ECONOTES 2012-07-09: Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region

Featured

1. Opposition grows against making marsh from ship channel sludge (Cindy Horswell – Houston Chronicle, 07/04/2012)
   A proposed marsh is part of the plan to deepen and widen the Bayport Channel to accommodate much larger container ships. The new marsh would be a depository site for the dredged material. Environmentalists are worried that it will be like open bay dumping that previously resulted in sludge migrating all over the bay.
   http://www.chron.com/
2. Would You Like To See Plastic Bags Banned? (Edel Howlin – KUHF News, 07/04/2012)
   Banning plastic bags was recently presented at a city council budget meeting, but it was not passed. While some citizens fully support the idea, others are more reluctant. Council Member Ed Gonzalez says that the ban could decrease the amount of litter and our streets and bayous as well as save Houston thousands of dollars in clean up fees.
   http://app1.kuhf.org/
3. Ikea’s Houston store powers up solar panels (Olivia Pulsinelli – Houston Business Journal, 07/09/2012)
   The Houston IKEA store has just started up its 813-kilowatt solar energy system. The 116,400-square-foot photovoltaic array consists of 3,388 panels and will produce approximately 1.15 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity annually. This makes IKEA the largest solar owner in Texas with solar energy systems installed in Houston, Frisco, and Round Rock stores.
   http://www.bizjournals.com/

EcoNotes

• 9 July
  • Ikea’s Houston store powers up solar panels (Olivia Pulsinelli – Houston Business Journal)
    http://www.bizjournals.com/
• 6 July
  • Editorial: Why Houston can breathe more freely (Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/
  • First casualty of greenhouse gas rules may be Texas plant (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/
  • To Break the Drought, Hoping for a Perfect Storm (Daniel Ramirez – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
  • How Exxon Learned From its Mistakes: A Conversation With Steve Coll (Terrence Henry – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
  • El Nino may strike in third quarter: forecaster (Rene Pastor – Planet Ark News)
    http://planetark.org/
• 5 July
  • Biologists working to save tiny shiners (Matthew Tresaugue – My SA News)
    http://www.mysanantonio.com/
  • Drought-killed trees could become liability issues for landowners (Texas Forest Service)
    http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/
  • A Half Billion Dead Trees Pose Safety Risk (Laurie Johnson – KUHF News)
    http://app1.kuhf.org/
  • The Kids Are All Right: The Lower Colorado Is Low on Oxygen (Terrence Henry and Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
  • For Texas Ranchers, the Grass Isn’t Always Greener (Terrence Henry and Kelly Connelly – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
  • Pollinators Essential to the Dance of Life (Vicki Wolf – CLEAN)
    http://www.cleanhouston.org/
  • In the Path of a Fracking Frenzy (CLEAN)
    http://www.cleanhouston.org/
• 4 July
  • Opposition grows against making marsh from ship channel sludge (Cindy Horswell – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/
  • Would You Like To See Plastic Bags Banned? (Edel Howlin – KUHF News)
    http://app1.kuhf.org/
• 3 July
  • For Texas Bays and Beaches, Pick Your Poison: Rainfall or Drought (Robb Jacobson – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
• 2 July
  • A Grander Vision (Better Houston)
    http://betterhouston.org/
  • Editorial: Time to accept the science on global warming (Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/
  • New deep-water well rules coming soon (Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/
  • Can Harris County Really Meet the New Soot Standards? (Larry R. Soward – Air Alliance Houston)
    http://airalliancehouston.org/
  • At House Hearing, Water Issues Dominate (Sheyda Aboii – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
  • Will habitat disappear before we figure out how to save bobwhites? (Steve Lightfoot – Texas Parks & Wildlife)
    http://www.tpwmagazine.com/
  • Living harmoniously with animals in the city (Rusty Middleton and Richard Heilbrun – Texas Parks & Wildlife)
    http://www.tpwmagazine.com/
  • Large and adorably fuzzy, these important pollinators help produce a bounty of Texas foods (Michael Warriner – Texas Parks & Wildlife)
    http://www.tpwmagazine.com/
  • The Truth About Texas: Water = Life (Jake Silverstein – Texas Monthly)
    http://www.texasmonthly.com/
• 29 June
  • Are The High Ozone Levels For Houston Area Worrisome? (Bill Stamps – KUHF News)
    http://app1.kuhf.org/
  • Life By the Drop: Where Drought Meets the Sea, A Q&A With Leslie Hartman (Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
    http://stateimpact.npr.org/
• 28 June
  • Texas beaches aided by drought (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/
• 27 June
  • Judges unanimously reject Texas’ challenge of federal greenhouse-gas rules (Texas Climate News)
    http://texasclimatenews.org/