Grist | Topics | 109 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 109
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Smog in Your Throat? Houston joins Los Angeles in having 'severe' smog problem		03 Oct 2008	News
Posted at 10:31 AM on 03 Oct 2008 Houston has received the dubious honor of becoming the second U.S. city to have a "severe" smog problem, as classified by the U.S. EPA. Los Angeles is its partner in grime. The downgrade from a "moderate" to "severe" smog problem gives Texas' largest city nine extra years to meet federal air-quality standards. Both Houston and L.A. have, however, taken re ...
Topics: air pollution, Los Angeles, news, placemaking, Texas, US EPA (all these topics)

The Blew Lagoon Hurricane Ike dealt big blow to Texas wildlife and waterways		02 Oct 2008	News
Posted at 7:20 AM on 02 Oct 2008 Hurricane Ike caused plenty of problems for Gulf Coast humans, but now it looks like the storm has also messed with area wildlife. Ike's storm surge helped turn some freshwater wetlands as far as 20 miles inland into salty marshes hostile to many freshwater fish, as well as other wildlife. "[The salt infusion] exasperates everything that needs freshwater," said Jim Sutherlin, ...
Topics: news, severe weather, Texas, wildlife (all these topics)

The Beach Is Back Severe erosion caused by Hurricane Ike may make many homes illegal		22 Sep 2008	News
Posted at 11:03 AM on 22 Sep 2008 Hundreds of beach houses on the gulf coast of Texas may soon be declared illegal and seized under a state law that prohibits houses from being built (or remaining) between a beach's high and low tide marks. Hurricane Ike's 12-foot storm surge and 100-mile-per-hour winds severely eroded many Texas beaches and redrew the tide lines enough that even many beach houses that survived ...
Topics: habitat loss, news, placemaking, severe weather, Texas (all these topics)

There Will Be Crud Hurricane Ike leaves toxic mess on Galveston Island		16 Sep 2008	News
Posted at 7:20 AM on 16 Sep 2008 Hurricane Ike left a big mess behind as it passed over Galveston, Texas, and other Gulf Coast areas, but the mess wasn't just from debris. Just as with Hurricane Katrina, the combination of destructive high winds and subsequent flooding have created a toxic soup that's potentially dangerous to residents, cleanup crews, and the environment. Floodwaters have mixed with gasoline, paints, househo ...
Topics: news, severe weather, Texas, toxics (all these topics)

Stardom? NYT Magazine swoons for Pickens	Sir Oolius	04 Aug 2008	Gristmill
From the most recent New York Times Magazine: As a Texas oilman and major contributor to the Republican Party, you've just launched yourself, at 80, into green stardom by devising an energy plan that relies mainly on wind power. Green stardom. All you have to do is mention wind turbines to make the eyes of dirty hippies glaze over in delight.
Topics: energy, mainstream media, Texas, wind power (all these topics)

All about water?	David Roberts	04 Aug 2008	Gristmill
ZapRoot takes on the Pickens plan:
Topics: energy, Texas, video, wind power (all these topics)

Houston, we have a solution? Four encouraging signs from Big Oil's backyard	Josh Dorner	28 Jul 2008	Gristmill
After Nerdi Gras (Netroots Nation), I took a couple days off to dry-out and trotted over to Houston to visit my parents. It came as no surprise that Houston is booming due to the skyrocketing price of oil. But I also learned a few surprising things that gave me hope that brighter days are ahead for the rest of us well. Because if Houston can get it right, who can't? 1. 100 percent wind power is now cheaper than dirty electricity in Texas. If folks didn't know ...
Topics: electricity, energy, renewable energy, Texas, video, wind power (all these topics)

You're Lookin' Swelled, Dolly Hurricane Dolly hits land, skirts oil and gas facilities		23 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 2:54 PM on 23 Jul 2008 Hurricane Dolly hit land in Texas Wednesday as a Category 2 storm. No deaths have been reported and the storm had a minimal impact on oil and gas operations; it largely missed offshore oil and gas facilities, but did cut production 10 to 20 percent at some refineries and by 5 to 8 percent overall. Oil futures hardly budged, and a collective sigh of relief went up from those wh ...
Topics: energy, news, severe weather, Texas (all these topics)

Netroots Nation Come hang out with us in Austin	Kate Sheppard	15 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Any readers planning to travel to Netroots Nation should be sure to check out Grist's Austin offerings. We're partnering with ReGeneration.org to produce video from the event, and we'll have a booth in the exhibitors' hall where you can come register to win a Dell Inspiron laptop. Our videos will be posted both here and at ReGeneration.org, and they'll be showing in our booth. Most importantly, we'll be offering free booze at a Grist/ReGeneration shindig on Saturd ...
Topics: tech, Texas, shameless self-promotion (all these topics)

Attack of the killer tomatoes! FDA warns of salmonella-infected tomatoes in the Southwest	Tom Philpott	05 Jun 2008	Gristmill
What's next, tainted buns? In yet another blow to the burger, tomatoes have joined beef and lettuce as star players in that booming industrial-food genre, the disease-outbreak drama. This one involves tomatoes that carry what the FDA calls 'an uncommon strain' of salmonella called Saintpaul. Some 57 people have come down with salmonellosis in New Mexico and Texas, involving 17 hospitalizations, and the FDA is investigating salmonellosis cases in Arizona, Col ...
Topics: food, Food and Drug Administration, health, industrial ag, New Mexico, Texas (all these topics)

Dry, Dry Again How three Southwestern cities are changing		13 May 2008	Grist Feature
For more on Southwest cities see our full feature on sustainability initiatives underway in Phoenix. Scan any list of "green U.S. cities" for winners from the Southwest, and you'll find a geographical void. Sure, a liberal-leaning place like Austin or Santa Fe or Boulder might sneak onto the list, but in general, there's a dearth of entries from this sun-drenched region. And that's troubling, as Southwest cities tend ...
Topics: green building, Nevada, New Mexico, placemaking, Smartish Cities, special series, sprawl, Texas, urban planning (all these topics)

Perry and Thrust U.S. should back off from biofuels to bring down food prices, says Texas guv		28 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 4:56 PM on 28 Apr 2008 Has the U.S. push for biofuels contributed to rising global food prices? Well, yes, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday: "There has been apparently some effect, unintended consequence from the alternative fuels effort." But, she hastened to add, "biofuels continue to be an extremely important piece of the alternative energy picture" and & ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, economy, energy, food, news, politics, state politics, Texas (all these topics)

Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars New Sundance doc tells the story of the TXU coal fight in Texas	David Roberts	22 Apr 2008	Gristmill
I finally got around to watching my preview copy of Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars, the new short documentary from Robert Redford's Sundance outfit. It's about the battle over the 12 coal plants proposed for Texas by TXU in 2007. A couple things that I thought were quite well done: Environmentalists play virtually no role -- they're scarcely seen, except on the edge of the action. The main players are small-town Texans and Texas mayors. It's very clear that th ...
Topics: coal, energy, grassroots activism, movies, state politics, Texas (all these topics)

Algal update Texas forum on what's new, April 10	Erik Hoffner	02 Apr 2008	Gristmill
For the interest of those who haven't given up entirely on biofuels, I humbly present the National Algae Association forum in Texas on April 10. This meeting will serve as an update on what's new in this promising branch of the nascent sustainable biofuel movement: biodiesel from cultured algae (outside of biodiesel from waste oil, that is). This week's Renewable Energy World podcast had an interesting interview with the principal of one algae-fuel company, Solix Bio ...
Topics: biofuels, energy, renewable energy, Texas (all these topics)

Primaries thread	David Roberts	04 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is the thread to discuss all things election related this evening. To kick things off: Obama wins Vermont, handily, as expected. From what I hear the other three are tight. UPDATE: According to CNN, McCain has won Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island, thereby securing the Republican nomination. Guess Huckabee should have majored in math after all. UPDATE: Clinton projected to win Rhode Island. UPDATE: CNN is projecting that both my children are now in bed ...
Topics: Barack Obama, elections, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Ohio, politics, presidential race 08, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont (all these topics)

The Brave One Clinton talks up clean energy at Houston energy summit		29 Feb 2008	News
Posted at 1:36 PM on 29 Feb 2008 The Greater Houston Partnership held an energy forum Thursday to which all of the presidential candidates were invited and only one showed up: Hillary Clinton. Surrounded by folks from the energy industry, days before the crucial Texas primary, Clinton elected not to tell Big Oil what it wanted to hear. "I do not believe that now is the time when subsidies for the oil companies are necessa ...
Topics: Big Oil, energy, Hillary Clinton, news, politics, presidential race 08, Texas (all these topics)

Progressive energy policy in Bayou City? Carl Pope talks market failures with energy execs at Houston energy conference	Josh Dorner	28 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Today's second panel -- Carl's, on 'conservation and the environment' -- opened with remarks from Houston Mayor Bill White. Despite my earlier comments about the road-crazy Bayou City, Mayor White laid out some items from what appears to be a truly progressive energy agenda for Houston, including making it an international leader in green buildings. Some of his more interesting comments came when White told the story of being one of the staffers that helped ...
Topics: energy, green building, placemaking, Texas (all these topics)

Familiar refrains from some fossil fossils Big Energy promotes Big Energy at Houston energy conference	Josh Dorner	28 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Today's first panel focused on 'supply-side solutions' and featured quite a line-up: Dana Flanders, President, Chevron Technology Ventures James Hackett, Chairman, President, and CEO, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Thad Hill, Executive Vice President and President, NRG Texas Robert Kelly, Founding Director, DKRW Energy LLC Aubrey McClendon, Chairman of the Board, CEO and Director, Chesapeake Energy Corporation This being a veritable who's who of the ...
Topics: energy, oil, oil and gas drilling, Texas (all these topics)

Dispatches from the heart of oil country	Josh Dorner	28 Feb 2008	Gristmill
I am here in sunny Houston today with Carl Pope, our executive director, who will be addressing today's huge energy confab.Oil City USA is about what you'd expect. (I have some expertise on the subject, having briefly called Houston home a few years ago.) Instead of expanding public transport to its rapidly-growing Western suburbs, Houston decided that spending billions to tear down buildings and seize land within a thousand feet on either side of a 20-plus mile stretch ...
Topics: energy, Texas (all these topics)

Wildcatting the wind in Texas Conventional energy vs. renewable energy	Joseph Romm	27 Feb 2008	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. ----- As all eyes turn toward Texas this week in advance of the Democratic primary, we will see a state that is beginning its transition to a new energy economy. Texas is grappling with a shift the entire nation faces -- and as usual, it's doing it on a big scale. When it comes to energy and to carbon emissions, Texas is a place of super ...
Topics: coal, energy, nuclear power, oil, renewable energy, Texas, wind power (all these topics)

Alternate futures Two huge power plants offer different paths forward	David Roberts	22 Feb 2008	Gristmill
In Sweetwater, Texas, a company called Tenaska has applied to build what will be the nation's first bona fide "clean coal" plant -- an IGCC plant that will capture and sequester CO2 emissions. (Said emissions will be used to pump more oil out of the Permian Basin oil fields, which will then be burned and create more CO2, but who's counting?) The 600MW plant is projected to be completed in 2014. Meanwhile, Spanish engineering firm Abengoa has signed a deal w ...
Topics: Arizona, carbon sequestration, coal, energy, renewable energy, solar voltaic power, Texas (all these topics)

The Oil Boom Continues Oil refinery in Texas explodes, four injured		19 Feb 2008	News
Posted at 7:36 AM on 19 Feb 2008 An oil refinery in Big Spring, Texas, exploded Monday for as-yet-unknown reasons, injuring four workers and sending large plumes of smoke into the air. The explosion closed schools, shut down the nearby freeway, and shook buildings up to a few miles away. Fires at the facility were apparently extinguished as of Monday night, but the refinery's 67,000 barrel-a-day output has been slowed. The refi ...
Topics: air pollution, news, oil, Texas (all these topics)

Lance Armstrong: more bike commuters, please A breathless appraisal of Lance's new bicycle mecca and mission	Adam Stein	16 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Lance Armstrong will soon unveil his 18,000-square-foot Austin-based bike shop, Mellow Johnny's (named after the Tour de France's yellow jersey -- or 'maillot jaune'). The goal of the shop is to promote bike culture and bike commuting: 'This city is exploding downtown. Are all these people in high rises going to drive everywhere? We have to promote (bike) commuting...'Showers and a locker room will allow commuters who don't have facilities at their offices to ride down ...
Topics: bikes, celebrity, green living, placemaking, Texas (all these topics)

Meat Wagon: Get it while it's hot Avoid burgers in Texas, Hillary gets charred for CAFO ties, and more	Tom Philpott	31 Dec 2007	Gristmill
In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat industry. In a proper finale to an E. coli-tainted 2007, the USDA has issued a public-heath alert regarding 14,800 pounds of stolen hamburger meat down in Texas. Get this: the hot meat is 'thought to be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.' By my calculations, there is enough of the tainted stuff floating around Texas to produce no fewer than 74,000 quarter pounders. Texas Grist readers, don't say you we ...
Topics: agriculture, food, health, Hillary Clinton, industrial ag, Iowa, politics, Texas (all these topics)

Question of the day What about the RPS in Texas?	John McGrath	16 Dec 2007	Gristmill
So Senate Republicans managed to kill the Renewable Portfolio Standard in the energy bill. One question: who was the big-government, nanny-state liberal who forced one of the nation's largest and most successful RPSs on the poor, unwitting state of Texas? Hint: As Governor of Texas in 1999, he signed the RPS into law and later moved to the District of Columbia to pursue other opportunities, like threatening to veto a bill that would have treated all Americans like ...
Topics: energy, legislation, politics, renewable energy, Texas (all these topics)

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