The Enron Code of Ethics and Conduct of Business Affairs
This week marks the tenth anniversary of the Enron collapse. StateImpact Texas’ local radio partner KUHF is reporting a four-part series on the aftermath, and the Houston Chronicle is taking a look back as well.
But for your own little piece of Enron history, you can head to eBay. The Chronicle’s Dan McGraw found some gifts for the collector in your family. Here’s a shopping list:
You can read about Enron’s self-espoused “Vision and Values,” circa 1998 and 2000, in their Code of Ethics and Conduct of Business Affairs manuals. “Economic activities are better sorted out by markets than they are by governments,” the document says. The company also states that “our success is measured by the success of our customers.” There’s a “buy it now” option for $250. Continue Reading →
A snow-covered police car sits outside the Super Bowl in Dallas on February 4, 2011
It’s hard to believe after survivng the epic summer of 2011, but winter is here. Today saw the first hard freeze of the winter season in Central Texas, where the ground becomes frozen solid and plants die. And folks in Houston (freezing) and Dallas (also freezing) didn’t have it any easier this morning. While you may have just had your AC on last week, chances are you’ve fired your heater by now.
Whether temps are in the 100s or 20s in Texas, there are several things you can do to increase the energy efficiency of your home. There are big-ticket options like energy upgrades or smart thermostats, and some utlilities are encouraging customers to make small DIY improvements that can go a long way towards helping your home stay warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Continue Reading →
Texas Asks Hunters for Help During Drought:Â The worst single-year drought in Texas history has left deer undernourished and, in some cases, dying in greater numbers than before. But could hunting them actually help?
Another Victim of the Drought, The A&M Student Bonfire: The University of Texas and Texas A&M met for what could be the final time in their historic rivalry. But with a burn ban in effect, a traditional Aggie bonfire went unlit.
A few years ago, when US natural gas production was kicking into high gear, gas promoters like T. Boone Pickens sold it as something close to a panacea. It was a plentiful source of energy that could create jobs at home. It could wean the US off of foreign oil. Perhaps most importantly, it was a âbridge fuelâ — it could serve as a cleaner source of electricity while Americaâs renewable energy industry came into its own.
Itâs hard to conceive just how fast the industry has grown since then. In 2010, the US surpassed Russia as the world leader in gas production on the strength of domestic shale reserves. Estimates show production more than doubling by 2020 to over 40 billion cubic feet of gas produced per day. This success can be viewed as a vindication of early gas investors. But abundant and cheap natural gas has also brought its own set of challenges.
The worst single-year drought in Texas history has left deer undernourished and, in some cases, dying in greater numbers than before. Many of the deer hunters are bringing home are skinnier than normal and the population of fawns surviving through the summer took a nosedive in many parts of the state.
Mose Buchele / StateImpact Texas
This deer may be hungier than usual in the drought.
At McBrides Gunâs in Austin, Thomas Hunt is looking for the perfect rifle to take his son Mathew out hunting. The appropriately-named Hunt has already bagged two deer this year. He says the impact of the drought was noticeable right away.
âThe same deer that we saw last year has had bigger horns last year than they had this year,â he said. âIâve had one that was a very large — probably 14 point — that was a 10 point this year. So weâve seen that much reduction in the horn size.â
Allen Cain, deer program leader with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said the legacy of the drought could be with us for years. Continue Reading →
Several pipelines run underneath the Dona Park neighborhood in Corpus Christi
The Center for Public Integrity’s iwatch News has put together a “by the numbers” look at toxic air emissions. The data comes from a once-secret EPA âwatch listâ that shows repeated violators of environmental laws in the country, with many of them in Texas. StateImpact Texas, NPR and the Center for Public Integrity reported on the list and people affected by pollution earlier this month.
The list showed that even though many facilities were violating the law, the EPA and state agencies aren’t enforcing those laws in a timely manner. Only twenty percent of air pollution leaks are actually investigated by the EPA, and around one-third of those end up being prosecuted. The EPA publicly released the list on its website earlier this week.
A falling building at the former ASARCO/Encycle plant
Last week StateImpact Texas reported on a former hazardous waste plant that sits at the edge of a residential neighborhood in Corpus Christi. The Encycle facility, which opened as a hazardous waste plant in 1989, was ultimately shut down for pollution violations. Encycle and its parent company ASARCO filed for bankruptcy after agreeing to $1.7 billion in settlements for polluting.
You can now read what an insider at the plant told the EPA about how the facility ran their operations and endangered the local community. The document was released last year by the EPA, and as the waste plant is finally coming down, it makes for relevant reading. Continue Reading →
The town of Groesbeck’s water issues have been making news for over a week now. The town is running out of water, and while estimates vary as to exactly when that will happen, everyone seems to agree it’s a real enough possibility in the near future to be worried.
The town approved a stopgap measure last week to pipe in water from a quarry a few miles away, which should hold them over until March. And on Monday evening, the town got about two inches of much-needed rain.
Now the story is making national news, bringing more attention to the drought in Texas. CBS News aired the report above Tuesday evening.
A view of the Flint Hills East Refinery from the Hillcrest Neighborhood in Corpus Christi
Last week the EPA and City of Corpus Christi hosted an environmental summit on pollution and refinery row, a ten-mile stretch of oil refineries at the city’s edge. Surrounded by these refineries are several “fence line” communities, where over a thousand residents live.
Families in these neighborhoods say the refineries are making them sick, and some have formed a group asking the oil companies to buy them out entirely, close down the neighborhood for good, and create a “buffer zone” between the plants and residential neighborhoods. The summit was the first dialogue between residents, government and industry on how to deal with the problems of refinery row. Continue Reading →
Oil and gas exploration are hot topics in Texas these days, but on the other side of continent, a debate is still brewing on whether or not to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University in Houston has written a book about the Alaskan wilderness, and went to Washington Friday to give testimony before the House National Resources Committee.
Brinkley made some remarks about how the arctic regions of Alaska are “a very significant landscape in the psyche of the American people,” and that the areas deserve protection and conservation.
Then Representative Don Young, a vocal proponent of drilling in the refuge, chimed in. Continue Reading →
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