Environmental Headlines, June 2 – 9, 2006
A FIRST IN HOUSTON: 85% ETHANOL AT PUMP
Houston Chronicle 6/6/06
Houston drivers were offered a new alternative to gasoline Monday, when a northwest Houston Kroger opened the first pumps in town selling fuel made of 85 percent ethanol.
REPORT: STORMS LEFT NEW HUMAN LANDSCAPE
Houston Chronicle 6/7/06
Nearly two-thirds of New Orleans’ population was scattered by Hurricane Katrina’s assault last August, and the city left behind, richer and whiter, bears little resemblance to the metropolis that charmed the world.
OF KATRINA AND POLITICAL HUSBANDRY
REPORTS REVEAL KATRINA’S IMPACT ON POPULATION
CLEANUP MAY BE FIRST OF ITS KIND
Houston Chronicle 6/5/06
A 36-acre Superfund site east of downtown could be the first property of its kind to be cleaned up by a party not responsible for its contamination, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
PROPOSED OFFSHORE WIND FARM RUFFLES A FEW FEATHERS
Houston Chronicle 6/3/06
All the talk about massive wind farms with huge rotating blades sitting offshore near Galveston and Padre Island has bird conservationists concerned.
LAWMAKERS RACE TO REFORM FLOOD PROGRAM
Galveston County Daily News 6/7/06
Owners of vacation properties and houses prone to floods could see insurance premiums skyrocket.
BUILDING HEIGHT CAUSING ELEVATED TEMPERS
Galveston County Daily News 6/4/06
Owners of a Clear Lake Shores property still haven’t flood-proofed a building city officials say violates codes and federal insurance rules.
RESIDENTS CHALLENGE TWO DEVELOPMENTS
Galveston County Daily News 6/5/06
GALVESTON – The city council will consider challenges to two condominium developments at a meeting this month.
SAFETY COULD EQUAL TAX BREAK
Galveston County Daily News 6/7/06
TEXAS CITY – Industrial facilities seeking tax breaks for expansion projects are likely going to have to meet some new guidelines in Texas City.
LIGHTING REG CHANGE TABLED
Fort Bend Herald and Coaster 6/7/06
A major update to the Fort Bend County lighting ordinance, which was supported by the majority of the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, was tabled on Tuesday.
TRUCKING COMPANIES’ PROFITS OUTPACE RISING FUEL PRICES
Houston Chronicle 6/7/06
SEATTLE – At Paccar’s upbeat annual meeting in April, shareholders applauded the truck builder’s record $1.1 billion profit in 2005. The appreciative company, in turn, handed out coffee-table histories of its first 100 years.
MEXICO’S ‘GREEN WALL’ PRESERVES, PROTECTS RIO GRANDE
Environmental News Network 6/6/06
MEXICO CITY – Mexico is creating an environmental reserve about 30 feet wide and 600 miles long on the Texas border, a “green wall” to protect the Rio Grande from the roads and staging areas that smugglers use to ferry drugs and migrants across the frontier.
THE BUSINESS OF GREEN: A SPECIAL SECTION
New York Times 6/5/06
Businesses are going green for many reasons, not just to enhance their image. Some are seeking a competitive advantage.
ANALYSIS – IS CORPORATE AMERICA GOING GREEN?
SPOOF PENALTY TICKETS SPOOK BRITISH 4X4 OWNERS
Reuters 6/6/06
LONDON – The grimace may be real as the “parking ticket” is peeled from the windscreen, but the mood lightens as it becomes clear the penalty notice is fake.
BEACH PLAN MAY HAVE NO WINNERS
Houston Chronicle 6/8/06
AUSTIN – A $1.3 million plan unveiled Wednesday to help property owners relocate houses blocking public access to Texas beaches is unlikely to please either side in a decades-long debate.