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December 21, 2015

Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region: December 21, 2015

Featured

  1. Bad Smog Days Up In Houston Where Air Had Been Improving (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media, 12/18/2015)
    “Over the past decade, Houston’s air has gotten less and less smoggy as the refining and petrochemical industry reduced emissions and car engines ran cleaner. But suddenly, it appears the smog may be back.  ‘What was surprising was that smog levels are up,’ says Ilan Levin, an attorney in Austin with the Environmental Integrity Project. Levin tells Houston Public Media that his group, along with Air Alliance Houston, used data from the state and from an  analysis done by independent researchers in Houston. He says they found that levels of ozone —- or smog — were as high in downtown Houston and in the Aldine area in 2015 as they were a decade ago.”
    www.houstonpublicmedia.org
  2. Largest Texas City Embraces Private Clean Energy Finance Program in Record Year (Charlene Heydinger – Texas Clean Air Matters, 12/16/2015)
    “As a bustling metropolis and the biggest city in Texas, Houston has a lot of buildings – and that equals a lot of opportunity to make these facilities more energy- and water-efficient. Houston grabbed headlines last month when it became the first in Texas to adopt a citywide Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. PACE will help Houston building owners undertake much-needed water and energy efficiency improvements through private financing – all without having to worry about steep upfront costs. This move means substantial economic development potential, in addition to environmental benefits, for the nation’s fourth largest city. It’s also a sign this innovative clean energy finance tool is catching fire in Texas: Houston joins Austin’s Travis County, which embraced PACE in March, and a Dallas city ordinance is just on the horizon.”
    http://blogs.edf.org
  3. Christmas Bird Count is a holiday tradition (Gary Clark – Houston Chronicle, 12/3/2015)
    “Residents from all walks of life have voluntarily gathered across the country every year for 115 years to conduct the annual Christmas Bird Count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society. The bird count marks the longest-running and most successful citizen-science project in history as it enters its 116th season, from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5. Ornithologist Frank Chapman (1864-1945) conceived the idea of a bird count in 1900 as an alternative to the then-popular Christmas side-hunt, in which teams competed for the number of birds they could shoot and bag in a single day. On Christmas Day of that year, 27 volunteers in 25 North American locations simply observed and counted 90 species of birds and launched what would become the Christmas Bird Count.”
    www.houstonchronicle.com

EcoNotes

  • 18 December
  • 17 December
  • 16 December
    • Largest Texas City Embraces Private Clean Energy Finance Program in Record Year (Charlene Heydinger – Texas Clean Air Matters)
      http://blogs.edf.org
    • Congress Poised to Lift Oil Export Ban (Abby Livingston – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Americans in Paris: A European journalist’s assessment of the US role (Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org
    • This gas is worse for the climate than carbon dioxide — and it’s leaking all over the place (Darren Ankrom – Business Insider)
      www.businessinsider.com
    • METRO Spells Out Rules of the Road with New “Respect Is Mutual” Campaign (Texas Police News)
      www.texaspolicenews.com
  • 15 December
    • Is Texas’ ‘Small Army’ Of Pollution Enforcers Big Enough For The Job? (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • “Going green” in the Fashion Industry (Yahdashalom Jim-Daniels – airCurrent News)
      http://airalliancehouston.org
    • Ozone Theater and the “MAAML” visit Durham Elementary (airCurrent News)
      http://airalliancehouston.org
    • Oil & Gas Outsider Runs For Texas Railroad Commission Dominated By Industry Insiders (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Toxic Chemical Causes Lung Disease in Producers and Users of Flavored E-Cigarettes (Elizabeth Grossman – Truthout)
      www.truth-out.org
    • Railroad Commission Names New Executive Director (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • The Q&A: Lucas Gregory (Eleanor Dearman – Trib+Water)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Gulf Council to Hold Public Hearings Around the Gulf of Mexico (The Outdoor Wire)
      www.theoutdoorwire.com
  • 14 December
    • Flood Experts Call for Better Warning Systems (Jordan Rudner – Trib+Water)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Exxon Mobil, Cheniere Shake Up Leadership, While Shell Announces 2,800 More Job Cuts (Andrew Schneider – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Patterson, Declining to Run for Commission, Knocks Trump (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Flood Experts Call for Better Warning Systems (Jordan Rudner – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Desalination Project Worth Its Salt (Shelley Kofler – Texas Public Radio)
      http://tpr.org
    • San Antonio military installations getting $5 million water fix (Susan Saporito – San Antonio Business Journal)
      www.bizjournals.com
    • E.P.A. Broke Law With Social Media Push for Water Rule, Auditor Finds (Eric Lipton and Michael D. Shear – The New York Times)
      www.nytimes.com
  • 13 December
  • 12 December
    • In Paris, Negotiators Ink Historic Climate Accord (Kiah Collier – Trib+Water)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Paris climate deal: nearly 200 nations sign in end of fossil fuel era (Suzanne Goldenberg, John Vidal, Lenore Taylor, Adam Vaughan and Fiona Harvey – The Guardian)
      www.theguardian.com
    • Texas A&M students walk with water buckets to raise awareness (Eva Vigh – Texas Water Resources Institute)
      http://twri.tamu.edu
    • Planners aim for coastal growth in all the right places (Texas Water Resources Institute)
      http://twri.tamu.edu
  • 11 December
    • Turn the soggy spot in your yard into a rain garden (Jill Carroll – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Piling sand to stop erosion ultimately made the land sink, study says (The Times-Picayune)
      www.nola.com
  • 10 December
    • Cleaning up the water left over from mining operations can literally take generations – 25 to 50 years on average – leaving billions of gallons of the precious resource locked up and useless. (UF News)
      http://news.ufl.edu
  • 9 December
    • Why Storing Water for the Future Means Looking Underground (Laura Bliss – City Lab)
      www.citylab.com
    • House Clears Bill Aimed At Red River Confusion (Jim Malewitz – Trib+Water)
      www.texastribune.org
  • 8 December
  • 4 December
    • From Oil Patch to Renewable Energy King, Texas Shows COP21 How It’s Done (Tina Casey – Triple Pundit)
      www.triplepundit.com
  • 3 December
  • 2 December
    • Sustainability Fest Educates, Entertains UH Community (University of Houston)
      www.uh.edu
    • UH Researchers Return from World’s Largest Volcano with New Data (University of Houston)
      www.uh.edu
  • 30 November
    • UH Scientist Leads New Effort to Improve Clean-up After Oil Spills (University of Houston)
      www.uh.edu