ECONOTES 2010-10-27: Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region

Featured

1. Vote for Proposition 1 to fix a broken drainage system (Kevin Shanley – Houston Chronicle)
   Houston’s bayous have a history of being used, neglected, and abused. They have been used for transportation, waste removal and flood relief. With Proposition 1, citizens have the opportunity to address the most serious local neighborhood flooding issues and can begin to take the pressure off of the bayous during storm events.
   http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7258501.html
2. Coal Looms Large for Democrat in Texas Governor’s Race (Christa Marshall – The New York Times, 10/21/2010)
   Energy efficiency is playing a major role in the Texas Governor’s Race. Bill White states that the biggest difference between himself and Governor Rick Perry is his stance on fossil fuels. White would like to take a Houston energy-efficiency program statewide. He would like to see more of a focus on natural gas, renewables, and energy efficiency, instead of coal-fired plants.
   http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/10/21/21climatewire-coal-looms-large-for-democrat-in-texas-gover-54145.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
3. Once a leader in energy efficiency, Texas now tumbles in state ranking (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News, 10/20/2010)
   Despite once leading changes on key policy issues related to energy efficiency, Texas has significantly fallen in an advocacy group’s latest annual ranking. Other states have taken greater new actions to achieve better energy efficiency. One of the biggest challenges for Texas has been the cost of implementing such actions.
   http://texasclimatenews.org/wp/?p=760

EcoNotes

• 26 October
  • New weapon in coal plant fight: water (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7262169.html
  • Burn Ban for Harris County (Pat Hernandez – KUHF News)
    http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1288128274
• 25 October
  • 10 minutes with Ken Kirk, Executive Director of National Association of Cleat Water Agencies (BC Water News)
    http://www.bcwaternews.com/qa/ken_kirk.html
• 24 October
  • Record Number of Whooping Cranes Expected To Reach Texas This Fall (Guidry News)
    http://guidrynews.com/story.aspx?id=1000030327
• 23 October
  • Group Sues To Revive Deepwater Drilling Ban (Click2Houston News)
    http://www.click2houston.com/green-pages/25488788/detail.html
• 22 October
  • Thinking, visioning and spending locally (Barbara Kessler – ABC13 News)
    http://www.greenrightnow.com/ktrk/2010/10/22/thinking-visioning-and-spending-locally/
  • Dell tops Newsweek list of green companies (ABC13 News)
    http://www.greenrightnow.com/ktrk/2010/10/22/dell-tops-newsweek-list-of-green-companies/
  • Rice U creates Green Carbon Center (Houston Business Journal)
    http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2010/10/22/rice-u-creates-green-carbon-center.html
  • Sustainable Wood Standards Create Big Critics for USGBC (Houston Green Scene News)
    http://houstongreenscene.org/houston-green-news/sustainable-wood-standards-create-big-critics-usgbc
  • Red Dust Rains Around US Metals Plants (Cain Burdeau – Click2Houston News)
    http://www.click2houston.com/green-pages/25473522/detail.html
  • Refiner’s smog deal earns points with EPA (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7260120.html
  • Wildflower Planting Season Back Again (KIAH-TV News)
    http://www.39online.com/lifestyle/goinggreen/kiah-gg-wildflowers-planting-story,0,2903751.story
  • Flint Hills Resources, LP Agrees to Transition Its Texas Flexible Permits to Federally Approved Clean Air Act Permits – Transition affects facilities in Corpus Christi, Port Arthur and Longview (EPA News)
    http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/e8f4ff7f7970934e8525735900400c2e/6f25bd791c4b21cb852577c400552339!OpenDocument
  • The First Annual Houston Green Office Challenge (KIAH-TV News)
    http://www.39online.com/lifestyle/goinggreen/kiah-gg-goc-story,0,4361369.story
  • Metro: Light Rail Projects Stalled (Wendy Siegle – KUHF News)
    http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1287724742
• 21 October
  • Vote for Proposition 1 to fix a broken drainage system (Kevin Shanley – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7258501.html
  • Is your city ready for electric cars? (ABC13 News)
    http://www.greenrightnow.com/ktrk/2010/10/21/is-your-city-ready-for-electric-cars/
  • Floating plastic wetlands mimic nature (ABC13 News)
    http://www.greenrightnow.com/ktrk/2010/10/21/floating-plastic-wetlands-mimic-nature/
  • It may take even longer to resume deep-water drilling (Jennifer A. Dlouhy – Fuel Fix News)
    http://fuelfix.com/energywatch/2010/10/21/it-may-take-even-longer-to-resume-deep-water-drilling/
  • ExxonMobil unveils latest investment in cleaner air (Carla Torres – The Baytown Sun)
    http://baytownsun.com/news/article_a0cc1528-dd87-11df-b485-001cc4c002e0.html
  • Houston Gulf Coast Planning Region Awarded $3.75 Million to Develop Sustainability Plan (H-GAC News)
    http://www.h-gac.com/community/sustainability/press_release.aspx
  • Chevron places a big bet in the Gulf (Brett Clanton – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7256811.html
  • Coal Looms Large for Democrat in Texas Governor’s Race (Christa Marshall – The New York Times)
    http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/10/21/21climatewire-coal-looms-large-for-democrat-in-texas-gover-54145.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
• 20 October
  • Once a leader in energy efficiency, Texas now tumbles in state ranking (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News)
    http://texasclimatenews.org/wp/?p=760
• 7 October
  • Bacterial gunk walks on surfaces, scientists find (Eric Berger – Houston Chronicle)
    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7236392.html