Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region: April 22, 2014
Featured
- Almost 100 Houston Schools Near Toxic Chemical Facilities, Analysis Shows (Florian Martin – Houston Public Media, 4/16/2014)
Ninety-five schools in the Houston area are within a mile of one or more facilities that work with dangerous chemicals. That’s according to an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Effective Government. Sara Smith, program director at the advocacy organization Texas Public Interest Research Group, or TexPIRG, said there are 33 facilities in Texas that each potentially threatens more than a million people, and 20 of those are in the greater Houston area. Not surprisingly, an online interactive map shows the majority of toxic chemical facilities are east of Houston, in the Pasadena-La Porte-Baytown area. They are also more likely to be in low-income and minority communities.
www.houstonpublicmedia.org - Rivals work together to limit greenhouse gases (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle, 4/16/2014)
After years of fighting over how to tackle climate change, Texas and the EPA have come together to issue a permit for carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping emissions at a petrochemical plant in Corpus Christi. The permit will allow Equistar Chemicals to expand an existing facility while limiting emissions of greenhouse gases through changes in plant operations, federal and state regulators said Wednesday. It’s the first one issued since the state decided to take an active role in the relatively new permitting process for emissions linked to global warming.
www.houstonchronicle.com - How Oil and Budget Cuts Threaten ‘the World’s Most Endangered Sea Turtle’ (Mose Buchele – StateImpact, 4/18/2014)
Around this time every year female Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles arrive like clockwork on Matagorda Island on the Texas Gulf Coast. The Island is a wildlife refuge maintained by the service. Jeremy Edwardson, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, says it’s usually kept free of all human activity. But not this year. The traffic is part of the ongoing oil cleanup by state and federal agencies in the wake of a barge accident in the Port of Houston. Officials are worried cleanup efforts could hurt the turtles and other wildlife. But the alternative – just leaving the oil on the beach – is not really an option.
http://stateimpact.npr.org
EcoNotes
- 19 April
- Texas A&M Mourns Loss of Gulf Coast Philanthropist and Former Student Bill Lyons ’59 (A&M Science)
www.science.tamu.edu
- Texas A&M Mourns Loss of Gulf Coast Philanthropist and Former Student Bill Lyons ’59 (A&M Science)
- 18 April
- How Oil and Budget Cuts Threaten ‘the World’s Most Endangered Sea Turtle’ (Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
http://stateimpact.npr.org - Key senator withholds support for reservoir plan (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - In Power Line Dispute, Rancher Questions Wiggle Room (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
www.texastribune.org
- How Oil and Budget Cuts Threaten ‘the World’s Most Endangered Sea Turtle’ (Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
- 17 April
- U.S. Energy Dept plans $4 billion in loan aid for renewable energy (Ayesha Rascoe – Planet Ark News)
http://planetark.org - What’s Been Done to Prevent Another West? (Terrence Henry – StateImpact)
http://stateimpact.npr.org
- U.S. Energy Dept plans $4 billion in loan aid for renewable energy (Ayesha Rascoe – Planet Ark News)
- 16 April
- Almost 100 Houston Schools Near Toxic Chemical Facilities, Analysis Shows (Florian Martin – Houston Public Media)
www.houstonpublicmedia.org - Household Electric Bills Up 25% From March 2013 (Andrew Schneider – Houston Public Media)
www.houstonpublicmedia.org - Houston moves toward sorting plan for recycling (Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - City putting its recycling hopes in One Bin (Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - Gala Recognizes Importance of Birds to the Katy Prairie (The Rancher)
www.yourhoustonnews.com - Rivals work together to limit greenhouse gases (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - Court Thwarts Sierra Club’s Hazardous Waste Challenge (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
www.texastribune.org - New hurricane forecast maps to show flood risk from storm surge (Barbara Liston – Planet Ark News)
http://planetark.org - U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fall 10 pct since 2005: EPA (Valerie Volcovici – Planet Ark News)
http://planetark.org - Gulf Council Seeks Applicants for an Ad Hoc Red Snapper For-Hire IFQ Advisory Panel (The Outdoor Wire)
www.theoutdoorwire.com - Project Aims to Help Citizens Better Communicate Urban Development Ideas to City Leaders (Michael Hagerty – Houston Matters)
www.houstonmatters.org
- Almost 100 Houston Schools Near Toxic Chemical Facilities, Analysis Shows (Florian Martin – Houston Public Media)
- 15 April
- Woodlands church receives Earth Care Congregation certification (Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - Texas City Dike, East Beach reopen (Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - Court says EPA can limit mercury (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - Parent’s push results in school garden (Lindsay Peyton – Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - Major West Texas lake could become multi-million-dollar mud hole (Carrie Taylor – Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - One Bin to Rule Them All: Houston Moves Toward All-in-One Garbage and Recycling (Laurie Johnson, Houston Public Media – StateImpact)
http://stateimpact.npr.org - Elected Officials and Community Leaders Support Exploration Green’s Groundbreaking (Exploration Green! News)
http://explorationgreen.wix.com - Exploration Green breaks ground in Clear Lake (Y.C. Orozco – The Bay Area Citizen)
- www.yourhoustonnews.com
- City of Houston Issues One Bin For All Request for Proposals (The City of Houston News)
www.houstongovnewsroom.org - Could Wind Energy Ever Replace Fossil Fuels in Texas? (Michael Hagerty – Houston Matters)
http://www.houstonmatters.org - Earth Day Houston (Write on Metro Blog)
http://blogs.ridemetro.org - As Oil Glut Moves, Debate Ignites Over Exporting U.S. Crude (Mose Buchele – StateImpact)
http://stateimpact.npr.org - Oysters under siege (Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - Homeowner gets radical about saving, conserving water usage (Russell Ledbetter – The Courier of Montgomery County)
www.yourhoustonnews.com
- Woodlands church receives Earth Care Congregation certification (Houston Chronicle)
- 14 April
- Artificial reef for oysters completed on coast (The Courier of Montgomery County)
www.yourhoustonnews.com - City of Houston adds food and beverage cartons residential curbside recycling program (Memorial Examiner)
www.yourhoustonnews.com - Drought continues strangle-hold on much of Texas (Ron Smith – Southwest Farm Press)
http://southwestfarmpress.com - To Deal With Drought, Texas Needs to Manage Growth (Sarah Goodyear – Next City News)
http://nextcity.org - Criticism of Water Policy Flows From Conservatives (Neena Satija – The Texas Tribune)
www.texastribune.org - Texas Still Considering Solutions to Prevent Another West (Terrence Henry – StateImpact)
http://stateimpact.npr.org - Artist Boat’s Coastal Waters Institute schooling teachers on estuarine ecology (The Galveston County News)
www.galvestondailynews.com - Is It Possible to Live Without a Car in Houston? (Michael Hagerty – Houston Matters)
www.houstonmatters.org - A Proposal for Birdwatch Towers along Galveston Bay (Raj Mankad – Off Cite)
http://offcite.org - CenterPoint Energy and Trees For Houston partner to give away 2,500 shade trees (The Friendswood Journal)
www.yourhoustonnews.com - Spring Migration Takes Wing (Heidi Lutz – Galveston News)
www.galveston.com - Houston solar power dim compared to other cities (Josh Cain – Houston Business Journal)
www.bizjournals.com
- Artificial reef for oysters completed on coast (The Courier of Montgomery County)
- 13 April
- State website predicts water needs in Texas communities (Travis M. Whitehead – Valley Morning Star)
www.valleymorningstar.com - METRO considers making rush hour traffic even WORSE, real housing affordability, the gentrification problem, and more (Houston Strategies)
http://houstonstrategies.blogspot.com
- State website predicts water needs in Texas communities (Travis M. Whitehead – Valley Morning Star)
- 12 April
- When the earth talks: Ground-breaking Hermann Park project brings the sounds of the planet to the surface (Joel Luks – Culture Map Houston)
http://houston.culturemap.com
- When the earth talks: Ground-breaking Hermann Park project brings the sounds of the planet to the surface (Joel Luks – Culture Map Houston)
- 11 April
- The air up there: Houston’s air quality is under federal fire (Molly Ryan – Houston Business Journal)
www.bizjournals.com - Texas remains wary of regulation after West (Matthew Tresaugue and Dug Begley – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - Hungry Monarch Caterpillars Seek “Alternative Fuels†in wake of Milkweed Shortage (My SA News)
http://blog.mysanantonio.com - In the Garden with Urban Harvest: Backyard corn can be grown with little effort (Bob Randall, Ph.D. – Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - Sandhill cranes an amazing sight at Nebraska stopover (Gary Clark – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - A Unified Effort Against the Oil Spill (Peter Davis – Galveston News)
www.galveston.com - Last Block Of Artificial Oyster Reef Slides Into Place (Andrew Schneider – Houston Public Media)
www.houstonpublicmedia.org
- The air up there: Houston’s air quality is under federal fire (Molly Ryan – Houston Business Journal)
- 10 April
- Builders Try to Cross Buffalo Bayou on ‘Anything That Floats’ (Michael Hagerty – Houston Matters)
www.houstonmatters.org - More Houstonians Are Beating Traffic By Working From Home (Michael Hagerty – Houston Matters)
www.houstonmatters.org - ‘Virtual explorers’ invited to the depths of the Gulf of Mexico on NOAA expedition (NOAA News)
www.noaanews.noaa.gov - Fungal disease fatal to bats spreads to half of US (John Flesher and Todd Richmond – Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - Digging Up Old Drilling Logs to Strike Not Oil, but Water (Jim Malewitz – The New York Times)
www.nytimes.com
- Builders Try to Cross Buffalo Bayou on ‘Anything That Floats’ (Michael Hagerty – Houston Matters)
- 9 April
- State weighs draining boats to stem invasives’ drain on ecosystems (Shannon Tompkins – Houston Chronicle)
www.chron.com - Memorial Hermann Katy achieves Energy Star Recognition for efficiency leadership (The Rancher)
www.yourhoustonnews.com
- State weighs draining boats to stem invasives’ drain on ecosystems (Shannon Tompkins – Houston Chronicle)