ENVIRONMENTAL HEADLINES, JANUARY 20 – 26
FORT BEND POWER PLANT PLANNED
Houston Chronicle 1/25/07
A Houston company plans to build a major power plant in Fort Bend County that it says will run on an oil refining byproduct and produce low greenhouse gas emissions.
BUSH SEEKS VAST, MANDATORY INCREASE IN ALTERNATIVE FUELS AND GREATER VEHICLE EFFICIENCY
New York Times 1/24/07
Vowing to reduce the nation’s thirst for foreign oil, President Bush called on Tuesday for a huge government-mandated increase in renewable fuels – mainly ethanol – and tougher mileage standards for cars and light trucks.
ANOTHER GRAND YEAR FOR BIG OIL
Houston Chronicle 1/23/07
High oil and natural gas prices fueled unprecedented profits for oil majors in 2005, and analysts expect lofty year-end figures for 2006 as well.
MAYOR WHITE: ENERGY EFFICIENCY CRITICAL FOR GROWTH
Houston Chronicle 1/23/07
Mayor Bill White challenged business leaders Monday to reduce the region’s power and fuel use by 5 percent over the next five years.
STUDY: CHILDREN NEAR SHIP CHANNEL FACE HIGHER LEUKEMIA RISK
Houston Chronicle 1/20/07
Before the little boy was diagnosed with cancer, he and his mom used to call the industrial plant that hummed outside their wooden house “the Cloud Maker.” That was back before doctors said Valentin Marroquin had acute lymphocytic leukemia, and before another little boy who lived over on Avenue P got cancer, too.
SHIP CHANNEL CANCER STUDY SPURS TWO BILLS
CONDO, RETAIL DEVELOPMENT TO REPLACE ALLEN HOUSE
Houston Business Journal 1/24/07
The GID Urban Development Group is planning to tear down the Allen House Apartments to make room for a 24-acre pedestrian-focused neighborhood.
ALLEN HOUSE TO BE REPLACED BY MIXED-USE PROJECT
RESIDENTS, OFFICIALS FIGHT OVER FOURTH WARD
MAYOR LAUDED FOR RITA ROLE
Galveston County Daily News 1/19/07
Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas was presented an award for her leadership during the Hurricane Rita evacuation.
STUDENTS TAKE THIRD
Pasadena News Citizen 1/23/07
The Future City program is one that was started 15 years ago to recognize and celebrate engineering. Students from across the United States are asked to think about what a city in the future might be like and then create a model from there.
DESIGN-A-CITY CONTEST SPARKS CAREER ASPIRATIONS
COUNTY PONDERS MOBILITY REQUESTS
Fort Bend County Herald and Texas Coaster 1/23/07
A months-long study into traffic projections for Fort Bend County roads was presented on Monday to the county’s Mobility Bond Committee.
PARK & RIDES PROPOSED FOR GALVESTON, BRAZORIA
Houston Chronicle 1/22/07
A consultant who used to head the Metropolitan Transit Authority is pitching Galveston and Brazoria counties on the idea of a mini-MTA to help cope with the fast-growing suburbs’ rising traffic tide.
HOUSTON THE HUB FOR STUDY ON LIGHTNING
Houston Chronicle 1/23/07
Houston’s not the lightning capital of the United States – but it’s close.
SCIENTISTS FEAR THEY’VE OVERSOLD GLOBAL WARMING
Houston Chronicle 1/19/07
Scientists long have issued the warnings: The modern world’s appetite for cars, air conditioning and cheap, fossil-fuel energy spews billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, unnaturally warming the world.
FLOOD CONTROL CAN HAVE NATURAL FLAIR
Houston Chronicle 1/18/07
The Harris County Flood Control District is renowned for measuring the capacity of its retention bases by comparing their volume to the Astrodome.
TURTLES WERE LEFT COMATOSE WHEN SEA TEMPERATURE DIVED
Houston Chronicle 1/19/07
Three dozen sea turtles are getting a little tropical vacation under heat lamps after being rescued from a cold front that caused the water temperature in an arm of the Gulf of Mexico to plummet 18 degrees in 48 hours.