Environmental Headlines for the Houston Region: October 4, 2015
Featured
- City considers goal to give all residents easy access to parks (Katherine Driessen and Emma Hinchliffe – Houston Chronicle, 9/25/2015)
“City parks advocates are charting an ambitious transformation of Houston’s green space to give all residents access to a public park within a half-mile or 10-minute walk of their residence, a lofty goal that would require a massive investment over the next 25 years. Today, fewer than half of Houston residents can claim that kind of proximity to a public park or green space, a statistic that the city’s recently updated “parks master plan” acknowledges would require billions of dollars to improve. The plan, on the City Council agenda Wednesday, divides Houston into 21 so-called “park sectors” for the first time, highlighting areas without ready access and projecting future demand based on 2040 population projections.”
www.houstonchronicle.com - Harris County seeks millions from Volkswagen for unlawful fumes (Gabrielle Banks – Houston Chronicle, 9/29/2015)
“Harris County seized on the outrage of the Volkswagen emissions scandal, saying in a multimillion dollar lawsuit filed Tuesday that the German automaker contributed to the region’s poor air quality. In what is likely the first government lawsuit over Volkswagen’s deception, Harris County officials claim that 6,000 diesel cars circulating on local roadways produced harmful emissions. These vehicles came off the line between 2009 and 2015, installed with software that could circumvent emissions monitoring.”
www.houstonchronicle.com - Houston’s mayor, soon to leave office, continues push for climate action (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News, 10/2/2015)
“Houston’s boosters are fond of calling their city ‘the energy capital of the world.’ By which they mean ‘the oil-and-gas capital,’ not ‘the renewables capital’ or ‘all-of-the-above capital.’ The banks of the Houston Ship Channel and other industrial zones in the metro area are crowded, after all, with refineries and other oil-related facilities, not windmills and solar arrays. Houston Mayor Annise Parker is one of those who uses the ‘energy capital’ title in the ‘oil-and-gas’ sense, with that qualification left unspoken. But she does it with a twist that could surprise someone who might find it unlikely that the ‘oil and gas capital’ would have a mayor who is vigorously campaigning – and on the national and world stage, at that – to combat climate change caused by planet-heating pollution from fuels including oil.”http://texasclimatenews.org
EcoNotes
- 3 October
- After Two Years, Few Answers in E. Coli Discovery (Neena Satija – The Texas Tribune)
www.texastribune.org - Reveal Radio: But Not a Drop to Drink (Neena Satija – The Texas Tribune)
www.texastribune.org
- After Two Years, Few Answers in E. Coli Discovery (Neena Satija – The Texas Tribune)
- 2 October
- Houston’s mayor, soon to leave office, continues push for climate action (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News)
http://texasclimatenews.org - Investors opting out of fossil fuels as Paris climate summit nears (Kieran Cook – Texas Climate News)
http://texasclimatenews.org -
Houston Area Urban Forestry Council accepts State Arboricultural
Project of the Year Award (Guidry News)
http://guidrynews.com - U.S. County Sues VW for ‘Deceitful Acts’ That Hurt Its Ability to Improve Air Quality (Governing)
www.governing.com - EPA Strengthens Ozone Standards, Upsetting Both Sides (Bloomberg BNA)
www.bna.com - NOAA Announces Gulf Red Grouper to Close Oct. 8 (The Fishing Wire)
www.thefishingwire.com - Court upholds $236M verdict in Exxon Mobil pollution case (KCBD News)
www.kcbd.com - U.S. to curb smog but stops short of toughest limits (Valerie Volcovici, Timothy Gardner and Patrick Rucker)
http://planetark.org
- Houston’s mayor, soon to leave office, continues push for climate action (Bill Dawson – Texas Climate News)
- 1 October
- Texas County Is First Government Agency to Sue VW for Environmental Harm (Lawyers and Settlements)
www.lawyersandsettlements.com - EPA Tightens Ozone Limits — But Less Than Expected (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
www.texastribune.org - The Science of Sinkholes: How Heavy Rain, Drought Can Help Trigger the Dangerous Phenomenon (Mark Leberfinger – Accuweather)
www.accuweather.com - Air pollutants linked to low GPAs in elementary school students (Healio)
www.healio.com - Why Moms and Dads Should Care About Climate Change and What You Can Do (Kate Zerrenner – One Green Planet)
www.onegreenplanet.org - METRO Extends Transfer Program to End of Year (METRO)
http://content.govdelivery.com - EPA announces new limit on ozone emissions (Kevin Liptak – Click2Houston)
www.click2houston.com - NC reform bill lets violators avoid environmental fines (The Charlotte Observer)
www.charlotteobserver.com
- Texas County Is First Government Agency to Sue VW for Environmental Harm (Lawyers and Settlements)
- 30 September
- Obama Ozone Rule: EPA To Make It Harder For Factories, Power Plants To Emit Smog Pollution (Maria Gallucci – International Business Times)
www.ibtimes.com - Texas Commission Nears Approval for Latest Air Permit for Shawnee Gas Project (Power Engineering)
www.power-eng.com - EPA Finalizes Rule to modernize Clean Water Act reporting. (ThomasNet)
http://news.thomasnet.com - $7M for Enhanced Water Recovery Projects (Environmental Leader)
www.environmentalleader.com - Lennar Demonstrates Sustainability Can Be Affordable as Innovative Solar Energy Program Expands to Texas (Market Watch)
www.marketwatch.com - ImageFIRST Houston Weighs in on Strategies to Motivate Environmental Services Staff (SB Wire)
www.sbwire.com - Jeb Bush energy plan emphasizes U.S. jobs, lower prices (Steve Holland – Planet Ark News)
http://planetark.org - U.S. seeks to protect threatened bull trout (Laura Zuckerman – Planet Ark News)
http://planetark.org
- Obama Ozone Rule: EPA To Make It Harder For Factories, Power Plants To Emit Smog Pollution (Maria Gallucci – International Business Times)
- 29 September
- Harris County seeks millions from Volkswagen for unlawful fumes (Gabrielle Banks – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - EPA issues landmark rules to curb emissions from refineries (Susan Carroll – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - City considers goal to give all residents easy access to parks (Katherine Driessen and Emma Hinchliffe – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - New EPA Rule will bring Cleaner Air to Communities near Refineries (airCurrent News)
http://airalliancehouston.org - Historic Yale Street Bridge In The Heights To Be Rebuilt (Gail Delaughter – Houston Public Media)
www.houstonpublicmedia.org - Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restore Council releases proposed fed reg for spill impact (The Examiner)
www.examiner.com - Video: The Future of Environmental Policy (Evan Smith and Todd Wiseman – The Texas Tribune)
www.texastribune.org - Waste not: Redefining resources (1 Water)
www.brownandcaldwell.com - Ray Hunt Launches Effort to Take Over Oncor (Jim Malewitz – The Texas Tribune)
www.texastribune.org - Texas A&M professor: Water discovery on Mars means planet is not dead, but a ‘dynamic place’ (Sam Peshek – The Eagle)
www.theeagle.com - EPA adds Texas’ Main Street Groundwater Plume site to priority list (EP News Wire)
http://epnewswire.com - NASA finds flowing water and potential for microscopic forms of life on Mars (Cat DiStasio – Inhabitat)
http://inhabitat.com
- Harris County seeks millions from Volkswagen for unlawful fumes (Gabrielle Banks – Houston Chronicle)
- 28 September
- Paris restricted cars in some neighborhoods, and Houston could, too (Dug Begley – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - France’s Hollande says climate talk promises must now become action (Josh Irish – Planet Ark News)
http://planetark.org - Texas Cities Recycle Wastewater Into Drinking Water To Boost Dwindling Supplies (Mónica Ortiz Uribe – Fronteras)
www.fronterasdesk.org - At summer’s end, 60 percent of Texas abnormally dry or in drought (Patrick Beach – My Statesman)
www.mystatesman.com
- Paris restricted cars in some neighborhoods, and Houston could, too (Dug Begley – Houston Chronicle)
- 26 September
- Woodlands’ leaders shifts on roads bond irk neighbors (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - State seeks help from hunters in monitoring deer disease (Shannon Tompkins – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - Public water supplies nationwide imperiled by runoff, aging mains (Ryan J. Foley – Portland Press Herald)
www.pressherald.com - Millions remain unspent in federal water-system loan program (Ryan J. Foley – Tri-City Herald)
www.tri-cityherald.com
- Woodlands’ leaders shifts on roads bond irk neighbors (Matthew Tresaugue – Houston Chronicle)
- 25 September
- Southwest Freeway Study Aims To Ease Congestion Through Houston (Gail Delaughter – Houston Public Media)
www.houstonpublicmedia.org - TWRC Wildlife Center: All about deer antlers (Cheryl Conley – The Humble Observer)
www.yourhoustonnews.com - A Day for an Ecology-Minded Pope and Sustainable Development Goals (Andrew C. Revkin – The New York Times)
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com - Nation’s Water Challenges Are Many, but So Are the Solutions (ABC News)
http://abcnews.go.com
- Southwest Freeway Study Aims To Ease Congestion Through Houston (Gail Delaughter – Houston Public Media)
- 24 September
- Here’s What Will Happen with the EPA Ozone Rule (Union of Concerned Scientists)
http://blog.ucsusa.org - Arctic oil called vital to nation’s energy future (Collin Eaton – Houston Chronicle)
www.houstonchronicle.com - NSF invests $40 million in research infrastructure for earthquake, wind and water hazards (National Science Foundation)
www.nsf.gov - Natural disasters and power resilience (Gavin Dillingham – HARC Blog)
http://harcresearch.org
- Here’s What Will Happen with the EPA Ozone Rule (Union of Concerned Scientists)
- 23 September
- Groundwater management should not be done by lawsuit (Dr. Stephanie Glenn and Dr. Jim Lester – The Courier of Montgomery County)
www.yourhoustonnews.com
- Groundwater management should not be done by lawsuit (Dr. Stephanie Glenn and Dr. Jim Lester – The Courier of Montgomery County)
- 22 September
- Research uncovers microsopic key to reducing ocean dead zones (Science Daily)
www.sciencedaily.com
- Research uncovers microsopic key to reducing ocean dead zones (Science Daily)