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December 2, 2014

Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region: December 2, 2014

Featured

  1. Tighter smog limits would force stricter controls in Houston (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle, 11/26/2014)
    “Houston and large parts of Texas and the nation would need to clamp down harder on smog-forming pollution under a stricter standard proposed by the Obama administration Wednesday… The proposed rule also could affect smaller towns and rural areas for the first time. Some business groups said the more stringent standard would be among the most expensive regulations of all time.”
    www.houstonchronicle.com
  2. A swimming hole for Houston gets closer to reality (Lisa Gray – Houston Chronicle, 11/26/2014)
    “Could Houston have its own version of Barton Springs — an enormous, beautiful swimming hole, right in the city, where people from every walk of life go to cool off? That entrancing idea was floated last month here in Gray Matters, in Andrea White’s Good Idea column. Developer Monte Large and graphic designer Evan O’Neil had turned a coffee-shop flash of inspiration into a website and were dreaming big. On a tract of at least ten acres in central Houston, they proposed creating a manmade swimming hole, one that would use plants and natural processes to filter bayou water until it was not only safe for swimming but crystal-clear… Now Sherwood Design Engineers has signed on to do, pro bono, “Phase 1″ feasibility studies — basic calculations of what it would take to make the dream real.”
    www.houstonchronicle.com
  3. Bayou demonstration project compared to ‘open heart surgery’ (Jocelyn Kerr – The Examiner, 11/28/2014)
    “Dr. Mathias Kondolf spoke before a crowded room at the St. Theresa Memorial Park Catholic Church on Nov. 21… Kondolf arrived in Houston to tour Buffalo Bayou and weigh in with his opinion on the controversial Buffalo Bayou Demonstration Project. Kondolf is a professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning at Berkeley who has consulted on river restoration projects around the world.”
    www.yourhoustonnews.com

EcoNotes

  • 29 November
    • DuPont Says Plant Leaked 23,000 Pounds of Toxic Gas (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
      www.texastribune.org
  • 28 November
  • 27 November
  • 26 November
    • A swimming hole for Houston gets closer to reality (Lisa Gray – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Tighter smog limits would force stricter controls in Houston (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Texas waters stock up on trout for winter (Shannon Tompkins – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • EPA Proposes To Tighten Ozone Limits Under Clean Air Act (Andrew Scheider – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
    • EPA Proposes New Rules To Curb Ozone Levels (Krishnadev Calamur – KCUR News)
      http://kcur.org
    • U.S. EPA expected to tighten long-awaited ozone standards: sources (Valerie Volcovici – Planet Ark News)
      http://planetark.org
  • 25 November
    • Houston Needs a Swimming Hole (Michael Hagerty – Houston Matters)
      www.houstonmatters.org
    • Endangered manatee caught and rescued near Houston (photos) (Jordan Blum – Houston Business Journal)
      www.bizjournals.com
    • Conservationists sue over federal coal program (Matthew Brown – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Houston Non-Profits Get Windfall from Millionaire’s Will (Craig Malisow – Houston Press Blogs)
      http://blogs.houstonpress.com
    • Texas takes over greenhouse gas permitting from EPA (Jennifer Hiller – Fuel Fix)
      http://fuelfix.com
    • Annual Winter Trout Stocking Under Way (Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      www.tpwd.state.tx.us
    • Houston Air Conditioning, Plumbing, And Electrical Company Launches FB Contest To Support Local Charites (KCBD News)
      www.kcbd.com
    • Keep Small Farmers & Food Producers in Business: Take Action on FDA’s 2014 Proposed Food Safety Regulations (Carolyn Biggerstaff – WAPF Houston-Galveston Chapter)
      www.wapf-houston.org
    • EPA Finalizes Greenhouse Gas Permit for Carbon Capture Facility; Facility will bring nearly $300 million in capital investments and increase natural gas processing (EPA News)
      http://yosemite.epa.gov
  • 24 November
    • Dispute over Big Bend skies tied to coal-fired power plants (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
      www.houstonchronicle.com
    • Plans made for stranded manatee rescue near Houston (Jordan Blum – Houston Business Journal)
      www.bizjournals.com
    • Is It Time for the U.S. to Lift Its Restrictions on Oil Exports? (The Wall Street Journal)
      http://m.wsj.com
    • EPA rejects a Texas clean-air plan, orders pollution upgrades on some big coal plants (Randy Lee Loftis – Dallas News)
      http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com
    • EPA Plan Will Reduce Pollution and Improve Visibility in Texas, Oklahoma (EPA News)
      http://yosemite.epa.gov
    • Texas university professor adjusts to life in a dumpster as he studies whether people are happier with less (Jill Reilly – Mail Online)
      www.dailymail.co.uk
    • How Underground Sensors In Texas Will Help NASA Predict Drought and Floods (Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
      http://stateimpact.npr.org
    • What Will Happen to Fracking Secrecy if Halliburton Takes Over Baker Hughes? (Dave Fehling – Houston Public Media)
      www.houstonpublicmedia.org
  • 23 November
  • 22 November
  • 21 November
    • Grand Parkway use growing, association shrinking (Dug Begley – Houston Chronicle)
      http://blog.chron.com
    • Wanted: Information About Illegal Fishing Along the Border (Texas Parks & Wildlife)
      www.tpwd.state.tx.us
  • 20 November
  • 19 November
  • 18 November
    • Another magazine honors Texas Tech’s Hayhoe: “Leading global thinker” (Texas Climate News)
      http://texasclimatenews.org
  • 17 November
  • 14 November
    • Scientists Sound Alarm on Texas Turtle (Harvey Rice, Houston Chronicle – Turtle Island Restoration Network)
      https://seaturtles.org
    • House passes Keystone XL bill; prospects still uncertain (Jennifer A. Dlouhy – Express News)
      www.expressnews.com
    • Voluntourism (Alert Diver)
      www.alertdiver.com