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February 3, 2014

ECONOTES 2014-02-04: Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region

Featured

  1. ‘Going local’ challenges chefs, farmers (David Kaplan – Houston Chronicle, 1/28/2014)
    A handful of Houston restaurants are “going local,” serving up menus sourced entirely from small farms and ranches in the area, or as close to Houston as the chefs can find. But that can turn a modestly priced meal into a credit-card stretcher, adding 50 percent or more to the tab. The question then becomes: How much can a restaurant charge customers for local food without chasing them off? Increasingly, restaurateurs here and elsewhere are facing the same kinds of choices as diners express growing concern about the origins of their food. Chefs and farmers got together recently to discuss the challenges in the local-food movement at an event sponsored by Houston Food Policy Workgroup, an offshoot of Houston Tomorrow, which champions local quality-of-life issues.
    www.houstonchronicle.com
  2. About That Tainted Seafood from Texas (Deborah Blum – Wired)
    One of harbingers of warm weather here in Madison is the arrival of trucks packed with seafood from Galveston, Texas. The fishermen hoist a banner proclaiming “Never Been Frozen” and simply wait for customers to cue up. Imagine me in that cue, as I have been for many years, breathing the balmy spring air and loading up on seafood from the famous bay. And imagine how dismayed I was when I discovered, while doing some background reading on dioxins, that the state of Texas has been allowing that and other notable industrial compounds – to seep into those waters – and, of course, into the fish that live there. The dioxins, in particular, have been directly traced from waste pits on the edge of the San Jacinto River as it rambles from Lake Houston and into this, one of our country’s great estuaries.
    www.wired.com
  3. Restoration work moving indoors at NDC (Robin Foster – The Examiner, 1/30/2014)
    Long-needed repairs and renovations are under way at the Nature Discovery Center. And while the work is cause for excitement, it comes at a cost — programming will be scaled back, if only for the month of February, in order for the work to be completed. Collectively known as the Gateway Project, the capital improvements at Henshaw House and surrounding grounds of Russ Pitman Park will update classrooms and office space, improve pathways and outdoor facilities and further highlight habitat zones that represent the Gulf Coast region. The improvement plans are said to help the Nature Discovery Center capitalize on its location in what some are referring to as a Bellaire park corridor. Russ Pitman Park is adjacent to Evergreen Park, and both are only a few blocks south of the developing Evelyn’s Park.
    www.yourhoustonnews.com

EcoNotes

  • 3 February
    • New Study Looks At Health Benefits Of Walking To Transit Stops (Gail Delaughter – KUHF News)
      http://app1.kuhf.org
  • 2 February
    • Anti-Regulation Politics May Have Hurt Energy Industry (Neena Satija – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
  • 31 January
  • 30 January
  • 29 January
    • Paving the prairie (Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • Texas regulators weigh in on proposed greenhouse gas rules (Cindee Talley – HPPR News)
      http://hppr.org
    • Kountze ISD Supports Big Thicket (The Liberty County Vindicator)
      www.thevindicator.com
    • WaterSmart program receives special recognition from the Houston-Galveston Area Council (AgriLife Today)
      http://today.agrilife.org
    • High-speed rail project reaches new milestone (Robin Foster – The Potpourri)
      www.yourhoustonnews.com
    • Texas A&M Economic Impact Locally At Record Level—More Than $4.4 Billion For 2013 (tamu Times)
      http://tamutimes.tamu.edu
    • Rio Grande Water Users Fear Groundwater Pumping Project (Neena Satija – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Restrooms or Wetlands: How Should Texas Spend BP Spill Money? (Dave Fehling – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • Oil companies think they’ll win renewable-fuels battle (Jennifer A. Dlouhy – My SA News)
      www.mysanantonio.com
  • 28 January
    • ‘Going local’ challenges chefs, farmers (David Kaplan – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Recycling Resolutions from Keep Kingwood Green (Candy Bowman – The Humble Observer)
      www.yourhoustonnews.com
    • Texas and Oklahoma Reach Agreement on Water Pump (Jim Malewitz, The Texas Tribune – My High Plains)
      www.myhighplains.com
    • Why We Could See More Cold Snaps in a Warming World (Alex Dropkin – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • U.S. propane shortage hits millions during brutal freeze (Sabina Zawadzki and Edward McAllister – Planet Ark News)
      http://planetark.org
  • 27 January
    • TAPE Recognizes Youth Education with a 2014 Crystal Award (Sandra Wicoff – Urban Harvest Blog)
      http://urbanharvest.org
    • Industry and Activists Battle Over Welds and Words As Crude Moves in Keystone XL (Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • Mayor at Center of Texas Quake Swarm Wants Disposal Wells Suspended (Terrence Henry – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • On energy, Obama speech may hit just some of the above (Jennifer A. Dlouhy – My SA News)
      www.mysanantonio.com
    • The Palm Oil Problem: Tropical Deforestation (EarthShare)
      www.earthshare.org
  • 24 January
  • 23 January
    • From fruit stolen, a friendship is harvested (Heather Alexander and Mike Tolson – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Retiring Lawmaker Says Work Remains For Texas Water (Mose Buchele, Alex Dropkin – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
  • 22 January
    • Southern leg of Keystone pipeline starts delivering crude to Gulf Coast refineries (Nicholas Sakelaris – Houston Business Journal)
      www.bizjournals.com
    • TCEQ Allows Water to Be Cut Off to Rice Farmers (Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org

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