Manager's Welcome
This is the August issue of the Houston-Galveston Area Council's (H-GAC's) Community and Environmental Planning (C&E) E-newsletter. We hope this monthly newsletter will keep you up to date on the wide variety of community planning, economic development and environmental planning programs going on at H-GAC. We want this information to be useful and are very interested in your feedback! If you have any questions about any of our programs, please feel free to contact me at 713-993-4560 or Jeff.Taebel@h-gac.com. To unsubscribe, add another subscriber or offer any comments on the e-newsletter, please e-mail cep_news@h-gac.com. To view the current and past editions of the e-newsletter, please visit:
www.h-gac.com/CEeNewsletter
Please click on the links below to view information regarding each topic.
IN THIS ISSUE Gulfton District Pedestrian and Bicyclist Plan Workshop
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Allocations Nearing Completion
Clean Marinas Program
Application Workshops Announced
General Land Office to Fund Large Habitat Protection Projects
Office Depot reports 65% of U.S. Paper Sales include Recycled Content
Reference Guides Available on Microbial and Disinfection Byproducts (MDBP) Rules for Drinking Water
H-GAC MEETING NOTICES
Natural Resources Advisory Committee
Storm Debris Workshop
Bacteria TMDL Stakeholder Meeting
Dioxin TMDL Stakeholder Meeting
Recycling 101 Workshop
OTHER MEETING NOTICES
Compost Camp
IN THIS ISSUE
Gulfton District Pedestrian and Bicyclist Plan Workshop
Two public workshops on the Gulfton District Pedestrian and Bicyclist Conceptual Plan project will be held on August 3, 2005. We hope you will be able to join us for either the afternoon workshop with public agencies, or the evening workshop with members of the community. Both meetings will be held at the Bayland Community Center at Bissonet and Hillcroft.
Please assist us in encouraging people to attend the evening workshop by sharing the information about the evening workshop with your constituents in the Gulfton area.
If you have any questions, or require additional information, please contact Stella Gustavson at 713-463-8200, ext. 14.
Who: Public Agencies Date: Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Time: 2-4pm
Place: Bayland Community Center, 6440 Bissonet Street (at Hillcroft)
Who: English and Spanish speaking Date: Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Time: 6-8pm
Place: Bayland Community Center, 6440 Bissonet Street (at Hillcroft)
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Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Allocations Nearing Completion
Technical studies to determine point and nonpoint source loadings for bacteria in Buffalo and White Oak Bayous and dioxin in Upper Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel are at the stage where modeling will determine load allocations from wastewater treatment plants and other sources. Once this is done, implementation planning begins. Anyone who has not been receiving information on these projects via e-mail, but would like to, please contact Carl Masterson at carl.masterson@h-gac.com.
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Clean Marinas Program
From the wooded shores of Lake Conroe to the rich estuaries of Galveston Bay and the salty Gulf of Mexico, the 60 marinas in our region are an important resource to thousands of recreational boaters and anglers. Marinas in our region support some of the largest recreational and commercial boating industries in the nation and present many challenges and opportunities with regard to storm water management, boater sewage disposal and boater education.
To help address these challenges, and to protect the recreational value of our local waterways, the Houston-Galveston Area Council is working with local marina operators, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and Texas Sea Grant to implement the Clean Texas Marinas program.
The Clean Texas Marinas program helps marina, boatyard and yacht club operators protect the resources that provide their livelihood: clean water and fresh air. It is a voluntary certification program that gives marina operators the training and tools they need to minimize pollution, maintain compliance on environmental permits, and improve their bottom line. Being a certified clean marina means good business. Clean Texas Marinas receive free technical assistance on environmental issues like storm water permitting, illegal dumping, fish kill prevention, and pollution prevention. This assistance can help marina operators save money by reducing the potential for costly spills and fines and by helping secure grants to install boater sewage pump-out stations.
H-GAC is currently conducting individual site visits and regional workshops across the region. To learn more about the Clean Texas Marinas program, visit www.h-gac.com/cleanmarinas , http://www.cleanmarinas.com/, or call Chuck Wemple at 713-993-4514.
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Application Workshops Announced
The Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) will hold application workshops for its Microenterprise Revolving Loan Fund and Small Business Loan Fund programs. The workshops will be held in selected cities in Callahan, Houston, Pecos, Kerr, Kleberg and Hale Counties. Detailed information can be obtained online at http://www.orca.state.tx.us/ and the dates, time and exact locations can be obtained by going to ORCA's Events Calendar on their Web Site. Eligible communities (non-entitlement with populations of less than 50,000) can get loans for working capital, machinery and equipment, certain real estate improvements and program administration costs up to 16% of total award. The Small Business Loan Fund will not fund program administration costs. For additional information, please contact Heather Lagrone at hlagrone@orca.state.tx.us or 512-936-6727.
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General Land Office to Fund Large Habitat Protection Projects
Through the Texas General Land Office Coastal Management Program, the Coastal Coordination Council (Council) expects to award approximately $1.8 million for planning, acquisition, construction, education, and research projects. The council will fund large-scale projects up to $400,000 that meet the criteria under the Grant Cycle 11 Focus. (The Cycle 11 Focus is described on page 2 of the guidance document.) Under this focus, the council will award up to $1.2 million in CMP funding for habitat protection, restoration and acquisition projects and land acquisitions that increase public access to coastal bays and gulf beaches.
The council will continue to fund small-scale projects up to $50,000 for non-construction and $60,000 for construction that fall under the standard funding categories.
The full application is due October 12, 2005 by 5:00 p.m.
For more information please visit the Texas GLO website at http://www.glo.state.tx.us/coastal/grants/cycle11.html.
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Office Depot reports 65% of U.S. Paper Sales include Recycled Content
The sale of recycled-content paper is skyrocketing for one major chain of office supply stores. Office Depot reported that 65 percent of its paper sales in the United States last year included recycled content, up from 13.8 percent for the previous year. Those sales included retail, contract business and commercial paper. The amount of post-consumer waste in the paper sold by Office Depot also increased last year by about 125 percent, from an average of 4.5 percent of total paper weight in 2003 to an average of 10.5 percent last year.
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Reference Guides Available on Microbial and Disinfection Byproducts (MDBP) Rules for Drinking Water
EPA has several new publications on the implementation of microbial and disinfection byproducts rules. Disinfection of drinking water is one of the major public health advances of the 20th century. However, the disinfectants themselves can react with naturally-occurring materials in the water to form unintended byproducts which may pose health risks. For more information, click on the following URL: http://www.lgean.org/html/whatsnew.cfm?id=912.
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H-GAC MEETING NOTICES
Natural Resources Advisory Committee
August 4, 2005
H-GAC Conference Room A
3555 Timmons, Houston, TX 77027
1:30 pm to 3:30 pm
H-GAC staff will ask the NRAC to approve the 2005 Regional Water Quality Management Plan Update. A presentation on invasive species by Texas Parks and Wildlife is also scheduled.
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Storm Debris Workshop
August 17, 2005
H-GAC Conference Room A
3555 Timmons, Houston, TX 77027
9:00 am to noon
Please join us for this practical workshop. Participants will receive a workbook, or "toolkit", that offers forms and information to meet your needs before, during, and after a debris generating storm event.
For more information, please contact Kelly Doyle at kelly.doyle@h-gac.com.
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Bacteria TMDL Stakeholder Meeting
August 18, 2005
H-GAC Conference Room A
3555 Timmons, Houston, TX 77027
4:00 pm to 7:00pm
For more information, please contact Carl Masterson at 713-993-4561 or carl.masterson@h-gac.com.
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Dioxin TMDL Stakeholder Meeting
August 31, 2005
H-GAC Conference Room A
3555 Timmons, Houston, TX 77027
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
For more information, please contact Carl Masterson at carl.masterson@h-gac.com.
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Recycling 101 Workshop
September 16, 2005
H-GAC Conference Room A
3555 Timmons, Houston, TX 77027
9:00 am to 4:00pm
For more information, please contact Kelly Doyle at 713-993-4566 or kelly.doyle@h-gac.com.
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OTHER MEETING NOTICE
Compost Camp
Compost Camp is being held on August 15-17 at Texas Organic Products in Austin, Texas. Don't miss this unique training opportunity. Two days of instruction, hands-on activities, and equipment demonstrations offer a unique training opportunity to everyone interested in composting. A Certificate of Completion will be issued for all participants who attend every session.
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H-GAC Community and Environmental Update August2005
End of document 8.01.05
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