Manager's Welcome
This is the December 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
State Revolving Fund Technical Assistance Workshops
Keep Texas Beautiful Spring Events
2007 National Wetlands Award Applications Available
Virgin Mobile USA to Provide Recycling Envelope with Cell Phone
CDBG Grant Application Deadline Extended to December 15th
Houston Sustainability Indicators Project
Update Earth 991's Christmas Tree Recycling Project H-GAC MEETING NOTICES
Trash Bash Steering Committee Meeting
OTHER MEETING NOTICES
Illegal Dumping Enforcement Training IN THIS ISSUE
State Revolving Fund Intended Use Plan Technical Assistance Workshops
The Texas Water Development Board is holding workshops around the state to share information on low-cost financial assistance for water and wastewater construction projects. A major portion of the workshops will focus on the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund programs, including how to fill out required worksheets and forms for the upcoming FY 2008 funding cycle.
November 29, 2006 TCEQ Regional Office
1804 West Jefferson Ave., Harlingen, Texas
November 30, 2006 Corpus Christi City Hall
1201 Leopard St., Council Chambers, Corpus Christi, Texas
December 5, 2006 Harris County Public Library, Barbara Bush Branch
6817 Cypresswood Drive, Earl Elliott Room, Spring, Texas
December 7, 2006 Trinity River Authority Central Regional Wastewater System
6500 Singleton Blvd., Dallas, Texas
December 12, 2006 Texas A&M Agricultural Research & Extension Center
1380 A&M Circle, Classroom #134, El Paso, Texas
December 14, 2006 San Antonio Water System
2800 U.S. Hwy 281 North, Customer Service Bldg., San Antonio, Texas
Please RSVP to Lana Dixon at 512-463-0991 or lana.dixon@twdb.state.tx.us. Responses due 12/31/06. For more info, contact LaVonda Pernell at (202) 720-9635 or go to: http://www.usda.gov/rus/water/SWMG.htm.
Back to Top Keep Texas Beautiful Spring Events
Springtime is just around the corner! Keep Texas Beautiful can help improve community spaces or buildings to create a clean and beautiful community that instills pride in citizens and businesses alike. The Great American Cleanup (March 1 – May 31) is the nation’s largest volunteer community improvement program. The Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off (April 14, 2007) is our signature event of the Great American Cleanup and is the state’s largest litter cleanup event of the year. For more information on these and other Keep Texas Beautiful programs, please visit http://www.ktb.org/programs/index.html. In conjunction with Keep America Beautiful and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Keep Texas Beautiful offers FREE supplies and support for volunteer community beautification, cleanup, and recycling projects throughout the state. Suggested activities include:Beautification, Cleanup and Recycling Keep Texas Beautiful has a network of 340 affiliate communities statewide. To see if your community is a KTB affiliate, please visit http://www.ktb.org/affiliates/list.html.
Back to Top 2007 National Wetlands Awards Nomination Forms Available
The National Wetlands Awards Program celebrates individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication, innovation or excellence in wetlands conservation.The National Wetlands Awards Program recognizes extraordinary individual achievement in six categories: Education and Outreach; Science Research; Conservation and Restoration; Landowner Stewardship; State, Tribal, and Local Program Development; and Wetland Community Leader. The winners in each category will be honored in a ceremony on Capital Hill in May 2007. The awards are co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Federal Highway Administration. For more information about the National Wetlands Awards or to submit a nomination, please visit http://www.nationalwetlandsawards.org or call (202)939-3247. The deadline for submitting nominations is December 15, 2007.
Back to Top Virgin Mobile USA to provide recycling envelope with cell phones
Virgin Mobile USA LLC has announced plans to provide a recycling envelope in every new cell phone handset package it sells online or in retail stores. Virgin Mobile will become the first mobile carrier to provide recycling envelopes with each phone, according to the company. It is partnering with ReCellular, a Dexter, Mich.-based company that resells and recycles used cell phones. Virgin Mobile spokesmen said the company would educate its consumers about the importance of recycling and place more than two million postage-paid recycling envelopes in packages containing new phones.The phones may be refurbished and distributed where mobile phones are needed at a reduced price. If a phone cannot be reused or refurbished, it will be recycled for alternative uses like plastic fencing and toy production, according to Virgin Mobile.
Back to Top CDBG Grant Application Deadline Extended to December 15, 2006
The Texas Community Development Program is administered by the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA). Grants are available for a broad range of eligible program activities to those cities and counties which do not receive direct federal entitlements. Top priorities included water, wastewater, and housing rehabilitation. Maximum funding awards are $350,000 for water, sewer, or multi-jurisdictional projects and $250,000 for all others. The deadline for grant applications is December 15, 2006. Eligibility guidelines and the 2006-2007 Applicant's Handbook can be viewed at http://www.hgac.com/HGAC/Programs/Community+Resources/Community+Development+2.htm. For more information, contact Chuck Wemple at 713-993-4514 or cwemple@h-gac.com
Back to Top Houston Sustainability Indicators Project
The Houston Sustainability Indicators Project is currently seeking citizen involvement in making an assessment of indicators chosen by its list of experts. Your opinion counts, please click on the following link to complete the survey and let us know your preference for indicators to monitor the future growth of urban development in Houston. For further information please visit www.houston-indicators.org Click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=128442754612
Back to Top Update Earth 991's Christmas Tree Recycling Section
Earth 911 will be updating sites throughout the entire holiday season; however, Earth 911 would appreciate it if you could please try to have your information updates in by Monday, December 18th. There are three simple ways that you can update your community's Christmas tree recycling information.
Online
By using the Earth 911 online User Interface (UI) which is accessible at http://www.earth911.org/dataentry/login.asp, you can post/update your upcoming Christmas tree recycling events/collections.
E-mail
You can E-mail Christmas tree recycling event and location information directly to Earth 911's dedicated Christmas tree recycling E-mail address at treerecycling@earth911.org. To ensure prompt listing of your event or location, please include the following information: Site Name:
Site Address:
City:
State:
ZIP Code:
Phone Number:
Days and Hours of Operation:
Event Start Date (if applicable):
Event End Date (if applicable):
Materials Collected:
Special Instructions/Notes:
Geographic Area for Site Listing (i.e. City, County, State, etc...):
Fax
You can fax Christmas tree event information to 480-889-2660, Attn: Colleen Tomes, Director of Operations. Please make sure your fax includes all the information listed in #2, particularly the ZIP Codes associated with each event location. Also, please be sure to include your name and phone number on the fax in case Earth 911 needs to contact you with questions.
Back to Top > H-GAC MEETING NOTICES Trash Bash Steering Committee Meeting
December 12, 2006
10:00 a.m. - Noon
Office Services Conference Room, 1st Floor
3555 Timmons, 2nd floor
Houston, TX 77027
For more information, Jean Wright at 713-499-6660 or contact jwright@h-gac.com.
Back to Top OTHER MEETING NOTICES Illegal Dumping Enforcement Training
December 6, 2006
Brazoria County Detention Facility Classroom, Angelton Texas>
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Cost: $50
This eight-hour class provides basic comprehensive training for officers with illegal dumping enforcement duties, their supervisors and policymakers having program responsibility. Topics covered include:
Felony and misdemeanor illegal burning and the revised (July 19, 2006) Texas Outdoor Burning rule; Using Texas Health & Safety Code Chapters 341 and 343 to abate nuisance dumping; Using the Texas Litter Abatement Act, THSC Chapter 365, to control misdemeanor and felony illegal dumping; Using the Texas Water Code Chapter 7 provisions to control dumping into and adjacent to water, waste oil and battery dumping, medical waste dumping and hazardous waste dumping; Increasing local effectiveness through integrating code enforcement and criminal dumping enforcement; The roles of TCEQ and local governments in illegal dumping enforcement; and, Common policy issues facing illegal dumping and illegal burning enforcement programs This class is provided by the Texas Illegal Dumping Resource Center through the local cooperation of the City of Angleton and Keep Angleton Beautiful. This class is designed for local government code enforcement and law enforcement personnel, their supervisors, local criminal prosecutors, and government managers and elected officials having an interest in expanding illegal dumping enforcement. Eight hours of TCLEOSE and code enforcement CEUs will be awarded to participants completing the class. The cost of this full-day class is $50, which includes a copy of the class text, Local Control of Illegal Dumping, Texas 2006 Edition and additional materials on the revised Texas Outdoor Burning rule. Advanced registration required. For additional information, please contact John Ockels at 903/891-3632 or ockels@tidrc.org.
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