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2014-03-25: Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region
March 24, 2014

2014-03-25: Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region

Featured

  1. Spill comes at ‘worst time’ for wildlife in Galveston Bay
    An oiled Laughing Gulls shown left sits next to one without oil at the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary
    Photo By Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle

    (Harvey Rice, Anita Hassan, Lise Olsen – Houston Chronicle, 3/23/2014)
    Salvage vessels Sunday finished pumping about 750,000 gallons of heavy marine fuel oil from a partially sunken barge that leaked thousands of gallons of thick, oozing sludge into Galveston Bay after a collision with a tanker. Oil from the damaged barge spread as far 12 miles into Galveston Bay as wind and choppy water made containing the spill impossible. The spill also comes at the “worst time” for tens of thousands of shore and seabirds, an estimated 50,000 of which roost at the Bolivar Flats refuge only about two miles from where the spill occurred, according to Richard Gibbons, conservation director for the Houston Audubon Society. “We’re at the peak of the birding season. In a couple weeks, there’s a birding festival,” said Anna Armitage, a professor at Texas A&M University’s Galveston branch who is an expert on marshes and marine habitats. “This is one of the worst times for birds to be potentially exposed.”
    www.chron.com

  2. Funding found to save endangered turtles (Harvey Rice – Houston Chronicle, 3/20/2014)
    Officials of Gulf Coast states have stepped in to restore funding to save the world’s most endangered sea turtle after it was slashed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a researcher said Thursday. The Gulf of Mexico Marine Fisheries Commission, composed of representatives from each of the five Gulf states, voted Wednesday to restore $150,000 in funding needed to continue the Mexico/U.S. Binational Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Population Restoration Project, said Benny Gallaway, president of LGL Ecological Research Associates. The Kemp’s ridley is the official Texas sea turtle and nests almost exclusively in Texas and northern Mexico. The money is essential for saving the Kemp’s ridley, which has been going into decline since 2010, said Gallaway, who asked the commission to fund the project. The program collects information that is necessary to track the turtle.
    www.chron.com
  3. To Promote Recycling, a City Wants to Eliminate Separating (Neena Satija, The Texas Tribune – The New York Times, 3/20/2014)
    Houston, which recycles only 6 percent of the waste it collects, has a bold idea to improve that figure: Eliminate the extra blue bin for recycling. Under a “One Bin for All” proposal that is being considered, Houston residents would not need to separate their paper, cardboard and soda cans from the rest of their trash. Many environmental activists have expressed concern that it could discourage residents from thinking about what — and how much — they throw away. Kim Jones, a professor of environmental engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, said that mixing recyclable material with food and other waste products could make it less valuable. Contaminated paper has been rejected in the past. Questions also remain about the waste-to-energy strategy. A study released last year by S.A.I.C., an engineering and consulting firm, found that turning waste into usable energy could cost more than $100 a ton. Houston now spends $24.60 a ton on landfill fees.
    www.nytimes.com

EcoNotes

  • 24 March
    • Oil spill cleanup efforts continue off Texas Gulf shore (Terry Wade – Planet Ark News)
      http://planetark.org
  • 23 March
      • Spill comes at ‘worst time’ for wildlife in Galveston Bay (Harvey Rice, Anita Hassan, Lise Olsen – Houston Chronicle)
        www.chron.com
  • 21 March
  • 20 March
    • To Promote Recycling, a City Wants to Eliminate Separating (Neena Satija, The Texas Tribune – The New York Times)
      www.nytimes.com
    • Funding found to save endangered turtles (Harvey Rice – Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • City officials taking a look at bicyclist safety (Michael Sudhalter – The Leader)
      www.theleadernews.com
    • Waste Management Earth Day Houston (Air Alliance Houston News)
      www.earthdayhouston.org
    • Houston’s New Urban Marketplace Promotes City’s Creative Minds (Maggie Martin – Houston Matters)
      www.houstonmatters.org
    • Down the Drain: Who’s Watching Chemicals Used in Oil Drilling? (Dave Fehling – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • Claims of Dumping in West Texas Raise Oversight Questions (Dave Fehling, KUHF News/StateImpact Texas – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • How the West Texas Energy Boom Threatens Astronomy (Lorne Matalon, Fronteras – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
  • 19 March
    • Small donations of money and time keep Houston green (Kathy Huber – Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • Volunteers make Houston a little bit greener (Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • CenterPoint Energy and Trees For Houston partner to give away 2,500 shade trees (The Examiner)
      www.yourhoustonnews.com
    • Now You Can Track Groundwater Levels in Texas (Shawna Reding – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • Study: Chevron refinery plan won’t boost pollution (David R. Baker – Fuel Fix)
      http://fuelfix.com
    • Texas biofuel maker’s stock falls after warning of possible bankruptcy (Fuel Fix)
      http://fuelfix.com
    • Kingwood Country Club partners with Oak Forest Elementary for the Monarch Butterfly (The Atascocita Observer)
      www.yourhoustonnews.com
    • Once a nuisance, alligator gar increasingly protected (Shannon Tompkins – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Entries sought for Jones Park Photo Contest (Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • Invasive Zebra Mussels May Have Finally Met Their Match (Shawna Reding – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • SolarCity posts profit on rooftop demand, tax benefit (Christopher Martin and Justin Doom, Bloomberg News – Fuel Fix)
      http://fuelfix.com
    • Fastest growing city in Texas just keeps getting bigger with ExxonMobil on the way (Elizabeth Rhodes – Culture Map Houston)
      http://houston.culturemap.com
    • US biologist creates buzz about bees (Planet Ark News)
      http://planetark.org
  • 18 March
    • Paddlers navigate Buffalo Bayou during annual Regatta (The Rancher)
      www.yourhoustonnews.com
    • Westbury gardeners raise funds toward land purchase (Flori Meeks – Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • NASA-funded report says society is trending toward big collapse (Carol Christian – Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • Polite trails (Houston Chronicle)
      www.chron.com
    • Regulations Could Harm Texas’ Bid for Tesla Plant (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Next 3 Months ‘Huge’ In Preventing Brutal Texas Summer (Alex Dropkin – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • Coal demand has hit rock bottom, study says (Ryan Holeywell – Fuel Fix)
      http://fuelfix.com
    • Tracking Global Deforestation (and Reforestation) (The Dirt)
      http://dirt.asla.org
    • Environmentalists challenge Obama on natural gas exports (Jennifer A. Dlouhy – Fuel Fix)
      http://fuelfix.com
    • Music and a Sustainable Future to Shine at Levitt Pavilion Houston (ReVerb – The Levitt Pavilions Blog)
      http://blog.levittpavilions.org
  • 16 March
    • Disaster averted when rice, fuel oil barges collide in Houston Ship Channel (Cindy Horswell – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
  • 14 March
  • 13 March
    • EPA lifts BP contracting suspension (Video) (Jordan Blum – Houston Business Journal)
      www.bizjournals.com
  • 11 March
  • 10 March
    • Election 2014: Does climate change stand a chance against the oil boom? (Greg Harman – The Daily Climate)
    • www.dailyclimate.org
  • 8 March
    • Drought Hastens End of Region’s Hydropower Era (Jim Malewitz, The Texas Tribune – The New York Times)
      www.nytimes.com
  • 7 March
  • 1 March