Luke MetzgerDirector (512) 479-0388 |
|
Oceans In the News
Search this section • RSS Feed
|
Texas beaches cleaner than many, escape most oil
- Austin American-Statesman (new window)
|
2010-07-29 |
| GALVESTON, Texas — Texas beaches were cleaner last year than in many parts of the country, according to a report released Wednesday, though a state environmental group attributed the improvement to a two-year drought rather than efforts to prevent water pollution. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Drought helped clean Texas beaches
- Dallas Morning News (new window)
|
2010-07-29 |
| But Texas saw a 27 percent drop in closings and public advisories, falling from 318 in 2008. Experts believe the plunge was a result of the two-year drought that limited storm-water runoff. Karen Byrom, an Environment Texas field organizer, said updated sewage treatment systems are part of what's needed. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Report: Texas Beaches Getting Cleaner
- The Texas Tribune (new window)
|
2010-07-29 |
| Kara Byrom, an organizer with Environment Texas, acknowledged that it would be hard to address the many unknown sources that cause problems on Texas beaches, or the rain that spurs stormwater runoff. But she said the state and the federal Environmental Protection Agency could do better at controlling chemicals and other pollutants that wind up in the runoff. | |
| more. . . | |
|
DISASTER IN THE GULF Judge blocks White House ban on drilling
- Houston Chronicle (new window)
|
2010-06-23 |
| WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday struck down the Obama administration's ban on deep-water drilling and rebuked the government for imposing a moratorium that would cause "irreparable harm to businesses" along the Gulf Coast. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Texas Reaction to New Offshore Drilling Limits
- KUT (new window)
|
2010-05-27 |
| President Obama announced an extension of a moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling. Critics have said the White House has been slow and ineffective in its response to the spill. Today, the President laid out what the federal government is doing and announced new restrictions on drilling in deep water areas. | |
| more. . . | |
|
State of Readiness
- The Texas Tribune (new window)
|
2010-05-10 |
| Although the BP spill is not expected to spread into Texas waters, the GLO says Texas beaches could see tar balls washing ashore. Luke Metzger, the director of Environment Texas, an advocacy group, recalls that "basketball-sized tar balls" — which sea turtles can mistake for food and choke on — washed up on Padre Island last year. The recent disaster, Metzger says, serves as a reminder that "offshore drilling is dirty and dangerous." | |
| more. . . | |
|
Texas watching Gulf oil spill, tar balls expected
- Associated Press (new window)
|
2010-04-30 |
| Besides being a sticky mess, they are also considered hazardous to wildlife. Sea turtles sometimes eat small tar balls and birds can be affected if oil splotches soil their wings. "We only hear about these oil spills when there's a big disaster," said Luke Metzger of Environment Texas. "We have routine oil spills. This is a chronic problem." | |
| more. . . | |
|
Texas beaches improve in water quality survey
- Houston Chronicle (new window)
|
2009-07-30 |
| McCall Johnson, coordinator for Environment Texas, which released the national report, said much of the state's decline in pollution can be attributed to the drought. She said when rainwater returns, it will wash pollution into the bays and Gulf of Mexico. Johnson said the state needs to upgrade protections from sewers, septic tanks and wastewater treatment plants. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Beach Water Quality Report Released
- KLBJ (new window)
|
2009-07-30 |
| A report on water quality at Texas beaches says that beach advisories due to pollution dropped last year in the state. The Natural Resource Defense Council released on Wednesday its 19th annual beachwater quality report "Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches.'' The report is based on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report tallied 318 beach health advisory days in 2008 in Texas, a 40 percent decline from the year before. Environment Texas, an environmental group, is calling for increased federal funding and faster testing for beachwater pollution. Environment Texas tracks which beaches had pollution problems with sewage and bacteria and which ones tested clean. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Reports Of Pollution Down On Texas Coast
- KUT NPR News (new window)
|
2009-07-29 |
| In the thick of the dog days of summer, a coalition of environmental groups has released their annual report on the state of Texas beaches. Texas beaches reported a total of 318 health advisory days due to pollution in 2008. That’s a 40 percent drop from the year before. But as KUT’s Mose Buchele reports much of that is because 2008 was a dry year. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Fishery service copes with overfishing, hurricane damage on Gulf
- Daily Texan (new window)
|
2008-10-02 |
| The disaster has come at a particularly dangerous time because the number of fish in the Gulf of Mexico has decreased by almost 30 percent in the last year as a result of overfishing, said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, one of the organizations fighting to reduce overfishing. “Protecting our oceans is critical to safeguarding the environment and our economy,†Metzger said. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Beach water quality in dispute
- Austin American-Statesman (new window)
|
2008-07-30 |
| On Tuesday, Environment Texas said the state agency had not considered an entire year's worth of data that shows the water quality at state beaches had decreased. Using a report issued by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the environmental group said there had been 532 beach closings and health advisory days in Texas in 2007, up from 473 in 2006. Several beaches near Corpus Christi exceeded maximum bacteria levels by more than 25 percent, the group said. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Report finds increase in Texas beach water pollution
- The Daily Texan (new window)
|
2008-07-30 |
| UT students who flock to South Padre Island, Galveston and other Texas beaches over Spring Break and during the summer could be swimming in contaminated waters, according to a report released this week. Beach closings, at least 532 in 2007, and health advisories increased 11 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the Natural Resource Defense Council's annual beach water quality report released Tuesday by Environment Texas, a statewide citizen-based environmental advocacy group. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Two Texas beaches barely earn environmental stars
- Dallas Morning News (new window)
|
2008-07-30 |
| Just two Texas beaches won the slightest of praise in an environmental group's ratings of clean water and protecting the public. Galveston Island's Stewart Park Beach and McGee Beach in Corpus Christi earned one-star ratings, for prompt reporting by local authorities when there's an outbreak of dangerous fecal contamination. | |
| more. . . | |
|
Texas beach study finds increase in fecal contamination
- Associated Press (new window)
|
2008-07-20 |
| A day after state officials declared water quality on the rise at Texas beaches, an environmental group reported today it found a 12 percent increase in confirmed outbreaks of dangerous fecal contamination along the coast last year. The results issued today by Environment Texas, part of a national study released from the Natural Resources Defense Council, reported 532 beach closings and health advisory days in Texas in 2007, up from 473 in 2006. Several beaches near Corpus Christi exceeded maximum bacteria levels by more than 25 percent. | |
| more. . . | |