ECONOTES 2011-08-17: Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region
Featured
- How Sologen’s plan to turn abandoned oil and gas wells into geothermal power producers could replace coal power in Texas (Greg Harmen – The Current, 08/10/2011)
Texas is in need of power, especially after experiencing record-setting energy use this summer. Researchers are now advocating for geothermal energy, as they believe that it could replace coal power. This would be beneficial for Texas, which has been fighting with the EPA over greenhouse gas emissions and has been forced to shut down a number of coal plants already.
http://sacurrent.com/news/ - Desalination an Answer to Drought? (Sally MacDonald – My Fox Houston, 08/15/2011)
One resident in Galveston, John Machol, is pushing for a city owned desalination plant to create 50 million gallons of clean water a day. The plant would create twice the amount of water that the city would need, so half of the water would be available to sell. The Galveston Bay Foundation does not think that desalination is the only answer. They would They’d like to see more conservation to reduce demand.
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/ - Texas’ wind industry is praised again for helping state avoid blackouts (Texas Climate News)
ERCOT, the grid agency, is praising the wind industry for helping avoid blackouts when the temperatures in Texas increased to over 100 degrees. The power demand almost reached the maximum production capacity, but the wind industry generated more power than anticipated.
http://texasclimatenews.org/
EcoNotes
- 17 August
- TCEQ Approves Fines Totaling $904,545 (TCEQ News)
http://www.tceq.texas.gov/news/ - Texas agricultural drought losses reach record $5.2 billion (Blair Fannin – AgriLife Today)
http://agrilife.org/today/ - 16 August
- Harris County Flood Control District Project to Improve Drainage (Guidry News)
http://www.guidrynews.com/story - Clear Lake to host water quality conference (The Galveston County Daily News)
http://galvestondailynews.com/ - Texas’ wind industry is praised again for helping state avoid blackouts (Texas Climate News)
http://texasclimatenews.org/ - City of Shoreacres Water Restrictions (Guidry News)
http://www.guidrynews.com/story - Houston forced to use reserves from Lake Conroe (ABC 13 News)
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/ - Drought is limiting targets for Texas cloud seeders (Steve Campbell – Boston Herald)
http://www.bostonherald.com/ - Pictures tell the story: Drought draining Lake Houston, leading to mandatory conservation order (Vanesa Brashier – Your Bellaire News)
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/ - 15 August
- Mayor Parker Orders Water Conservation (David Crossley – Houston Tomorrow)
http://www.houstontomorrow.org/livability/ - City of Houston Calls for Water from Lake Conroe (Guidry News)
http://www.guidrynews.com/story - Desalination an Answer to Drought? (Sally MacDonald – My Fox Houston)
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/ - Drought threatens West Texas town’s existence (Allan Turner – My SA News)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/ - Stage Two Water Conservation Implemented In Houston (Ed Mayberry – KUHF News)
http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/ - 14 August
- New drought and wildfire website available (Steve Byrns – MyPlainview News)
http://www.myplainview.com/ - Texas is going to get hotter and drier (David Crossley – Houston Tomorrow)
http://www.houstontomorrow.org/livability/ - 13 August
- San Jacinto River Authority looking at Trinity water (Howard Roden – Your Tomball News)
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/ - Chemical innovation enters a fluid debate (Simone Sebastian – Houston Chronicle)
http://www.chron.com/ - 12 August
- Drought Deepens In South; Texas Driest In Century (Carey Gillam – Planet Ark News)
http://planetark.org/ - Texas Agriculture Could See Record Losses (Carrie Feibel – KUHF News)
http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/ - Texas Petroleum Investment Company Fined for Violating the Clean Water Act (Andrew Schneider – KUHF News)
http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/ - Texas farmers and ranchers fear record loss (Cindy Horswell – Houston Chronicle)
http://www.chron.com/ - Several cities across area under mandatory water restrictions (KHOU News)
http://www.khou.com/news/ - Don’t depend on Mother Nature to water your drought-stricken trees (Texas Forest Service)
http://txforestservice.tamu.edu - EPA Seeks Input on the Development of Drinking Water Perchlorate Regulation (EPA News)
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ - Drought impact moves towards record (William Pack and Pierre Bertrand – My SA News)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/ - Don’t depend on Mother Nature to water your drought-stricken trees (Guidry News)
http://www.guidrynews.com/story - TxDOT Committed to Preserving Green space (Guidry News)
http://www.guidrynews.com/ - 11 August
- Texas Petroleum Investment Company Fined for Violating the Clean Water Act (EPA News)
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ - Bellaire water usage lowest in several years; no restrictions anticipated (Your WestU News)
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/ - Houston company acquires fracking water pipeline (Houston Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston - Galveston Prohibits All Outdoor Watering; Enacts Modified Stage 2 Water Restrictions (Guidry News)
http://www.guidrynews.com/story - City of Galveston: All Outdoor Watering Prohibitted; Modified Stage 2 Restrictions Enacted (City of Galveston News)
http://www.cityofgalveston.org/news/ - 10 August
- How Sologen’s plan to turn abandoned oil and gas wells into geothermal power producers could replace coal power in Texas (Greg Harmen – The Current)
http://sacurrent.com/news/ - Coastal Wind Power Helps Texas Fight Blackouts (Guidry News)
http://guidrynews.com/story - Houston To Mandate Water Conservation
http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/ - Texas’ Permian Reef Can Give Clues About Earth’s History, Say Texas A&M Researchers (Guidry News)
http://guidrynews.com/story - Texas Climatic Bulletin – July (Office of the state climatologist)
http://atmo.tamu.edu/osc/ - Statistical relations of precipitation and stream runoff for El Niño and La Niña periods, Texas Hill Country (Raymond M. Slade Jr. and T. Edwin Chow – Texas Water Journal)
http://journals.tdl.org/twj/