HOUSTON’S ROADS MOST DANGEROUS IN STATE
by Sarah Morgan

Houstonians are 149 percent more likely to be injured or killed in a car crash when compared with national averages, calling for a serious look at transportation issues, said Ned Levine, transportation program coordinator for the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Traffic Safety Program on Wednesday.

"We have an extremely serious safety problem," Levine said at a Gulf Coast Institute/H-GAC Smart Growth Initiative meeting. Houston leads the state in the number of serious auto crashes, he said, though Houston is home to only 22 percent of the state’s population and is responsible for only 21 percent of total miles traveled statewide.

The H-GAC Traffic Safety Program is aimed at improving traffic safety throughout the eight-county region.

H-GAC compiled data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, which show that Houston racked up 252,240 serious crashes over the three-year period from 1999 to 2001. This number includes 1,882 fatalities, or about 600 a year, and 281,914 injuries. The total does not include minor fender-benders, as the DPS only registers crashes that result in a fatality, injury, or serious property damage in which more than one car is towed. Houston accounted for 26 percent of all crashes statewide and 27 percent of all injuries.

The problem is not going away. Levine noted that the number of serious crashes climbs about 5 percent each year.

"It’s almost, to my mind, at epidemic proportions," Levine said.

The high number of traffic accidents takes a toll on the city in a number of ways, Levine said, driving up insurance costs, placing a large burden on regional services such as police, clean up, and medical departments, and adding to Houston’s already heavy congestion problem.

"Police spend about half of their time on traffic-related things," said Levine. Further, the Texas Transportation Institute estimates that 60 percent of Houston’s congestion is due to accidents.

"We’re paying for this," said Levine, "one way or another."

Levine said that most of the crashes can be attributed to aggressive driving behavior, with speeding as the number one cause, responsible for about 39 percent of car crashes in Houston, versus only 13 percent nationally.

And though most would expect the majority of accidents to occur near freeways, Levine said that studies show 53 percent of crashes occur on local arterial roads and other non-state roads. The region has 344 hot spots where more than 78 crashes occurred in the area each year, many of which are on smaller, heavily traveled streets such as Westheimer.

Houston also leads the state in pedestrian and bicycle crashes, though Levine said that the reasons for these high numbers are still being researched.

H-GAC’s ongoing analysis will continue to monitor safety, identify hazardous areas around the region, focus on roadway improvements and education, and support the safety efforts of other organizations, said Levine.

The next Smart Growth meeting, Oct 27, will discuss how parks affect property values.

LNG TERMINALS LATCH ON TO GULF COAST
by Sarah Morgan

LNG, or liquefied natural gas, seems to be industry’s latest solution to energy needs, with many new power plants using the gas for fuel and new LNG terminals popping up along the California and Texas coasts, including three proposed terminals in the Houston-Galveston area.

According to Greenpeace, LNG is just as detrimental to the environment as oil. The environmental organization points out that natural gas is a non-renewable resource that requires drilling and exploration. LNG is also a safety risk, the group contends, because of the possibility of leaks during transportation and storage that could easily lead to explosions. Further, the use of LNG is a roadblock in the development of cleaner, renewable energy sources, says Greenpeace.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Freeport LNG has already won approval for the construction of a terminal in Quintana, 70 miles south of Houston, which should come on line in 2007. An Exxon Mobil affiliate has proposed a new terminal for Sabine Pass, an area 10 miles south of Port Arthur, and an environmental impact assessment is currently underway. Now BP has a proposal for a terminal on Pelican Island, about 5 miles from downtown Galveston.

Each Texas terminal will produce between 1 and 2 billion cubic feet of gas a day from imported liquefied natural gas. Most of the gas at the terminals will be imported from Qatar in the Persian Gulf, according to Exxon Mobil, which has an agreement with Qatar Petroleum. Qatar already exports about 800,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the Houston Chronicle. The country is home to the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves.

Before Qatar or any other country can export natural gas, the gas must be cooled to the point that it changes into a liquid, which can then be transported on special tankers. Once LNG arrives at a terminal, it is converted back into gas and is then sent out through pipelines for distribution.

The proposed plant at Sabine Pass includes roughly 122 miles of pipeline, which will feed into the nationwide natural gas network, and the terminal is expected to serve about 200 LNG tankers each year. The BP plant proposed for Pelican Island will fuel the nearby Texas City refinery, which uses 200 million cubic feet of natural gas to process 400,000 barrels of crude, according to the Houston Chronicle. But the gas will also feed other needs along the Houston Ship Channel.

According to Reuters News Service, the need for LNG is growing, with Texas at the top of the list. Currently, LNG makes up about 2 percent of US gas supplies, which will grow to about 10 percent by the year 2010.

Public comment on the Sabine Pass terminal will be accepted through Oct 20, while the project undergoes an environmental impact assessment.

For more information about the proposed Pelican Island terminal and the environmental impacts of LNG, see the November issue of CEC’s Environmental Exchange.

GHASP AND MFCA VOTED BEST NONPROFIT BY HOUSTON PRESS

The Houston Press’s annual "Best Of" issue hit stands this week, and gave CEC member groups Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention and Mothers for Clean Air a welcome surprise. GHASP was voted best nonprofit for 2004, with an approving nod to MFCA, the "feisty membership arm," of GHASP. The brief in this week’s issue notes GHASP’s research and reports, and says, "If Houston is to breathe new life into its economy, we’ll need groups such as GHASP to make the city’s atmosphere attractive for everybody, not just oil tycoons." To read more, visit:
http://www.houstonpress.com/bestof/2004/bestcity/bestcity8.html.

RICE UNIVERSITY SHELL CENTER LECTURE

Rice University will be hosting a seminar that takes a serious look at climate change. Julian Hunt will be giving a seminar on the impact of climate change on coastal cities, including Houston, at the Shell Center at Rice University. The seminar will be held in the McMurtrey Auditorium on Monday, Oct 4, from 6 to 8 pm. The Rice University lecture series will continue with a discussion on meeting ozone standards set by federal and state agencies. Speakers for this second event in the series, which takes place on Wednesday, Oct 6, include Harvey Jeffries and Larry Soward, with a third speaker to be announced. Julian Hunt has been a professor of climate modeling in the Department of Space and Climate Physics, and Earth Sciences, and an honorary professor of Mathematics at University College, London, since 1999. Contact (713) 348-4700 or visit http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~eesi/scs/ for more information.

62ND ANNUAL BULB & PLANT MART

The Garden Club of Houston’s big event is quickly approaching. The sixty-second annual Bulb and Plant Mart will be Friday, Oct 8, from 9:30 am to 5 pm, at the Westminster United Methodist Church, 5801 San Felipe at Bering. The event will feature the widest selection of top-quality bulbs from domestic and international suppliers and an expanded collection of hard-to-find and unusual plants, perennials, trees, shrubs, and vines. Many of the plants and bulbs are unique offerings from the gardens of club members, grown specifically for the mart. Parking is free. All you need to bring is money for the plants and your own cart or wagon to load them. Contact the garden club at http://www.gchouston.org for more information.

SUBHANKAR BANERJEE: AN EVENING IN THE ARCTIC WILDERNESS

Subhanker Banarjee, a noted wildlife photographer and writer, will speak in Houston on Thursday, Oct 28, as part of the Houston Seminar series. Banerjee will show slides of his work and talk about the people, wildlife, and land that he encountered during the two years he spent exploring 4,000 miles of wilderness in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He is an advocate for permanent protection of the refuge, where he lived with tribal Gwich’in Athabascan and Inupiat families, learning their way of life and coming to understand their relationship to the land and the wild animals that inhabit it. Banerjee’s photographs have been featured in exhibits at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; the American Museum of Natural History, New York; and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC. Early registration is encouraged. For more information call (713) 666-9000, or visit http://www.houstonseminar.org

BUFFALO BAYOU PARTNERSHIP SEEKS HORTICULTURIST / URBAN FORESTER

The Buffalo Bayou Partnership is seeking to fill a full-time professional position funded through the Texas Forest Service Urban Forestry Partnership Grant Program. Responsibilities include advancing the BBP’s vegetation management plan, which involves specific restoration objectives in the Buffalo Bayou Park. The person hired for the position will work with volunteers and contractors to accomplish many of these goals and will also be responsible for monitoring tree health by performing Forest Health assessments. Other responsibilities include reporting to the Texas Forest Service’s urban forestry representative, seeking funding for a stream-bank protection demonstration project, and working closely with the BBP’s director of public relations to involve the media in newsworthy projects. Some Saturdays will be necessary, to lead volunteer groups. Requirements include a bachelor’s degree in a related field, good computer skills, local flora knowledge, and leadership and presentation skills. To apply for this position please send your resume to Scott Barnes at sbarnes@buffalobayou.org or fax your resume to (713) 223-3500.

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