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January 14, 2014

ECONOTES 2014-01-14: Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region

Featured

  1. Rollover Pass closure report criticized (Harvey Rice – Houston Chronicle, 1/9/2014) An omission in a computer model led to faulty conclusions about the need to close Rollover Pass, a trench dug to bisect the Bolivar Peninsula more than 50 years ago that has become a fishing mecca, according to an attorney fighting the closure.”This isn’t something that happens by accident,” said Jim Blackburn, attorney for Bolivar Peninsula residents fighting state efforts to close the pass. Blackburn said a consultant for the Texas General Land Office left out data about freshwater inflow into the East Bay from a computer program used in a study to justify closing the pass. When the information is included, Blackburn said, it shows that closing Rollover Pass will result in so much freshwater that it could harm oyster beds. www.houstonchronicle.com
  2. Metzger: 2014 will be big year for Texas environment (Luke Metzger – Houston Chronicle, 1/6/2014)
    2014 is already shaping up to be a big year for Texas’ environment: Decisions are about to be made that will have a major impact on air quality, the Gulf Coast and Texas rivers. On Feb. 10, a federal trial will begin in Houston to decide a lawsuit brought by Environment Texas and Sierra Club against ExxonMobil Chemical Co. At issue is the oil giant’s routine and egregious violations of the Clean Air Act at its supersized Baytown complex, the largest petrochemical facility in the country. Also in early February, the state is expected to release its plan for spending hundreds of millions of dollars resulting from settlements tied to one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history – BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Finally, by Sept. 1, regional water planners will submit their priorities for consideration by the Texas Water Development Board on how to spend billions of dollars in water infrastructure funds made available by voter approval of Proposition 6.
    http://www.chron.com/
  3. Fewer geese making Texas their winter home (Shannon Tompkins – Houston Chronicle, 1/9/2014)
    This year’s mid-winter goose survey of the Texas coast estimated the wintering population of “light” or “snow” geese (snow, blue, Ross’s) at approximately 181,383 birds. The Arkansas waterfowl survey report estimated the state’s Mississippi Alluvial Valley held about 1.6 million snow geese – nine times as many snow geese as are wintering on the Texas coast – and noted the number was “likely a very conservative estimate.” This year’s mid-winter goose survey of the Texas coast estimated the wintering population of “light” or “snow” geese (snow, blue, Ross’s) at approximately 181,383 birds.
    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/
  4. Spring Creek ambassador program to debut (Flori Meeks – Houston Chronicle, 1/7/2014)
    Bayou Land Conservancy is launching a new volunteer opportunity: the Spring Creek Greenway Ambassador Program. The greenway, now about 75 percent complete, will be 33 miles long and cover more than 12,000 acres of forest on both sides of Spring Creek in Harris and Montgomery counties. The primary role of the ambassadors will be to welcome guests, answer questions and lead tours at the recently opened Spring Creek Greenway Nature Center, 1300 Riley Fuzzel Road, near Old Town Spring. In addition to the basic training, volunteers can learn to use GPS systems in the field so they can monitor the many natural sites Bayou Land Conservancy has purchased over the years to protect. They’ll be assigned to the 30 tracts along the greenway. Those who volunteer in this capacity will be able to borrow GPS equipment from the conservancy. Another component of the ambassador program is the eco-trail section, which requires volunteers to work as pairs or groups. Like an adopt-a-highway program, this program will assign volunteers to 10-acre sections of the greenway’s trail system.
    http://www.chron.com/

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