The Brazos River in Knox County during the summer of 2011.  Photo by Earl Nottingham/Texas Parks & Wildlife

CLICK HERE - Come Heat and High Water: Climate Risk in the Southeastern U.S. - Executive Summary

CLICK HERE - Come Heat and High Water: Climate Risk in the Southeastern U.S. (114 page .PDF report)

texastribune.org - by Kiah Collier - July 28, 2015

Texas probably will see a sharp increase in heat-related deaths and coastal storm-related losses in the coming decades if nothing is done to mitigate a changing climate, according to a new study commissioned by a bipartisan group of prominent policymakers and company executives aiming to spawn concern – and action – in the business community over the much-debated warming trend.

huffingtonpost.com - by Dr. James Hansen - July 27, 2015

. . . 2°C global warming, rather than being a safe "guardrail," is highly dangerous. . . .

. . . My conclusion, based on the total information available, is that continued high emissions would result in multi-meter sea level rise this century and lock in continued ice sheet disintegration such that building cities or rebuilding cities on coast lines would become foolish. . . .

. . . A startling conclusion of our paper is that effects of freshwater release onto the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic are already underway and 1-2 decades sooner in the real world than in the model (Fig. 2). 

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CLICK HERE - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics - Earth's energy imbalance and implications

CLICK HERE - Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms: Evidence from Paleoclimate Data, Climate Modeling, and Modern Observations that 2°C Global Warming is Highly Dangerous

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                            Wimberley, Texas                                                    San Marcos, Texas

                          Austin, Texas                                                                Houston, Texas

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

CLICK HERE -President Declares Disaster for Texas

CLICK HERE - Federal Aid Programs for State of Texas Declaration

CLICK HERE - Texas Department of Public Safety - Emergency Management - Situation Reports

People canoe through floodwaters in Houston on Saturday, May 30.  Torrential rains have given Texas the wettest month on record, according to Texas A&M climatologists.  In all, 37.3 trillion gallons of water have fallen over the state in May, the National Weather Service said.

cnn.com - by Kevin Conlon - June 14, 2015

(CNN) For portions of rain-battered Texas, the warnings issued by the National Weather Service on Sunday must have seemed like a cruel joke: a tropical storm that is potentially forming in the Gulf of Mexico is headed straight for them.

"Through Wednesday, widespread rainfall totals could easily average 6 to 8 inches with some amounts exceeding 10 inches," read the ominous forecast issued by the weather service office in Houston. "This will obviously lead to a dangerous flood situation."

Local officials sounded even more alarmed, calling the event "possibly catastrophic."

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

New network expands US ability to respond to outbreaks of severe, highly infectious diseases

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES            June 12, 2015

WASHINGTON -- To further strengthen the nation’s infectious disease response capability, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has selected nine health departments and associated partner hospitals to become special regional treatment centers for patients with Ebola or other severe, highly infectious diseases.

HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has awarded approximately $20 million through its Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) to enhance the regional treatment centers’ capabilities to care for patients with Ebola or other highly infectious diseases. ASPR will provide an additional $9 million to these recipients in the subsequent four years to sustain their readiness...

The nine awardees and their partner hospitals are:

sciencedaily.com - March 5, 2015

Source:  Texas A&M University

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Changing global patterns of urban exposure to flood and drought hazards

Summary:  A heads-up to New York, Baltimore, Houston and Miami: a new study suggests that these metropolitan areas and others will increase their exposure to floods even in the absence of climate change.  Their work is published in Global Environmental Change. . . .

. . . "Through land change, bank protection, channelization, and other means, urbanization can also alter the geomorphology of river channels and floodplains, which in turn may contribute to increased risk of flooding."

"Our findings suggest that future urban expansion in flood and drought prone zones will at least be as important as population growth and economic development in increasing their exposure," the researchers add.

"With climatic changes, this exposure is only expected to increase in the future. Thus, proper planning and financing in fast growing cities today will be critical in mitigating future losses due to floods and droughts."

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Large hoses lead from one hydraulic fracking drill site to another as horses graze in a Midland, Texas field.
Photograph: Pat Sullivan/AP

reuters.com - by Anna Driver and Terry Wade - May 18, 2015

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday signed a bill into law that prohibits cities and towns from banning an oil drilling practice known as hydraulic fracking, giving the state sole authority over oil and gas regulation.

Lawmakers in Texas, a state that is home to the two of the most productive U.S. shale oil fields, have been under pressure to halt an anti-fracking movement since November, when voters in the town of Denton voted to ban the oil and gas extraction technique.

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(ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE)

FOREIGN POLICY  by Siobhán O'Grady                        April 13, 2015
When the Ebola virus spread from Guinea to Sierra Leone and Liberia last spring, the initial international response was labeled a failure. By the time President Barack Obama ordered troops to the affected countries in September, more than 2,400 people were dead.

But in the United States, where major hospitals prepared for an outbreak, there were only four in-country diagnoses, one of which resulted in a death. And some see the urgency of that response as a lesson in how the government can prepare for another public health hazard: a bioterrorist attack.

Arizona Rep. Martha McSally chairs a House subcommittee that will examine over the next few months the threat of bioterrorist attacks and U.S. preparedness to respond to them. She told Foreign Policy that even if a disease outbreak and the use of a biological agent in a coordinated attack are not completely analogous, the response strains similar systems.

“We can learn lessons from other outbreaks that are naturally occurring,” she said. “We can identify weaknesses in our response and even if it wasn’t terrorism, it presses the system at the same level....”

REUTERS by Aharon Begley                                                                    Aug. 22, 2015
NEW YORK --An experimental Ebola drug from Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp cured all three monkeys intentionally infected with the virus, scientists reported on Wednesday, the first such success against the strain of Ebola in West Africa's 2014-2015 outbreak.

Although other experimental treatments appeared to help Ebola patients last year, especially in the United States, those one-time uses cannot prove efficacy against the "Makona" strain, since patients' recovery might be due to other causes. Similarly, drugs, including Mapp Biopharmaceutical's ZMapp, cured monkeys in lab experiments, but in a strain of Ebola different from that responsible for the current outbreak, the worst ever recorded.

"We can't say for certain that an experimental drug that works against one strain will work in another, even if they're almost identical genetically," said Thomas Geisbert of the University of Texas Medical Branch, senior author of the study published in the journal Nature.

Cattle graze beneath turbines at the Penascal Wind Power Project in Kenedy County, Texas. Officials in Georgetown, Texas announced that the city will transition from fossil-fuel generated electricity to power solely produced using renewable energy by 2017.  Business Wire

Dale Ross is the Mayor of Georgetown, Texas. - 100% renewable energy made good business sense

time.com - by Dale Ross - March 27, 2015

Georgetown is a city of 54,000 just north of Austin known for beautiful Victorian-era architecture around our historic courthouse square. Founded in 1848, we are home to Southwestern University, a small liberal arts college.

The City of Georgetown recently announced that our municipal electric utility will move to 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2017. That probably caught some folks by surprise.

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(ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE)

12newsnow.com - KBMT - by Rhyan Henson - April 10, 2015

Several people in Port Arthur are concerned about Valero's proposed plan to build a community garden and park.

This project would allow Valero to avoid paying part of their $200,000 fine that was issued to them in September 2013. . . .

. . . Given the area's air quality, some community activists fear any food grown will be unsafe to eat and they are struggling to see a benefit.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

NEW YORK TIMES   by Denis Grady                                                                 April 9. 2015

Two  new Ebola vaccines have passed an important test, protecting monkeys against the strain of the virus responsible for the current deadly outbreak, researchers reported on Wednesday. Only one dose was needed, and there were no apparent side effects..

Thomas W. Geisbert, an Ebola expert at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, in his office. Credit Michael Stravato for The New York Times

Thinkstock

thehill.com - by Timothy Cama - March 19, 2015

President Obama signed an executive order Thursday to cut the federal government’s greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent over the next decade.

The effort will save taxpayers as much as $18 billion due to energy savings, the White House said. . .

. . . Obama will also push federal agencies to get 30 percent of their power from renewable sources like wind and solar energy.

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FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, file photo, oil pumps work at sunset in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain. Oil prices have further to drop with no signs of slowing production in the U.S., according to the International Energy Agency, Friday, March 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) - Associated Press

ABC News - AP - March 13, 2015

Oil prices have further to drop with few signs of slowing production in the U.S., according to a global energy agency.

The International Energy Agency, a watchdog group based in Paris that represents the world's main oil-importing nations, said in its monthly report Friday that the recent stabilization in oil prices is "precarious."

"Behind the facade of stability, the rebalancing triggered by the price collapse has yet to run its course," it said.

That may be playing out right now. Oil prices tumbled 10 percent this week, including a 5 percent drop Friday.

The IEA cautioned that risks of oil supply disruptions are growing. Low prices could raise the risk of social disruption in some countries dependent on oil, the agency said, and the ongoing conflict in Iraq and Libya hasn't slowed down.

12newsnow.com - by Angel San Juan - March 20, 2015

PORT ARTHUR - The neighborhood surrounding Gilham Circle was once a thriving part of Port Arthur, but Hurricane Rita dealt it a severe blow.

But a decade later, Cuevas Peacock, a young community activist, and his group PRO-ACT, which stands for promoting action in our communities and towns are hoping to breathe new life into the area, starting with a grocery store.

Peacock says the hurricane caused a decline in population, and that decline led to a departure of businesses, specifically grocery stores.

Most of the people who stayed in the neighborhood are elderly, and the nearest full-service grocery store is not within walking distance.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)