Mayor shutting down fueling stations due to LUST

Mayor to shut most of city's fuel stations

Mayor Annise Parker plans to shut down two-thirds of the city's 99 fueling stations, a cost-cutting measure intended to reduce the city's potential liability for leaking contaminants.
While the closures will save the city in the long run, the process of removing underground fuel storage tanks can be expensive. The price skyrockets if underground tanks are found to be leaking fuel or oil, requiring expensive remediation to dispose of contaminated soil to safeguard surrounding neighborhoods. In some cases, monitoring wells have to be drilled to make sure the leaking fuel products have not contaminated the groundwater under the sites.

In the last three years, the city has paid private contractors $5.8 million to replace underground storage tanks at city fire and police stations, public works facilities and parks. A number of the sites where tanks had leaked had to undergo extensive soil removal and other remediation efforts, according to records obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

For example, in February the city had to increase a $323,375 tank replacement contract to haul off 200 tons of soil and dispose of thousands of gallons of contaminated fuel at its Northwest Vehicle Maintenance Facility, in the 1200 block of Judiway.

Last December, the city paid $840,000 to replace six older fuel tanks at Wheeler Park and install three new ones. The cost grew when a larger amount of contaminated soil and fuel than expected was discovered in the bottom of one tank pit, records show.
$1.1 million tab

Similarly, the city ended up with a $1.1 million tab in January 2008, after paying more money to contractors who had to remove buried electrical conduits and 284 cubic yards of contaminated soil as they replaced two leaking fuel storage tanks at the old Houston police station at 61 Riesner.
"We have dozens and dozens of fuel storage facilities," Parker said recently. "We want to have a certain number of them for strategic purposes — for emergency vehicles and post-hurricane, for example - but, for the most part, they are a liability issue and we end up with fuel inventory that just sits there. And in Houston, you're not very far from a gas station."

Parker has identified 55 city fueling stations she intends to shut down immediately. Eventually, the number of stations may be trimmed to as few as 30, aides confirmed. The city plans to retain fueling stations in locations that are distributed around the city to make it convenient for city vehicles to gas up.

Councilman Steve Costello, a civil engineer, backs Parker's plan and envisions some of the fueling sites being sold to bolster city finances.
"Anytime we can consolidate resources and make better use of our fueling stations, I think that's a great idea," Costello said. "If that means closing down some of these stations and having excess property we can sell, that's even better to help us bridge some of the budget gaps we have."

Reducing the number of fuel stations is one part of an ambitious effort under way by Parker to balance the budget by shaving $22 million from fleet operation costs this year and next, including a cut in the number of municipal employees with take-home vehicles and consolidation of city vehicle garages. Parker is searching for a director to head a new city fleet management office, and is planning to ask the City Council to approve the hiring of CST Fleet Services, a North Carolina consulting firm known for reducing fleet operation costs.

A LUST problem
Houston is not alone in contending with a serious environmental problem known as LUST - Leaking Underground Storage Tanks - that has festered quietly across the state and nation for decades. Texas environmental officials say their database of leaking fuel tanks dates back to 1972.
Texas currently has more than 55,600 underground storage tanks in use, including 7,536 in Harris County. Leaks have been discovered at 26,048 sites, including 3,411 in Harris County. To date, the majority across the state have been cleaned up, but there are 2,363 underground tank sites where cleanup operations are still going on, state officials say.

"Monitoring tanks that are being used is very important, because, if you have fuel in those tanks, we want to make sure it doesn't get out into the environment because it can definitely cause problems for people," said Victoria Modak, a specialist with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's leaking tank program in Austin. "As great as our technology is ... there still are releases, despite all of our efforts. So, it's good to keep a handle on that, make sure we're tracking when they have a release and things are getting cleaned up."

Modak said the TCEQ estimates the average cost for environmental cleanup of the site of an underground tank is $84,705, although she noted there is a procedure for sealing the tanks and leaving them in place. That practice can lead to problems in future land sales, however.
It makes sense, Modak said, for cities such as Houston to replace aging tanks, even if they are not leaking, and invest in storage tanks with updated technology to prevent and detect leak

Man found dead in NW Houston shopping center

HOUSTON -- A man was found dead in the parking lot of a Northwest Houston shopping center.
Houston police said the body was found on Kempwood Drive near Blalock Road at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
The man suffered multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

The man's name has not been released.

Detectives said they don't have any suspects or witnesses.
Anyone with information is asked to call the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

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Suspect ditches officers after chase in northwest Harris County

khou.com
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 10:38 AM


HOUSTON—Authorities were searching for a suspect Friday that got away after leading officers on a chase in northwest Harris County.
Precinct 5 deputy constables attempted to pull over a car on Patterson near Highway 6, but the driver refused to stop.
He took off down Patterson, before bailing out of the vehicle and running into the woods near the Addicks Reservoir.
Precinct 5 constables, Harris County deputies and K-9 units searched the perimeter, but could not find the suspect.


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Plane crashes in NW Harris County

HOUSTON—A small plane crashed Monday in a parking lot near Hwy. 290 at Telge Road in northwest Harris County, according to the Cy-Fair EMS.
Four people onboard the plane survived. They were treated at the scene and released.

The plane, however, was a total loss.
It went down around 1 p.m. in the parking lot of a business that sells used buses. The crash scene isn’t far from Weiser Air Park.

Officials said the plane apparently overshot the runway and crashed through a fence before coming to a rest in the parking lot.

The identities of the pilot and passengers were not known.

9/11 contrail explained.

No - it wasn't aliens - or "chemtrails" or fighters on patrol on the anniversary of 9/11 - but rather a NASA high altitude research aircraft that caused the "mysterious" contrails over the Houston area Saturday.

Houston Airport Systems spokeswoman Marlene McClinton told Local 2 that NASA's WB-57 is a high-altitude aircraft, operating out of Ellington Field.
"It is taking air samples between 45,000 and 51,000 feet," said McClinton.

According to McClinton, it was a normal operation, but due to atmospheric conditions, the contrails were extremely visible.

Many callers said the plane looked like a big commercial passenger plane with the NASA oogo on it.
"It was just circling," said Cindy Hamilton who lives in Friendswood.
She saw the plane around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

"It would go north and just circle back to the south. I was just concerned because of what day it is. Seeing the plane brought back memories," Hamilton said.
Karon Wisdom saw the plane in Channelview circling for hours.

"Because its 9/11, everyone's keeping their eye on the sky," she said. "I thought either someone was watching out for us on the Gulf Coast, or something weird was happening."

NASA officials said the aircraft was testing out a new instrument and that "they have made several flights this week. It's unfortunate for the atmospheric conditions that made it very visible on 9/11."
Officials said it was nothing to be alarmed about.


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Breaking: Fire destroys Houston complex

by khou.com staff
khou.com
Posted on September 15, 2010 at 11:20 AM

HOUSTON—Eight units were completely destroyed and several families were displaced after a two-alarm fire damaged part of a southwest Houston apartment complex Wednesday morning.
Fire officials rushed to the burning apartments on Wilcrest at South Drive around 6:45 a.m.
HFD said they had a slight water pressure issue in the beginning, but managed to quickly get the fire under control. No firefighters were injured and all of the families got out safely.
One child standing outside was checked for smoke inhalation at the scene. He was determined to be OK.

Arson investigators do not know how the fire started at this time.


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Hawaii beats Pearland for Little League World Series title shot.

South Williamsport, PA (Sports Network) - Noah Shackles went 2-for-2 with a homer, two RBI and three runs scored to back Ezra Heleski's two-hitter, and the Waipahu, Hawaii little league team beat Pearland, Texas, 10-0, in the United States championship game of the Little League World Series.

In the international title game, Ryota Norimatsu tied the game with an RBI single in the sixth, and Ryo Motegi's run-scoring single in the seventh won it, leading Japan to a 3-2 victory over Chinese Taipei.

In addition to striking out six over five shutout innings, Heleski went 2- for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Kahoea Akau added three hits in the resounding win, helping Waipahu win its second U.S. title in three years. In 2008, this same Little League squad beat Matamoros, Mexico to win the championship.

Mason Van Noort had one of the two hits for Pearland, which came back against Georgia to reach this U.S. title game.

With two runners on and one out in the opening inning, Kaimana Bartolome opened the scoring with a two-run double. Shackles homered later in the inning to plate Bartolome for a 4-0 advantage.

Shackles scored in the third on a wild pitch, and Heleski's RBI single later in the same at-bat made it a 6-0 game. Akau's run-scoring double provided a seven-run cushion.

Three more runs from Hawaii ended the game in the fifth due to the 10-run rule. Shackles walked and scored on Cody Maltezo's triple, and Heleski followed with another RBI single. A wild pitch later scored Heleski to end the game.

Japan trailed, 2-1, heading to the bottom of the sixth, but Koutaro Kamikura singled to left to lead off the inning. Following a strikeout, Kamikura advanced to second on an error by the catcher before Norimatsu's hit tied the game.

Kamikura stayed on to pitch a scoreless seventh -- striking out two -- before Masaya Ishii singled with one down in the home half to start the winning rally. A wild pitch sent Ishii to second, and Motegi's two-out single to center won the game.


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