ENVIRONMENTAL HEADLINES, FEBRUARY 24 – MARCH 2
EMISSION REPORTING STANDARDS RELAXED
Baytown Sun 2/26/07 The Environmental Protection Agency has loosened its emission reporting standards.
LITTLE PAIN, MUCH GAIN
Houston Chronicle 02/25/2007 Baker Hughes has added some 800 workers to its 140-acre Rankin Road campus in the last few years but barely a penny to its power bill.
WALL STREET ADDS CLIMATE CHANGE TO BOTTOM LINE
Christian Science Monitor 2/27/07 The environmentally tinged takeover of TXU Corp. illustrates global warming’s increased financial relevance.
TXU’S EXPANSION PROPOSAL: A RISK FOR INVESTORS
HOUSTON’S LYONDELL SELLING DIVISION FOR $1.2 BILLION
Houston Chronicle 2/23/07 Lyondell Chemical Co. has agreed to sell its inorganic chemicals division to a Saudi Arabia’s National Titanium Dioxide Co. in deal worth $1.2 billion, the companies said in a joint statement today.
KINDER MORGAN LAYS DOWN $100M TO EXPAND BIODIESEL FACILITIES
Houston Business Journal 2/28/07 Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP says it will invest up to $100 million to expand its biodiesel terminal facilities to serve the growing biodiesel market.
BILL SEALS DEAL TO HALT WOODLANDS’ ANNEXATION
Houston Chronicle 3/1/07 Republican State Sen. Tommy Williams on Wednesday filed a bill that, if passed by lawmakers, will cement a proposed deal reached between The Woodlands and Houston to halt the future annexation of the master-planned community.
HOUSTON’S HISTORIC BUILDINGS MAY SOON BE TAX-FREE
Houston Chronicle 3/1/07 Hoping to save Houston’s most historic structures, the city is developing policies that would for the first time grant a permanent, total city tax exemption to properties designated as protected landmarks.
DEMOLITION BAN URGED FOR OLD SIXTH WARD SITES
DOWNTOWN ENTERTAINMENT, RETAIL PROJECT BEGINS
COUNTY VOTES TO TERMINATE SPACEPORT
Brazosport Facts 2/28/07 The sun has set on the Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport as Brazoria County Commissioners voted Tuesday to dissolve the corporation charged with its creation.
SCIENTISTS LAUNCH AMPHIBIAN ARK TO STAVE OFF FROG EXTINCTIONS
Emagazine.com 2/26/07 Scientists from around the world met last week in Atlanta to kick off the ambitious Amphibian Ark project, a global campaign to protect the world’s vanishing amphibian species from a series of environmental dangers
MEXICO VOWS TO PROTECT BUTTERFLY, RARE DESERT OASIS
WOODPECKER QUEST COMES TO BIG THICKET
GORE’S GLOBAL WARMING DOC WINS OSCAR
Yahoo News 2/26/07 “An Inconvenient Truth,” the documentary that turned former vice president Al Gore’s power-point presentation on global warming into an engaging and entertaining film, won the Oscar Sunday night.