CEC ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS UPDATE 10/07/05 - HOUSTON
NEWS
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ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT ITSELF IN
DANGER
By Ella Tyler
The US House of Representatives has approved amendments
to the Endangered Species Act that undo central provisions of the
act and further threaten it by requiring that agencies enforcing
the law reimburse property owners for diminished land values.
The
bill proposes the most far-reaching reversals of environmental
policy in more than a decade. Environmental groups expressed
dismay at the measure and urged their members to fight its passage
by the Senate.
The Bush administration
gave its formal support to the measure a few hours before the vote. The measure
passed the House with 30 votes to spare, but prospects for Senate passage are
not good.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA),
chair of the House Resources committee, said he did not expect quick action
in the Senate.
The bill that the House passed
is the more extreme of the proposals it considered. A rival measure that reworked
the law but required enforceable protections for animals and plants in danger
of extinction was defeated.
The bill would make it more difficult to add a species to the federal list
of threatened or endangered species and require economic analyses of such decisions.
More
destructive, however, is the bill's core provision, which eliminates the current
system of designating critical habitat. Such a designation results in significant
land-use restrictions, but environmental groups argue that the designation
of habitat is a crucial prerequisite to the survival and eventual
recovery of an endangered species.
The measure the House has passed allows delineation
of lands that would help a species. But, compared with the current
law, agencies would have less obligation to take the needs of a
species into account when making land-use decisions. The legislation
provides for reimbursement to property owners whose land values
are reduced by the law and financial incentives for landowners
who work for species conservation. Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-WV),
the ranking minority member on the House Resources Committee, said
that the $10 million projected cost of the bill's provisions for
compensating property owners would prove to be a significant underestimate
Jamie
Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, said the
measure was "a deadly blow to the protections of the Endangered Species
Act."
Supporters of the bill argued that only 1 percent of the more than 1,200 listed
species had recovered to the extent that they could be removed from the endangered
species list.
A former rancher from Tracy, Calif., Pombo has made
property rights and opposition to the Endangered Species Act the
focus of his political career.
Pombo has also
proposed, in the budget reconciliation act, closing fifteen national parks
and selling them off to oil and gas industries and private developers;
demanded that park vehicles and facilities be turned into billboards
for commercial advertising; and suggested that commercial naming
rights be sold for park buildings and trails, among other unprecedented
proposals.
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CEC NOTES
SPOTLIGHT ON SYNERGY AWARDS
Jane Laping and Dina Cappiello will receive Synergy awards
for their work for clean air in Houston. Laping, a founding member of
Mothers for Clean Air and the organization's current executive director,
will receive the Activist Award. Cappiello, who covers environmental
issues for the Houston Chronicle, will receive the Media Award in recognition
of the series she initiated, researched, and wrote about air pollution
in Houston.
Geraldine Watson is being honored with the Lifetime Achievement
Award for her work to preserve the Big Thicket. Joy Hester, who recently
retired as executive director of the Audubon Society, will receive
the Founders Award.
The Citizens'
Environmental Coalition's Synergy awards are made every year to honor outstanding
achievement and resourceful stewardship in a broad spectrum of environmental
endeavors. Each year, there are open nominations for all but two of the awards:
The women who founded the CEC in 1970 choose the recipient of the Founders'
Award; the president of the CEC board of trustees decides who will receive
the President's Award.
Awards will be presented to eleven individuals
and two corporations at a reception on Tues, Oct 11, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel,
1700 Smith Street. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be served from 6:30 to
8:30 pm. The awards ceremony will begin at 8:30 pm.
Tickets to the event are $75.00 and may be obtained by
calling (713) 524-4232 or contacting
david@cechouston.org for ticket information.
COALITION NOTES
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BIONEERS CONFERENCE FOR YOUTH AND
TEACHERS
Blackwood Educational Land Institute's Bioneers Conference
is hosting a free youth conference on Thurs, Oct 13. The Bioneers
Conference offers real solutions for environmental and cultural
issues, and emphasizes social justice, community, and the human
spirit. Youth attending workshops will have opportunities to share
their vision and connect with others. Open to young people aged
13 to 23 and to teachers. Pre-registration required. Contact http://www.blackwoodland.com/texasbioneers for more information.
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GREEN GRANTS & JOBS
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LAND TRUST SEEKS UPKEEP MANAGER
FOR PRESERVES
Natural Area Preservation Association, which owns
private nature preserves throughout Texas, is seeking a land stewardship
director to manage upkeep of 32 NAPA preserves in North and East
Texas. The location is flexible but must be convenient to properties.
BS required, preferably in wildlife or land management, ecology,
range science, or related field. Must be able to travel extensively. Visit
http://www.napa-texas.org for
more information. To apply, contact David Bezanson at (512) 804-1981 or napa@texas.net by
Oct 20.
PREVENT POLLUTION AT UT
The University of Texas at
Austin's Environmental Health and Safety Office is seeking a qualified
individual to assist with oversight of its storm water, wastewater,
PST, and pollution prevention programs. The position, which is
at the Main Campus in Austin, is immediately available. The job
posting is at http://www.utexas.edu/safety/ehs/employment/index.html.
AFTER-SCHOOL
ENVIRONMENTAL TEACHER NEEDED
Kids' Environmental Education Project
(KEEP) wants to hire a teacher or group of teachers for an after-school
program in Spring Branch. The job involves environmental education
using a great habitat and requires ten hours per week. For more
information, call Duncan Ragsdale at (832) 620-8343.
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REPORTS/GUIDES
EDUCATION
THIS WEEK’S EVENTS
HEADLINES
LOCAL NEWS
ECOLOGIST SAYS GULF COAST IS IN NEED OF PROTECTION
Houston Chronicle 10/2/05
Edward Osborne Wilson, acclaimed Harvard University entomologist, ecologist and
two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, got the bug for science growing up on the Gulf
Coast. Born in Birmingham, Ala., in 1929, Wilson is considered one of the world's
leading authorities on ants, one of the fathers of biodiversity, and an advocate
for sociobiology - the belief that animal and human behavior can be explained
through evolution. Houston Chronicle environment writer Dina Cappiello recently
spoke to Wilson about his thoughts on Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast.
LOUISIANA ECOLOGICAL HARM CALLED UNPRECEDENTED
Boston Globe 10/3/05
NEW ORLEANS - The environmental damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita is
unparalleled in its scope and variety, scientists say, with massive oil spills
blanketing marshes, sediment smothering vast fishing grounds, and millions
of gallons of raw sewage scattered in New Orleans and along the 400-mile Louisiana
coast.
RITA'S DAMAGE TO SITES SEVERE
Houston Chronicle 10/4/05
WASHINGTON - Hurricane Rita inflicted substantially more damage to offshore
oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico than Katrina, the Interior Department
said Tuesday.
HURRICANES DESTROYED 108 OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
MOST SAY THEY'D EVACUATE AGAIN
Houston Chronicle 10/6/06
Half of Houston-area residents fled Hurricane Rita as it approached last month,
and almost two-thirds would evacuate next time a major storm threatened, according
to a Houston Chronicle/KHOU-TV Channel 11 poll.
AIR FORCE ENLISTED IN MOSQUITO BATTLE
Houston Chronicle 10/4/05
BEAUMONT - Along with destructive winds and water, Hurricane Rita delivered
a plague of vicious salt-grass mosquitoes so annoying that East Texas officials
have called in the US Air Force.
FLYING
NUISANCES
MOSQUITOES MOUNTING
ENTERGY SAYS RITA MAY COST IT UP TO $550
MILLION
Houston Chronicle 10/4/05
NEW ORLEANS - Utility operator Entergy Corp. said today that its damages from
Hurricane Rita will range from $400 million to $550 million, a bill that comes
on top of damages that could hit $1.1 billion from Hurricane Katrina a month
earlier.
BP
SAYS HURRICANES WILL COST IT $700 MILLION
BP DETAILS ITS DAMAGES FROM HURRICANES
EPA TO STREAMLINE TOXIC CHEMICAL REPORTING
Houston Business Journal 10/305
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed streamlining paperwork requirements
for its Toxic Release Inventory, a list of 650 chemicals released into the
environment by 24,000 facilities.
HOW TO ADD 3.2 MILLION TO THE MIX
Houston Chronicle 10/2/05
The problem is easy to state: Squeeze 3.2 million more people into the Houston
area by 2035, alongside the 5 million already here. But it's not so easy to
do, even on paper, as participants in a recent planning workshop discovered.
NRG TO ACQUIRE TEXAS GENCO IN A DEAL
VALUED AT $5.8 BILLION
New York Times 10/3/05
NRG Energy said yesterday that it would buy Texas Genco Holdings for $5.8 billion
in cash and stock in a deal that would nearly double NRG's asset base and allow
it to enter the growing Texas wholesale electricity market.
8 HOUSTON POWER PLANTS TO BE SOLD TO NRG ENERGY
WETLANDS RESTORATION
Houston Chronicle 10/2/05
BROWNSVILLE - Mullet splashed in the saltwater that flowed beneath the highway
roadbed and into Bahia Grande. And, a few yards from the culvert, a trio of
snowy egrets stalked fingerlings among the salt grass.
NEWSLETTER PUBLISHER ORDERED TO TURN
OVER ENERGY PRICE DATA
Houston Chronicle 10/4/05
McGraw-Hill Cos., the biggest publisher of energy newsletters,
must provide natural gas pricing data to the US Commodities
Futures Trading Commission for an investigation of market
manipulation, a federal judge in Washington ruled.
TOASTING THE START OF A PERFECT OCTOBER
Houston Chronicle 9/29/05
By Leon Hale
Look at the calendar. October starts Saturday. I've decided
to call this good news.
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
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