2017 Environmental Year in Review

We asked you, our readers, to tell us what you might put on a list of the most significant environmental accomplishments, controversies, issues, news, and events in the greater Houston region impacting the environment.

Here’s what you’ve shared with us (in no particular order):

• Passing the City of Houston Bike Plan
• Negotiation of a new recycling contract for the City of Houston
• San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Record of Decision: Full Removal (read more from the Galveston Bay Foundation and the EPA, which is hosting a meeting on Monday, Dec. 4, 2017)
• People’s Climate March (and Women’s March & Science March)
• Climate change & related flooding/storm surge threat (pre-Harvey)
• Proposed widening of I45, which is proposed to cover Little White Oak and impose even greater air quality, noise pollution, and lack of connectivity burdens on a large, mostly disadvantaged part of Houston
• Federal judge orders Exxon to pay $20 million penalty for violations of Clean Air Act at Baytown refinery and chemical plants
• At the Texas Legislature:
  • Preventing a ban on local reusable bag regulations (see commentary from Texas Campaign for the Environment, one of many advocated pounding the pavement in Austin earlier this year)
  • Efforts to remove municipalities’ ability to regulate local issues such as tree preservation that are essential to combating urban heat island effect
• In Washington DC:
  • Trump Administration Proposes Steep EPA Budget Cuts (more information available on the website of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies)
  • Toxic Substance Control Act is updated and called The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act
  • Trump pulling US out of Paris Climate Accord (read some of the coverage from Houston Public Media)
• Terry Hershey’s legacy lives on (see article in Houston Chronicle)
• The Great Blizzard of 2018 (not really a blizzard, but enough to make snowmen)
• Harvey (here are a few of the early articles relating Harvey and the environment)

• Stokes: Cost must be considered in building storm surge barrier (Bob Stokes for the Houston Chronicle, 9/13/17)
• Post-Harvey aerial mosquito spraying set for Thursday night (Todd Ackerman, Houston Chronicle, 9/13/17)
• Galena Park gasoline spill dwarfed other Harvey leaks, but stayed out of public eye for days (Collin Eaton and Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle, 9/12/17)
• We must act now before the next Harvey – or worse (Lisa Falkenberg, Houston Chronicle, 9/12/17)
• 135,000 gallons of sludge released into Galveston Bay after equipment failure, officials say (Syan Rhodes, Click2Houston, 9/12/17)
• Competition for trucks, better pay from Irma could slow Harvey debris removal (Mike Morris, Houston Chronicle, 9/12/17)
• Fanged creature found on Texas beach after Hurricane Harvey (BBC News, 9/13/17) (Ok, so I haven’t seen any local news about the supposed fangtooth snake-eel, but how could I pass up the opportunity to share this?)
• HPD rescues alligator snapping turtle along Memorial (Margaret Kadifa, Houston Chronicle, 9/12/17)
• Patman: Harvey proves robust public transit needed (Carrin Patman for the Houston Chronicle, 9/12/17)
• Long-sought coastal barrier takes on new urgency in wake of Harvey (Robert Downen, Houston Chronicle, 9/12/17)
• Houston’s ‘flood czar’ says Harvey has brought the city to a decision point on flood control (Neena Satija and Kiah Collier, The Texas Tribune, 9/13/17)
• Will the impact of hurricanes become more severe? (Sally Brown, University of Southampton, for Houston Chronicle, 9/11/17)
• Emmett calls for sweeping changes to region’s flood control strategy (Mihir Zaveri, Houston Chronicle, 9/11/17). Commissioner Rodney Ellis is quoted as saying that, “the county needs to take a holistic approach that considers “everything from the long-term effects of climate change on our region to proper and equitable infrastructure investments to meaningful planning restrictions.””
• ICYMI: Troubled Crosby chemical plant hit with $1 million lawsuit, demands from EPA (Keri Blakinger, Houston Chronicle, 9/11/17)
• City: Turner seeks emergency rate increase for Harvey recovery (Mike Morris, Houston Chronicle, 9/11/17)
• Gasoline pours from Ship Channel tanks (Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle, 9/11/17)
• Tank failures during Harvey reveal vulnerabilities in storm (Matthew Brown and Larry Fenn, Associated Press for Houston Chronicle, 9/9/17)
• Harvey’s record rainfall: A statistical portrait of what “wettest” meant (Bill Dawson
  Texas Climate News, 9/7/17)
• They warned us, but few listened: Houston must listen to the advocates and experts who predicted the unpredictable. (Houston Chronicle, 9/7/17)
• Galveston officials debunk contaminated water rumor (Daria Guillen, Houston Chronicle, 9/7/17)
• Texas Refineries Shut Down By Harvey Slowly Coming Back On Line (Andrew Schneider, KUHF, 9/7/17)
• High Levels of Carcinogen Found in Houston Area After Harvey (Hiroko Tabuchi, The New York Times, 9/6/17)
• An Enormous, Urgent Task: Hauling Away Harvey’s Debris (John Schwartz and Alan Blinder, New York Times, 9/6/17)
• Will climate change make storms more severe? (Daniel Cohan, for the Houston Chronicle, 9/6/17)
• Let Crosby be a lesson: Chemical plants need to reveal their inventories (Houston Chronicle, 9/6/17)
• Government ill-equipped to monitor industrial plants damaged by Hurricane Harvey (Mark Collette and Matt Dempsey, Houston Chronicle, 9/6/17)”texas environmental justice advocacy service”
• After Harvey, Houston needs petrochemicals more than ever (Chris Tomlinson, Houston Chronicle, 9/5/17)
• Don’t blame sprawl for Houston’s floods. Blame topography. This city has flooded regularly since 1837. (Phillip W. Magness, Houston Chronicle, 9/4/2017)
• Houston’s Environmental Threats Come Into Focus (Douglas Belkin and Tawnell D. Hobbs, The Wall Street Journal, 9/4/17)
• EPA says Harvey flooded or may have damaged 13 Superfund sites
  Federal and state officials have evaluated two of the 13 (Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle, 9/2/17)
• Local Meteorologist Emerges as Unlikely Hero of Harvey (Erin Ailworth, The Wall Street Journal, 9/2/17)
• In Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath, birds search for food, new shelter (Gary Clark, Houston Chronicle, 9/1/17)
• How Harvey has shown us the risks of climate change (Andrew Dessler, Daniel Cohan, Katharine Hayhoe, via The Conversation for the Houston Chronicle, 9/2/17)
• Twelve steps Houston can take to address our flooding problem (Jim Blackburn, for the Houston Chronicle, 8/31/17)
• She saw the bats drowning. So she dove into action. (Maggie Gordon, Houston Chronicle, 8/30/17)

For posterity, please suggest additions to this list using this survey.

Curious about past suggestions? Check out 2016 results.