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April 10, 2016

Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region: April 10, 2015

Featured

  1. What Are The Most Walkable Neighborhoods In Texas? (Dan Solomon – The Daily Post, 3/31/2016)
    “Texas cities don’t have a great rep for walkability. Like, you technically can walk around most cities in Texas, but doing so isn’t always super pleasant. Blame it on the relentless sunshine, the lack of sidewalks, the fact that everything is spread out because it was mostly built with cars in mind, or a population that would rather drive—but the fact is that, when you compare any city in Texas to, say, New York, San Francisco, Miami, or Chicago, you’re going to wish you had your car. Still, even with that in mind, the real estate website Redfin compiled a list of the ten most walkable neighborhoods in the state of Texas… Houston, despite its reputation as the most traffic-snarled city in Texas, maybe the whole dang country, has parts of the city that are comfortable to get around on foot. Specifically, it has Midtown, where residents can walk to Randall’s or Fiesta when they need groceries, or restaurants and bars when they need to escape the crushing pressures of a life that allows them to afford the rent in Midtown.”
    www.texasmonthly.com
  2. City of Houston collaborates with Midway on saving solar panels from demolition (City of Houston, 3/25/2016)
    “The City of Houston has worked with community partners to recycle and donate solar panels removed prior to a building demolition in the Upper Kirby District. In an innovative partnership with Midway, KW Solar, and the University of Houston, the City coordinated for the 53 kW photovoltaic system on top of the 3015 Richmond building to be removed from the rooftop and transported to the City’s Building Materials Reuse Warehouse, a component of the City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department that benefits the community by providing space for excess building materials that would otherwise be dumped in local landfills.”
    www.greenhoustontx.gov
  3. Meet the director of a solar documentary you’ll actually want to watch (Clayton Aldern – Grist, 4/1/2016)
    “For a documentary that’s supposed to be about the solar industry, Catching the Sun doesn’t have a whole lot of sweeping solar-panel vistas or shots of factory-floor whizbangery. And that’s OK. The film, which premieres in New York on April 1, introduces audiences to the people actually bringing a clean energy future into the present: the workers and entrepreneurs often left out of wonky discussions about the economics at play. The film’s director, Shalini Kantayya, calls climate change a ‘nameless, faceless enemy.’ Putting a face on the solutions — the rooftop solar installers, the unlikely Tea Partiers campaigning for decentralized solar generation — offers a new way in.”
    http://grist.org

EcoNotes

  • 10 April
    • New Houston Hurricane Plan Stirs the Pot (Kiah Collier – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
  • 8 April
    • Update: Chemical Fire At The Houston LyondellBasell Refinery Declared Under Control (Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Global renewables grew at fastest rate on record in 2015: research (Nina Chestney – Planet Ark News)
      http://planetark.org
    • SoCal Gas sees partial restart of crippled storage field this summer (Steve Gorman – Planet Ark News)
      http://planetark.org
    • Indoor air quality research helps build safer buildings (Subhiksha Raman – All Things Purdue)
      www.purdueexponent.org
    • TransCanada puts Keystone pipeline spill volume estimate at 400 barrels (Arpan Varghese and Catherine Ngai – Planet Ark)
      http://planetark.org
  • 7 April
  • 6 April
    • Black carbon ages once it hits the atmosphere (Shalini Saxena – ARS Technica)
      http://arstechnica.com
    • Polls yield more signs that Republican opinions on climate are shifting (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org
    • METRO Rail Ridership Tops 250K During NCAA Final Four (Guidry News)
      www.guidrynews.com
    • Total Reports Unit Shutdown, Emissions at Texas Refinery (Nasdaq)
      www.nasdaq.com
    • Sowards: Don’t follow Texas’ lead (Adam Sowards – Wyoming Tribune Eagle)
      www.wyomingnews.com
    • Pair Facing State Jail Felony Charges Stemming from Graffiti on Iconic Enchanted Rock (Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwd.texas.gov
  • 5 April
  • 4 April
    • $30 Oil Not Stopping Massive Project Near Houston (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Federal Judge Approves $20.8 Billion BP Spill Settlement (Jim Malewitz – Trib+Water)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Texas Environmental Flows Initiative innovates sustainable water usage, honored by White House Water Summit (Bri Watkins – The University Star)
      https://star.txstate.edu
    • Deepwater Horizon Trustees Settle with BP for Natural Resource Injuries to the Gulf of Mexico (Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwd.texas.gov
    • April is State Parks Month at Whole Earth Provision Co. (Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwd.texas.gov
    • New CWD Cases Discovered at Captive Deer Breeding Facilities (Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      http://tpwd.texas.gov
  • 1 April
    • DuPont Won’t Reopen Texas Plant Where Leak Killed 4 In 2014 (Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • Energy Corridor Employment Expected to Reach 163,000 by 2030, Predicts Land Use Study (Energy Corridor)
      http://energycorridor.org
    • Get on Your Bikes and Ride… for Energy Corridor’s Bike to Work Day May 19 (Energy Corridor)
      http://energycorridor.org
    • Texas A&M Students Compete to Design Landmark Skybridge and St. Mary’s Neighborhood Plan (Energy Corridor)
      http://energycorridor.org
    • Meet the director of a solar documentary you’ll actually want to watch (Clayton Aldern – Grist)
      http://grist.org
  • 31 March
  • 29 March
    • Lawmakers Mull Tweaks to Eminent Domain Law to Favor Landowners (Trib+Water)
      www.texastribune.org
    • Study finds that fracking contaminated a water supply (Scott Tong – Marketplace)
      www.marketplace.org
  • 28 March
  • 26 March
    • Deal Struck to Move Forward With Vista Ridge Pipeline (Kiah Collier – Trib+Water)
      www.texastribune.org
  • 25 March
    • City of Houston collaborates with Midway on saving solar panels from demolition (City of Houston)
      www.greenhoustontx.gov
  • 24 March
  • 21 March
  • 14 March
  • 9 March