ENVIRONMENTAL HEADLINES, SEPTEMBER 9-15

CHEVRON COULD AVOID HUGE ROYALTIES ON NEW FIELD
New York Times 9/12/06
WASHINGTON, Sept 11 A group of oil companies led by Chevron, which said last week that they had discovered a huge new oil field in the Gulf of Mexico, could avoid more than $1 billion in royalty payments to the federal government for the oil.

OIL FIND LENDS URGENCY TO ROYALTY ISSUE

MIDTOWN RULES CLOUD ‘URBAN VILLAGE’ DESIGN
Houston Chronicle 9/11/06
Like explorers hacking a path through the jungle, a small but determined group of developers, planners, and civic leaders has struggled for 12 years to create a unique urban environment in Midtown.

STUDY: TEXAS RANKS 30TH IN STATES FOR LONGEVITY
Houston Chronicle 9/11/06
WASHINGTON Asian-American women living in Bergen County, NJ, lead the nation in longevity, typically reaching their 91st birthdays. Worst off are American Indian men in swaths of South Dakota, who die around age 58 three decades sooner.

AVERAGE RIDE ON METRO TO COST MORE
Houston Chronicle 9/13/06
To bolster revenue in a time of high fuel costs, Metro says it will trim its bewildering array of discounts, increasing the average fare paid by riders while keeping the base fare unchanged.

NO CONSENSUS ON THIRD WARD RAIL
Houston Chronicle 9/11/06
While the Westpark vs Richmond issue simmers in trendy neighborhoods west of Main Street, less affluent residents to the east are hoping that dispute won’t delay their end of the planned light rail line.

NSF GIVES RICE $12M MORE TO STUDY NANOTECH
Houston Business Journal 9/13/06
The National Science Foundation has extended funding for Rice University’s Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology with a five-year renewal worth $12 million.

WATER USAGE IN BEAUMONT HIGH FOR STATE OF TEXAS
Beaumont Enterprise 9/12/2006
Beaumont’s per capita water use tops that of many Texas cities with stronger conservation programs, according to a Texas Water Development Board survey, but many of those gallons never make it to the city’s homes and businesses.

LAWMAKERS PUSH FOR WATERWAY FUNDS
Port Arthur News 9/8/06
BEAUMONT With less than a month left before Congress adjourns for the November election season, lawmakers on both sides of the Sabine River are making a final push for funding to expand the area waterway.

ISLE COUNCIL TO CONSIDER IMPACT FEES THURSDAY
Galveston Daily News 9/12/06
GALVESTON The city council this week will consider charging the builder of a new home in Galveston an impact fee of nearly $3,600.

RANGERS INVESTIGATING FREEPORT EDC
Brazosport Facts 9/12/06
ANGLETON The Texas Rangers are investigating the City of Freeports Economic Development Corporation for a possible violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

STUDY LINKS TROPICAL OCEAN WARMING TO GREENHOUSE GASES
New York Times 9/12/06
Rising ocean temperatures linked by some studies to tropical storms are very likely a result of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research.

SUPPORT FOR GLOBAL WARMING-HURRICANE LINK GROWS

SCIENTIST AIRS HIS FINDINGS ON BLOG

HUMANS AFFECT SEA WARMING IN HURRICANE ZONES – STUDY

GULF OF MEXICO FLOOR USUALLY NOT SHAKY GROUND
Beaumont Enterprise 09/13/2006
The ground beneath the Gulf of Mexico region may be splintered with a host of geologic faults, but Southeast Texans have a much better chance of being rocked gently from afar than being violently jolted in their back yards, a Lamar University professor says.

REFILL STORES FIND WAY TO SELL CARTRIDGES CHEAPER
Houston Chronicle 9/12/06
GRAPEVINE – Every month, Mark Barnes used to buy $600 worth of new name-brand inkjet and toner cartridges for printers that churn out a steady stream of contracts and marketing material in his real estate office.

STORMY WORLD OF ENERGY HAS A CLEAR FORECASTER
Houston Chronicle 9/10/06
Houston was rocking and rolling in 1980, with oil at $40 a barrel and some people in the industry predicting it would soar to $100. One of the few dissenting voices, Henry Groppe, Jr, forecasted that by 1985 oil would fall to $15.