Bridge City residents informed of contaminated water

kfdm.com - by Ashley Devriend - July 31, 2016

BRIDGE CITY — Joe Brody is one of the thousands of Bridge City residents receiving this letter over the weekend from the city.

It notifies him the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality notified the city drinking water exceeded maximum contaminant levels for a group of volatile organic compounds. . . .

. . . The letter states some who drink water with excess levels of the compound over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidney, or central nervous systems and may have an increased risk of getting cancer.

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submitted by Albert Gomez

cnn.com - by Debra Goldschmidt - July 29, 2016

(CNN) Four individuals in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have been infected with the Zika virus by local mosquitoes, Florida health officials said Friday.

These are the first known cases of the virus being transmitted by mosquitoes in the continental United States.

The unidentified individuals had not traveled to a Zika-affected area, had not had sexual contact with someone who had traveled to a place where the virus is circulating and had no other known exposure to the virus.

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crofsblogs.typepad.com - g1.globo.com - July 24, 2016

Transmission of Zika by house mosquito requires 'radical change' in control measures

Biologist Constância Ayres, of Fiocruz Pernambuco, has made an unprecedented discovery that has the potential to provide a leap in scientists' knowledge of the Zika virus, and radically change the Brazilian strategy of preventing it.

Ayres succeeded in finding for the first time, mosquitoes carrying the virus in nature.

On Thursday, Fiocruz officially announced that the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus, known as muriçoca or house mosquito, can also transmit the virus that causes microcephaly and malformations in babies.

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via Google Translate

Zika transmission by common stilt requires 'radical change' in control measures

Scientists at Fiocruz Pernambuco met for the first time this type of mosquitoes carrying the Zika in nature - now analyze how effective it is in its transmission among humans.

click2houston.com - July 13, 2016 - (WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

HOUSTON - A positive test result for an infant diagnosed with microcephaly at birth has been confirmed by Harris County Public Health. It's the first case in the county and in Texas.

The mother received inconclusive test results after traveling from Latin American. HCPH said since the infant tested positive, it's likely that the mother carried the virus while pregnant and was infected in Latin America.

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CLICK HERE - Analytical Chemistry - Instrument-Free Point-of-Care Molecular Detection of Zika Virus

news.upenn.edu - June 29, 2016

University of Pennsylvania engineers have developed a rapid, low-cost genetic test for the Zika virus. The $2 testing device, about the size of a soda can, does not require electricity or technical expertise to use. A patient would simply provide a saliva sample. Color-changing dye turns blue when the genetic assay detects the presence of the virus.

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Pump jacks sit idle on a South Texas ranch near Bigfoot. Deserted drilling wells are the relics of every oil bust, and Texas is pitted with more than any other place in the U.S.  Eric Gay/AP

dallasnews.com - by Chris Siron - The Associated Press - by Paul J. Weber - June 19, 2016

The worst oil bust since the 1980s is putting Texas and other oil producing states on the hook for thousands of newly abandoned drilling sites at a time when they have little money to plug wells and seal off environmental hazards.

In Texas alone, the roughly $165 million price tag of plugging nearly 10,000 abandoned wells is double the entire budget of the agency that regulates the industry.

The state's regulators want taxpayers to cover more of the clean-up, supplementing industry payments.

As U.S. rig counts plunge to historic lows, and with at least 60 oil producers declaring bankruptcy since 2014, energy-producing states are confronting holes in their budgets and potentially leaking ones in the ground.

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submitted by Gordian Raacke

CLICK HERE - White House Council of Economic Advisors - Incorporating Renewables into the Grid: Expanding Opportunities for Smart Markets and Energy Storage (40 page .PDF report)

whitehouse.gov - June 16, 2016

. . The Administration is announcing new executive actions and 33 state and private sector commitments that will accelerate the grid integration of renewable energy and storage.  Together, these announcements are expected to result in at least 1.3 gigawatts of additional storage procurement or deployment in the next five years. .

Aerial view overlooking landscaping on April 4, 2015 in San Diego, California.  Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

by Sarah Ferris and Peter Sullivan - April 25, 2016

The United States is on the verge of a national crisis that could mean the end of clean, cheap water.

Hundreds of cities and towns are at risk of sudden and severe shortages, either because available water is not safe to drink or because there simply isn’t enough of it.

The situation has grown so dire the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence now ranks water scarcity as a major threat to national security alongside terrorism.

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Photo: El Paso Times - (CLICK HERE to view additional photos)

texashillcountry.com - by Spring Sault - May 30, 2016

The existence of a number of aerial photos showing flood-related oil spills on a state-run website was revealed in an El Paso Times story by Marty Schladen last month, followed shortly by state officials ordering the photos removed from the website operated by the University of Texas at Austin.

Until the Times’ story was published, the photos weren’t common knowledge to the public and identified possible environmental damage caused by flooding in oil drilling areas, including fracking sites. . . .

Photo: El Paso Times - (CLICK HERE to view additional photos)

texashillcountry.com - by THC Staff - May 6, 2016

The recent Texas flooding has overwhelmed oil wells and fracking sites, overflowing crude oil and chemicals into rivers statewide.

With the onset of storms finally subsiding, state officials have begun to assess the entirety of the damage caused by the flooding that occurred across the state.

As KIII reported, “state emergency management officials have taken dozens of photographs that show sheens and plumes spreading from tipped tanks and flooded production sites” of the Sabine River flood on the Louisiana-Texas border.

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CLICK HERE - kiiitv.com - Flooding Flushes Oil, Chemicals into Texas Rivers

dshs.state.tx.us - May 31, 2016

Recently reported case contracted in 2015 

The Texas Department of State Health Services has confirmed the first locally acquired case of chikungunya, a mosquito borne illness. A Cameron County resident got sick with the illness in November 2015 and was diagnosed with a lab test in January 2016. The case, however, was not reported to the local health department until last month. The investigation performed by the Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services determined the patient had not traveled, and the case was confirmed last week by testing at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chikungunya disease is a viral illness spread by mosquitoes and was first detected in travelers returning to Texas from areas with local transmission in 2014. All previous Texas residents who contracted the illness were infected while traveling abroad. Because this case was contracted more than six months ago and mosquito surveillance has not found chikungunya in local mosquitoes, the primary risk of infection remains related to travel. DSHS encourages people to protect themselves from mosquito bites at home and while traveling to stop the spread of chikungunya, Zika and West Nile virus.

Aerial view of the Toledo Bend Dam near Burkeville, Texas, on Mar. 10, 2016. At the time, a record release of 207,644 cubic feet per second, or about 1.5 million gallons per second, was occurring.  (Vernon Parish Sheriff's Office Deputy Rusty Bailey)

AN EXPANDING LIST OF FLOOD-RELATED INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE RESOURCES (CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW)

CLICK HERE - KFDM Special Report - A Flood of Complaints: Part 1

CLICK HERE - Brian Babin - Residents of Orange, Newton and Jasper Counties who suffered damage from the March flooding have until Wednesday, May 18, to register for FEMA assistance.

CLICK HERE - Beaumont Enterprise - Deweyville residents ask: Take buyout or rebuild?

CLICK HERE - OCOEM - Clarification - Individual Assistance - Disster Recovery Centers

Image: Anhydrous ammonia plant, ca. 1954. ROBERT W. KELLEY/TIME & LIFE PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES

wired.com - Sarah Zhang - May 16th 2016

Of all the elements that make up Earth’s atmosphere, nitrogen is by far the most abundant. It is also one of the most inert. Nothing happens when you breathe it in, swallow it, or let it suffuse your skin.

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CLICK HERE - STUDY - Pew Research Center - America’s Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas

latimes.com - by Don Lee - May 11, 2016

America's shrinking middle class, a growing concern for the economy and a central issue in the presidential race, cuts across virtually all communities from coast to coast, according to a study released Wednesday.

The report by Pew Research Center found that the share of the middle class fell in 203 of the 229 U.S. metropolitan areas examined from 2000 to 2014, including major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which saw a relatively sharp drop in its middle class.

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CLICK HERE - 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index

The 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index shows gaps in health readiness among states.

hhnmag.com - by Matt O'Connor - April 25, 2016

Summer is rapidly approaching, and so is ideal mosquito weather and the opportunity for the spread of Zika — something hospitals need to be ready for.

The 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index, released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows that the United States scores 6.7 out of 10 for preparedness against public health emergencies, a 3.6 percent increase since the survey began three years ago. But, some of the regions most susceptible to the spread of Zika scored below the national level, including the Deep South.

Having many states improve their scores is a positive sign that the nation is improving, but there is concern that the South isn’t as prepared for the approaching mosquito season, says Glen Mays, professor of health policy at the University of Kentucky's College of Public Health, who leads the team overseeing the Index.