice – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Conversation on Multimodality Stirs Ideas to Solve Future Transportation Needs for West Houston (Energy Corridor)
      http://energycorridor.org
    • Groups urge U.S. Congress to reject TPP over environmental concerns (Valerie Volcovici – Planet Ark News)
      http://planetark.org
  • 4 June
  • 3 June
    • Climate change threatens planet’s cultural, natural treasures, report says (Brian Kahn – Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org
    • First Phase Allen Parkway/Buffalo Bayou Park Improvements Finished (The City of Houston)
      www.houstontx.gov
  • 25 May
    • ExxonMobil wards off climate resolutions, oil still faces long-term challenges (Randy Lee Loftis – Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org