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Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (every Wednesday from 2-3PM CT) on KPFT-HD Channel 90.1-3. One of our mottos is that you’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts, so we try to get our facts right.

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Some of the links used for this show are BELOW the break:

TOPICS:

Houston is basically flat. It is recorded as having an elevation of about 43 feet above sea level in the vicinity of downtown. The Houston Heights are about 25 feet higher than that. This makes for slow runoff when there are sudden inflows of water, whether from local rain, or water coming from higher up in the regional watershed. Especially since the 1930s, the channeling of water – what is often called flood control – has been a significant part of life in metro-Houston. Houston has subsided, expanded and developed, more water-permeable land has been paved over, and paved roads have effectively turned into either channels or basins for water looking for a place to go.

This has created an endless need for flood control infrastructure and for human meddling with the local bayous; nature’s original means of draining this region of Texas.

My guest is Evelyn Merz of the Houston Regional Group of the Sierra Club. She is a past chair of the group and is currently the Conservation Chair. At the state-wide level of the Sierra Club, she works on state park issues and non-game wildlife.  Locally, Evelyn has worked on bayou issues for about 20 years and is currently coordinating the Houston Sierra Club response to Harris County Flood Control District’s Memorial Park Demonstration Plan for Buffalo Bayou.

SOURCES:

•  Public has stake in changes for Houston’s waterways, By Evelyn L. Merz | October 5, 2013 | Merz is conservation chair of the Houston Regional Group Sierra Club.

• Sierra Club Houston Regional Group: http://lonestar.sierraclub.org/houston/

• History of Harris County (TX) Flooding ; http://www.hcfcd.org/flash/FloodHistory.html
• What are the Addicks and Barker Dams and Reservoirs?
• 

  OPEN PUBLIC MEETING – Catastrophic Risk of Collapse: Addicks & Barker Dams & Related Impacts of Area Development Saturday, October 12, 2013 1:00 – 3:00 pm Eagle Room, Main Building HCC Campus at NE corner of Beltway 8 & I-10, 1010 West Sam Houston Pkwy North, Houston 77043 — REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED VIDEO INTRODUCTION: Opening video introduction featuring prominent environmental attorney, Jim Blackburn. PANELISTS: • Mr. Lawrence Dunbar, Hydrologist — Testifying Expert for Sierra Club, on the Addicks /Barker lawsuit & the Cypress Creek floodplain litigation involving FEMA; • Mr. Richard Long, US Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, local representative responsible for Addicks operation; • Mr. Ed Browne of Memorial City District Drainage Coalition (MCDDC dba Residents Against Flooding) HOST ORGANIZATIONS: OilPatch Democrats, together with the Memorial City District Drainage Coalition, is hosting an open public meeting on the risks associated with Addicks & Parker dams & the resultant flooding of areas south of the dams, including Downtown Houston. The meeting will also touch on the possible escalation of flood insurance rates posed by the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012. EVENT ENDORSED BY Sierra Club

  OILPATCH PEMOCRATS PRESENT: Danger of Catastrophic Collapse of Addicks and Barker Dams, & Related Impacts of Area Development

DAY/DATE: Saturday, October 12, 2013

TIME: 1:00 – 3:00 pm

PLACE: Eagle Room, Main Building

HCC Campus at NE corner of Beltway 8 & I-10,

1010 West Sam Houston Pkwy North, Houston 77043  —
REFRESHMENTS   PROVIDED

VIDEO INTRODUCTION:

Opening video introduction featuring prominent environmental attorney, Jim Blackburn.

PANELISTS:

• Mr. Lawrence Dunbar, Hydrologist — Testifying Expert for Sierra Club, on the Addicks /Barker lawsuit & the Cypress Creek floodplain litigation involving FEMA;
• Mr. Richard Long, US Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, local representative responsible for Addicks operation;
• Mr. Ed Browne of Memorial City District Drainage Coalition (MCDDC dba Residents Against Flooding)

HOST ORGANIZATIONS:

OilPatch Democrats, together with the Memorial City District Drainage Coalition, is hosting an open public meeting on the risks associated with Addicks & Parker dams & the resultant flooding of areas south of the dams, including Downtown Houston.  The meeting will also touch on the possible escalation of flood insurance rates posed by the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012.

EVENT ENDORSED BY Sierra Club

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