ECONOTES 2013-10-01: Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region

Featured

1. This flood-control project needs further discussion – Opinion (Houston Chronicle, 9/24/2013)
   The Harris County Flood Control District’s job is to control flooding. Sometimes the district does that job in ways that allow detention ponds or bayou banks to double as parks or wetlands; we love some of those projects. But the flood-control guys’ expertise isn’t really in ecology, park management, water recreation, archaeology or native plants. The problem with the flood-control district’s Memorial Park Demonstration Plan is that it would impact much more than flooding. The flood-control district (along with its quiet partners, the city of Houston and the River Oaks Country Club) proposes to move major amounts of earth along 1.5 miles of Buffalo Bayou, the part that forms the southern, wild boundary of Memorial Park.
   http://www.chron.com/
2. Metro Solicits Public Input For Transit Redesign (Ed Mayberry – KUHF News, 9/30/2013)
   Metro is soliciting input from the public as it redesigns it’s transit network. As the agency rethinks priorities, the idea is to get feedback from those who actually use the system. It’s an 18-month-long online project, and the goal is to come up with a more efficient system that can carry more people. The survey is not necessarily a route-by-route consideration, but a blank-slate redesign of the system, taking into account light rail.
   http://app1.kuhf.org/
3. New Caney ISD students building super-modern home (The East Montgomery County Observer, 9/27/2013)
   The Piney Woods United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Branch of Montgomery County has entered into a partnership with New Caney ISD to build a “green” demonstration home from used shipping containers. It will be the first of its kind built in the country. When completed, the fully functioning demonstration home will showcase to the public the most energy efficient, affordable home features available, including energy efficiency, recycling, water management, and use of readily available green products.
   http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/

EcoNotes

• 30 September
  • Metro Solicits Public Input For Transit Redesign (Ed Mayberry – KUHF News)
    http://app1.kuhf.org/
  • Report: Electric Deregulation Drives Complaints (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
    https://www.texastribune.org/
  • Will Gravel Fix Broken Roads in the Eagle Ford Shale? (Michael Marks – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
• 28 September
  • Rockport Beach Park provides an oasis for birds and humans (Gary Clark – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/
• 27 September
  • New Caney ISD students building super-modern home (The East Montgomery County Observer)
    http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/
  • Yale polls: Texans aren’t as different on climate issues as some might think (Texas Climate News)
    http://texasclimatenews.org/
  • City Hall Farmers’ Market Returns with Eight New Vendors (Kaitlin Steinberg – Houston Press)
    http://blogs.houstonpress.com/
  • Why More Climate Science Hasn’t Led to More Climate Policy – Yet (Andrew C. Revkin – The New York Times)
    http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/
  • Locals Sing the Boomtown Blues in West Texas and Beyond (Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
• 26 September
  • Fort Bend County promoting recycling efforts (Your Fort Bend News)
    http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/
  • CenterPoint Energy to give away 2,500 free trees (Eastex Advocate)
    http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/
  • Green Mountain Energy Company Introduces First 100% Solar Electricity Offer in Texas (Newsday)
    http://www.newsday.com/
  • Natural gas loses steam for power generation (Emily Pickrell – Fuel Fix)
    http://fuelfix.com/
  • Memorial Park Running Trails Center concludes capital campaign (Rusty Graham – Memorial Examiner)
    http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/
  • Texas-based biofuels company plans expansion (Jeff Amy – Fuel Fix)
    http://fuelfix.com/
  • Rail movements of oil continue to rise (Zain Shauk – Fuel Fix)
    http://fuelfix.com/
  • Pew: Americans support Keystone, oppose hydraulic fracturing (Collin Eaton – Fuel Fix)
    http://fuelfix.com/
  • Energy independence by 2020 won’t mean isolationism (Zain Shauk – Fuel Fix)
    http://fuelfix.com/
  • For Texas Electricity Customers, Here Comes the Sun (Terrence Henry – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
• 25 September
  • Houston Beats The Odds For Scenic City Designation (Laurie Johnson – KUHF News)
    http://app1.kuhf.org/
  • Deep sea recovery from U.S. Gulf spill could take decades: study (Ian Simpson – Planet Ark News)
    http://planetark.org/
• 24 September
  • This flood-control project needs further discussion (Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/
  • Part 3 – Making Fossil Fuel a Thing of the Past: Solving renewable energy reliability issues (Vicki Wolf – CLEAN)
    http://www.cleanhouston.org/
  • Green in Brownwood: How One Business Conserves Water in the Middle of Texas (Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
  • Save Money with Energy Saving Trees Program (Texas Forest Service)
    http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu/
  • EPA: Goal to reduce Gulf ‘dead zone’ won’t be met by 2015 (Elizabeth Dunbar – MPR News)
    http://minnesota.publicradio.org/
  • Current U.S. coal plants excluded from new carbon capture rules – EPA Chief (Valerie Volcovici – Planet Ark News)
    http://planetark.org/
  • No, You Can’t Keep a Pet Deer in Texas (Michael Marks – StateImpact News)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
• 23 September
  • Environmental well inspections falling short, GAO says (Jennifer A. Dlouhy – Fuel Fix)
    http://fuelfix.com/
• 18 September
  • Emergency water plan angers environmentalists (Matthew Tresaugue, Houston Chronicle – My SA News)
    http://www.mysanantonio.com/
  • As Austin’s Lakes Dwindle, Gulf Coast May Also Suffer (Neena Satija – The Texas Tribune)
    https://www.texastribune.org/
  • Fall maze, pumpkin patch opening in Cleveland (Rachel Hall – Your Houston News)
    http://m.yourhoustonnews.com/