ENVIRONMENTAL HEADLINES, SEPTEMBER 27 – OCTOBER 6

EPA DELAYS HOUSTON’S DEADLINE FOR CLEAN AIR TO 2019
Houston Chronicle 10/1/08
Houston’s persistent smog problem is worse than bad. It’s severe. At the request of Gov. Rick Perry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday granted the eight-county Houston region an extra nine years to meet federal health standards for smog-forming ozone by formally classifying the problem as “severe.”

MAYOR PLANS TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GASES BY 2010
Houston Chronicle 10/2/08
Houston, of all places, suddenly has a sweeping plan to fight global warming.

JUDGE: CITY SIGN ORDINANCE DOESN’T VIOLATE FREE SPEECH
Houston chronicle 9/28/08
A federal judge on Monday restored the city’s authority to regulate billboards in a 5-mile ring around its limits, ruling that Houston’s sign ordinance is constitutional.

ANALYSIS: NEARLY 1,500 SITES STILL NEED TO BE CLEANED AFTER IKE
Houston Chronicle 10/5/08
Hurricane Ike’s winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.

ENVIRONMENT WILL SHOW IKE’S SCARS FOR YEARS
Houston Chronicle 930/08
Thousands of migrating warblers pass through the Bolivar Peninsula about this time every year, making one last stop for food and water before their 600-mile flight over the Gulf of Mexico.

NATURE: COASTAL SANCTUARIES DESPERATELY NEED HELP
Houston Chronicle 9/28/08
I plead with you to pitch in with the restoration of coastal bird sanctuaries torn up by Hurricane Ike. Both volunteer labor and financial contributions are needed.

SHAPED BY DESTRUCTION, GALVESTON WILL ENDURE
Houston Chronicle 10/1/08
Beth Shriner, an elegant woman, wore the latest in disaster-relief gear: an orange gimme cap with four LED lights clipped to its brim. Shriner is in charge of the Galveston Historical Commission’s properties and had just returned to the island with a team to assess Hurricane Ike’s effects on Ashton Villa, a Victorian house museum that the commission runs.

UNDER FIRE FOR OUTAGES, CENTERPOINT DEFENDS TREE-TRIMMING
Houston Chronicle 9/27/08
The trees that kept Houston neighborhoods in the shade put many of them in the dark when Hurricane Ike blew through.