ENVIRONMENTAL HEADLINES, MARCH 17 – 23

BUDGET MOVES OUT OF HOUSE COMMITTEE
Austin American Statesman 3/22/07
State spending would increase to pay for growth in public schools and low-income health care programs, plus repairs to state parks and added security near the Texas-Mexico border, under a proposed state budget approved Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee.

HOUSE BUDGET WRITERS REVEAL $150.1 BILLION BUDGET

OUR HISTORIC SITES LAW’S SORRY STATE
Galveston County Daily News 3/23/07
The proposed legislation to transfer some State Historic Sites from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to the Texas Historical Commission is a bad idea.

SENATE APPROVES CLEAN-AIR PROPOSAL
Houston Chronicle 3/22/07
AUSTIN – A clean-air bill aimed at removing 50,000 polluting vehicles from state roadways by subsidizing more Texans to buy newer models won unanimous approval in the Texas Senate on Wednesday.

TXDOT DIRECTIVE DRIVES CONGRESS’ TEXANS INTO TIZZY
Houston Chronicle 3/22/07
WASHINGTON – Texas Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are hopping mad at the Texas Department of Transportation, accusing its leaders in Austin of trespassing on Congress’ most prized power: doling out federal dollars.

CLEANUP CRUSADER’S BRIO EFFORTS PAY OFF
Houston Chronicle 3/20/07
From the beginning, Marie Flickinger had a feeling something wasn’t right. Maybe it was the sticky, tar-like goo in the outfield of her sons’ Little League field.

EPEC POLYMERS AGREES TO CLEAN UP TEXAS SUPERFUND SITE

DELL, HP PRAISED FOR WORK TO RECYCLE PRODUCT MATERIALS
Houston Chronicle 3/19/07
This is where computers go to die a green death.

GLOBAL WARMING AUTHOR SAYS CITIES CAN DO PLENTY
Houston Chronicle 3/20/07
Tim Flannery, author of the popular global warming book The Weather Makers, visited Houston Monday and spoke at The Progressive Forum. Before the speech, he sat down with Eric Berger to discuss the scope of global warming and outline why governments should be taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and recapture carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

THE LETTUCE LADY’S FAREWELL
Houston Chronicle 3/19/07
Houston foodies likely remember her as the Lettuce Lady, or sometimes the Lettuce Queen.

BIG CHANGE AHEAD FOR SABINE-NECHES CHANNEL
Beaumont Enterprise 3/22/2007
NEDERLAND – It’s only a draft, but a 10-inch-thick copy of a federal report about deepening the Sabine-Neches Waterway is the government’s official way of saying what Southeast Texas officials have been waiting 10 years to hear – it’s feasible.

STATE LEADERS WORK FOR FUNDING, IMPROVEMENTS FOR WATERWAYS

COUNTY APPROVES PLEASURE ISLAND PROTECTION

HAWKING TO SPEAK AT PHYSICS FESTIVAL
Bryan College Station Eagle 3/21/07
World-renowned University of Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking will lecture next month about the origin of the universe during Texas A&M University’s Physics Festival 2007.

WEATHER SERVICE TRAINS EYES ON SKY
Galveston County Daily News 3/21/07
FRIENDSWOOD – Skywarn classes teach residents how to spot the signs of hazardous weather.

FEDS STEP IN AS DEAD DOLPHINS CONTINUE TO WASH ASHORE
Houston Chronicle 3/21/07
GALVESTON – An unusually high number of dead dolphins washed ashore in Galveston and Jefferson counties led federal officials Tuesday to issue a rare declaration, calling the deaths an “unusual mortality event.”

EAST END’S NEON COFFEE CUP DRIPS ITS LAST DROP
Houston Chronicle 3/20/07
The neon coffee cup perched high on the side of a 16-story coffee roaster in the East End has dripped its last drop. But it was good while it lasted.

GOLF GROUP SUES EXXON
BAY AREA Citizen 3/15/2007
A community-wide dispute over whether a property owner should be allowed to develop the Clear Lake Golf Course will now play out in the court system. Renaissance Golf Group, the owner of the 178-acre golf course, has filed suit against Exxon Land Development, which holds deed restrictions on the property preventing residential or commercial development until 2021, in an attempt to eliminate the restrictions.