|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
CEC ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS UPDATE 3/12/04 - HOUSTON CEC NOTES EARTH DAY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED NOW Earth Day is only a month away, and the CEC is gearing up to plan the next Houston Earth Day event, to be held on April 10th, 2004. There are many exciting new projects in the works and the Earth Day Committee is looking for enthusiastic people to help with the planning of this wonderful event. If you believe that Houston deserves a large-scale, environmentally sustainable Earth Day celebration, come help CEC make it a reality. Send an email to Alesha Herrera, Houston Earth Day chair, at events@cechouston.org to help make this year's Earth Day the best ever. COALITION NOTES HOUSTON ENVIRONMENTALISTS TO MARCH FOR CLEAN ENERGY As part of scheduled anti-war demonstrations in downtown Houston on March 20, a feeder march organized by environmental activists will focus on reducing America’s dependence on foreign sources of oil by encouraging sustainable energy alternatives. Environmentalists will meet in front of ExxonMobil headquarters, 800 Bell St., at 1:30 pm. The environmental march will feed into the main march on McKinney to end in front of City Hall. Environmental non-profit groups are invited to join the march and to table at the peace rally. Houston events are part of a global day of action on the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. For more information visit the web site at http://www.march20Houston.org or email enviromarch20@hotmail.com. RICE ENVIRONMENTAL CLUB CONFERENCE Participants are invited to the 12th Annual Rice Environmental
Club Conference, "Stuck in a Jam: The Problems and the Future of
Transportation in Houston," Saturday, March 13, 9 am - 5 pm, at
Rice Memorial Center, Rice University. Several organizations including
Metro, Katy Corridor Coalition, Houston-Galveston Area Council and the
Gulf Coast Institute, along with local experts and policy makers, will
discuss local transportation and air quality issues. Discussion of the
Metro Light Rail line is the focus, with an eye toward technical solutions
of problems associated with traffic congestion. For more information,
contact the Rice Environmental Club at enviclub@rice.edu or
visit the conference web site. GULF COAST PEDIATRIC ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SYMPOSIUM For the first time, national experts will gather in
the Texas Medical Center to speak on environmental health hazards and
their effects on children. It is not too late to register for the for
the Gulf Coast Pediatric Environmental Health Symposium next Friday,
March 19. On-site registration will be accepted, but today is the last
day to take advantage of the reduced fee by registering early. For more
information, visit the symposium web site at BLOW THE WHISTLE ON ASTHMA WALK Mothers for Clean Air needs volunteers to join its members in fighting asthma and promoting clean air at the 2004 Blow the Whistle on Asthma Walk. This is a relaxed three-mile walk for those registered, and beverages, food and music, free lung screenings and asthma education will be available for participants. The event takes place Saturday, March 27, at Tom Bass Regional Park. For more information, contact Jane Laping at (713) 526-0110 or visit MfCA’s web site at www.mothersforcleanair.org. LOCAL PUBLIC TELLS STATE TO GET TOUGH ON POLLUTERS At a public hearing in south Houston Tuesday night, 56 citizens turned out to discuss the pollution enforcement practices of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. All who testified criticized the agency for being lax with criminal polluters. Tuesday’s hearing was one of four across the state, with other meetings taking place in Midland, Arlington and the Rio Grande Valley. TCEQ also was criticized for not holding more meetings in areas where communities are most affected by polluting industries and for inadequately publicizing the events. TCEQ communications director Andy Saenz said the agency did what it could to promote the meetings, including sending comment forms to groups and individuals on the agency’s mailing list and posting a notice in the web. Among those who testified was Bob Gilbert of Houston. “With all of the pollution in Harris County, I would have expected you to have four meetings here and another three or four across the state,” he said. Of particular concern to the refinery communities in the region are the high number of so-called upset emissions. In Texas, companies are not penalized if they claim that an unpermitted release was the result of an accident. But recent research conducted by the Houston Chronicle revealed 121 local plants emitted 7.6 million pounds of pollution in 2003 as a result of upsets. The frequency and pattern of the releases raised questions about whether upsets were truly the result of accidents. According to the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention's John Wilson, letting plants get away with unpermitted releases is a major cause of Houston’s poor air quality. “I don’t think that there are people in industry doing cost calculations (to determine how much the penalty will be if they install various pollution controls). I think what happens is, when they are hit with a penalty, they decide it’s time to do something,” he said. “For too long there’s been no one at the agency telling (industry) it’s time to do something.” When the agency does penalize polluters, fines are frequently set so low companies find it profitable to continue to pollute rather than install sometimes costly pollution controls. Almost everyone who testified Tuesday asked the state to raise the fines for polluting companies to significant levels. One of those was Susan Harriston, a mother from Clear Lake. “Common sense tells me that if corporations can make more money by polluting, they’re going to keep doing it,” she said, “and that’s what corporations want to do is make money.” For some who testified it was, most simply, a matter of holding industry to the same standards as the average citizen when it to comes obeying the law. Elthelia Warden, a retired Baytown schoolteacher, challenged the state's practice of allowing the industry to police itself by encouraging voluntary compliance. “I’ve never killed anyone, but I don’t think of myself as voluntarily complying with laws against murder. I just know that if I do kill someone, I’ll have to pay, probably with my life,” she said. “These big companies are killing and hurting people over and over again and that’s not right.” Though only a handful of oral comments were submitted Tuesday, TCEQ expects to collect thousands of written comments from across the state. The agency review was launched late last year following a state auditor’s report in December that found deficiencies in TCEQ’s ability to monitor, punish and deter polluters. Saenz said the comments received since the start of the review are nothing new. The agency has been hearing the same complaints for years but, he said, limited resources prevented TCEQ from adopting requested changes. Saenz said support from the legislature would determine just how much public comments would shape TCEQ's enforcement review. The agency is accepting written public comments until March 22. Comments may be mailed to Agency Communications, MC 118, TCEQ P.O. Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711; or submitted online at http://www2.tceq.state.tx.us/enfs/index.cfm. COMMUNITY LEADERS RESIST THIRD WARD DEVELOPMENT The Third Ward Multi Purpose Center was filled to capacity last week with residents, community leaders and government officials who came together to discuss the future of an historic African American neighborhood. The Wednesday night meeting gave residents a chance to share concerns about growing encroachment by land developers, sparked by letters received by homeowners from developers, such as Abrego and Perry Homes, seeking to purchase land throughout the neighborhood. Community leaders and elected officials urged residents not to sell, warning that development could irrevocably alter the character of the historic neighborhood. City council member Ada Edwards, whose District D includes the Third Ward, sympathized with residents needing to sell their homes and said a hotline had been established to provide residents with information about selling instead to community development corporations or non-profit groups that are less likely to alter the neighborhood. “We are asking you to kind of hold on with us,” Edwards said. “We know that some of you are desperate to sell your homes, but we are not that desperate yet hopefully. We do have some viable alternatives.” Edwards also addressed what she called a need for stronger city policies governing development practices. She cited a revitalization program used in Dallas as a possible formula for Houston to consider. State Rep. Garnett Coleman, whose family ties to the Third Ward date back to the early 1900’s, was visibly upset as he addressed the crowd. “For me this is personal and it is public policy,” he said, “and some of the responses we have gotten back (indicate) that there are people who feel very, very intimidated by this.” Coleman urged residents to “unite under one banner” to resist outside development. Deloyd Parker, executive director of SHAPE Community Center, echoed the representative’s call for unity. “I am because we are; we are therefore I am…We are all part of a circle or family of interdependence…and Third Ward is not for sale!” The crowd roared its approval. Many in attendance agreed that it would take a community effort to save their homes. Third Ward resident Nater Curber said she was concerned about a “land grab” in her neighborhood forcing out low-income families. “People of color, people who have traditionally been associated with this neighborhood, we find that the few places that are available to middle-income people are often the large sprawling apartment complexes that not only destroy the character of the neighborhood, they are difficult to police and there are more transients as opposed to people who traditionally live for five, ten years in multi-family dwellings,” she said. Looking forward, the residents and government officials who attended the meeting say they hope to block foreclosures on local homes until a policy is put in place for the Third Ward. Next week board members of the Land Assembly and Redevelopment Authority will meet for the first time since the new administration took office.
Houston Chronicle Pollution
deterrents criticized, 3/11/04 Non-profit
puts bayou back in city, 3/11/04 City:
developers key to flood control, 4/10/04 Manvel’s
oil cleanup a sticky proposition, 3/9/04 Subsidiary
of Reliant may be indicted by Feds, 3/9/04 Light
rail design not at fault in car-train crashes, 3/9/04 EPA
picks 11 sites for Superfund cleanup, 3/9/04 Alternate
port site for terminal at issue, 3/9/04 Fire
at Pasadena pesticide plant forces residents to take shelter, 3/9/04 Chemical
release forces warning in deer park, 3/9/04 OP/ED:
Too much pollution not enough enforement, 3/8/04 Flood
plains shift on maps, 3/8/04 Flood
maps: new technology plots areas prone to flooding, 3/8/04
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION CEC Environmental News Update is a weekly publication by the Citizens' Environmental Coalition, a 501(c)3 dedicated to fostering dialogue, education and collaboration about environmental issues in the Houston-Gulf Coast Region. Visit the CEC online at www.cechouston.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe, or to suggest items for inclusion, send your request via e-mail to David Gresham at david@cechouston.org. Phone: 713-524-4232 Fax: 713-524-3311 |
|