Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle has placed an item on next Tuesday’s Commissioners’ Court Meeting that will affect the future of Kingwood. It’s to discuss the possibility of Harris County Flood Control spending $10 million to buy the Perry Home’s Woodridge Village property. It contributed to flooding hundreds of homes in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest TWICE last year.
Where Will Two More Votes Come From?
Cagle needs at least two more votes on Commissioners Court in addition to his own to approve the effort. Reportedly, Judge Lina Hidalgo, Commissioner Adrian Garcia in Precinct 2 and Commissioner Steve Radack in Precinct 3 are the most “gettable.”
Here’s how you can help. Email or call these officials today. Urge them to support Cagle’s motion. Do it NOW. I’ve listed their contact info below.
At Stake: The Future of Kingwood
Ten flooded homes in a row, all vacated. Photo taken in North Kingwood Forest in December 2019. All homes back up to Woodridge Village.
Without help, Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest could drag down the reputation of the entire Kingwood community.
Additional flooding could devastate remaining homeowners. Many were already struggling to pay repair bills from two floods. Now corona-virus layoffs make that even more difficult.
Elm Grove kitchen home five months after being flooded a second time.
These are working class neighborhoods. As much so as any in Harris County. People simply can’t afford to flood again.
Language in last year’s flood bond allows Harris County Flood Control District to buy property in neighboring counties for the purpose of building upstream detention. The lack of detention on Perry Homes’ property is the primary reason hundreds of homes in Kingwood flooded. Two years after clearing the property, Perry Homes still has constructed only 23% of the needed detention.
No Other Good Alternatives At This Time
Harris County Flood Control reportedly can start work on expanding detention capacity as soon as Commissioners reach a deal.
If they can’t, Perry has said it will sell Woodridge Village to another developer or continue to develop the property itself. However, if that happens, the detention ponds on the property would still likely be undersized by 40%. That’s because Perry Homes rushed to get their plans approved before the new, higher Atlas-14 rainfall standards went into effect.
Help Now! Here’s How
To contact Judge Hidalgo, Commissioner Garcia or Commissioner Radack:
Remind them that Harris County receives drainage from at least FIVE surrounding counties. This problem is a county-wide problem, not just a Precinct 4 problem.
Please call or write now if you live in the Kingwood, Huffman, Humble or Atascocita areas. Even if you did not flood, flooding from Woodridge Village affects you and your home value. No one in this area can afford to let this sore fester any longer.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/1/2020
946 Days after Hurricane Harveyand 195 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Elm-Grove-9.19_68.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=110001500adminadmin2020-04-01 16:09:432020-04-01 18:46:07What You Can Do Right Now to Encourage HCFCD to Buy Woodridge Village Property
The EPA has suspended normal enforcement of air and water pollution rules during the corona virus epidemic. Critics fear it could cause more deaths. They also fear that rules forced through during the emergency could hamper future pollution control efforts. Specifically, a new, broadened rule would limit use of research based on confidential health information in regulatory decisions.
Full Text of EPA Memo
This 7-page memo from the EPA outlines the new policy. It says, the EPA will “generally not seek stipulated or other penalties for noncompliance…” The thrust of the memo: EPA is counting on industry to self-report violations. If violations relate to worker shortages due to the virus, EPA will not seek penalties. EPA will also give offenders time to remedy the situation.
Reaction from Interceptor
Sharon Lerner writes in The Interceptor that “EPA IS JAMMING THROUGH ROLLBACKS THAT COULD INCREASE CORONAVIRUS DEATHS.” The article cites the case of a Pasadena refinery exceeding benzene emission limits. It also cites problems in St. Johns, Louisiana. St. John reportedly has the highest cancer risk from air pollutants in the country. Area residents are routinely exposed to dozens of air pollutants, including the carcinogen chloroprene.
Residents worry that their weakened immune response from the chemicals will make them even more susceptible to the virus.
Review by New York Times
Lisa Friedman writes in The New York Times that “E.P.A., Citing Coronavirus, Drastically Relaxes Rules for Polluters.” The EPA, says the article, will focus during the outbreak “on situations that may create an acute risk or imminent threat to public health or the environment” and said it would exercise “discretion” in enforcing other environmental rules. In other words, they will focus primarily on the worst cases.
Ms. Friedman interviewed former EPA administrators. Gina McCarthy, who led the E.P.A. under the Obama administration and now serves as president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called it “an open license to pollute.” Cynthia Giles, who headed the E.P.A. enforcement division during the Obama administration, said: “This is essentially a nationwide waiver of environmental rules. It is so far beyond any reasonable response. I am just stunned.”
A current spokesperson for the EPA, Andrea Woods, disagreed. “For situations outside of routine monitoring and reporting,” she said, “the agency has reserved its authorities and will take the pandemic into account on a case-by-case basis.”
Protest by 21 Environmental and Watchdog Groups
Meanwhile, Rebecca Beitsch reports in The Hill that “Coalition petitions EPA for disclosure as agency OKs suspension of environmental monitoring.” She says, “Environmental groups have characterized the memo as a license to pollute, as companies will not have to submit regular reports to the EPA showing they are not violating environmental laws.” She cites a petition spearheaded by the Natural Resources Defense Council which was signed by 21 environmental and watchdog groups. “We fully appreciate the disruption and harm caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic. But EPA’s unprecedented non‐enforcement policy creates a clear opportunity for abuse,” states the petition.
LA Times Reports on Reaction by California Officials
The Los Angeles Times reports in an article by Susanne Rust, Louis Sahagun and Rosanna Xia. “Citing coronavirus, EPA suspends enforcement of environmental laws.” The LA Times article focuses on the response of California officials. “The severity of the COVID-19 crisis should not be used as an excuse by the EPA to relax enforcement of federal environmental laws designed to protect public health and safety,” said Serge Dedina, mayor of Imperial Beach. His city, on the Mexican border, is under constant siege from pollution. “This crisis has only underscored why protecting public health and safety and our environment is more critical than ever.”
Is EPA Using Crisis as Cover to Make Concessions to Polluters?
Vox in an article by By Zeeshan Aleem claimed that “The EPA appears to be using coronavirus to make huge concessions to polluters.” It says the rule will remain in place indefinitely. And it gives factories, power plants, and other major polluters tremendous discretion. Now they can decide whether or not the coronavirus will prevent them from meeting legal requirements on air and water pollution and hazardous waste management. “Many experts and environmental advocates say that while case-by-case relaxation of rules for companies that are short-staffed due to the pandemic makes sense, the expansiveness of the EPA’s directive appears both unprecedented and designed to give a green light to polluters to act recklessly at a time when air quality is acutely important for public health.”
The list goes on. A google search returned 11,800,000 results.
Will TCEQ Follow EPA Lead?
To say this is controversial would be an understatement.
At the very time when people’s lives and health are threatened by the virus, the EPA is dialing back enforcement of pollution rules that protect their lives and health.
At best, you could characterize the reaction to the new rule as “practical” given new constrictions we all operate under.
The City of Houston has completed repairs on the Tree Lane Bridge over Ben’s Branch…at least for now. The City partially concreted a wing wall and placed riprap in the stream bed to help reduce erosion and scour. However, the root cause of the damage remains. Upstream development without adequate detention is funneling more and more water into Ben’s Branch. The higher volume will continue to contribute to scouring and erosion in major storms unless detention ponds upstream are built and fixed.
Water Under the Bridge
As I struggled to understand what I was looking at, an online search revealed this excellent 196-page, well-illustrated document. It’s titled “AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE FOR MONITORING AND PROTECTING BRIDGE WATERWAYS AGAINST SCOUR.” Robert Ettema, Tatsuaki Nakato, and Marian Muste from the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa produced it for the Iowa Department of Transportation.
It begins with a maxim: “Person who overlooks water under bridge will find bridge under water.”
The document points out that bridge engineers often assume that a stream channel will maintain its course and dimensions. But most channels adjust their alignment and shape in response to floods and land-use changes in their watersheds. That has happened on Ben’s Branch in recent years.
“Channel changes sometimes have severe consequences for bridge waterways,” say the authors.
Scour and Progressive Degradation
A review of the entire paper reveals two types of destructive forces at work on the Tree Lane Bridge.
Long-term scour is one. It occurs over a time scale of several years, and usually includes progressive degradation and lateral bank erosion due to channel widening or meander migration.
Progressive degradation is another. It features the almost permanent lowering of the river bed at a bridge site owing to changes in the watershed [e.g., head-cut progression (head-cutting), or human activities (e.g., channel straightening or urbanization)].
The area around the Tree Lane bridge supports has been badly eroding for years. A 12-inch water line that was once buried 5 feet below the stream bed is now at the water surface. See below.
How the area downstream from the bridge looked in December before repairs started.
Scour and erosion under and around bridges are constant problems for engineers. This bridge is a great example. Any time a structure interrupts the flow of floodwater, it creates turbulence (vortices in the flow) that can lead to erosion.
During Harvey, scour destabilized the Union Pacific and US59 bridges across the West Fork. Both had to be replaced for safety.
The Tree Lane Bridge doesn’t appear to be to that point yet. But the heavier load placed on Ben’s Branch by new upstream developments, such as Woodridge Village,Woodridge Forest, and Brooklyn Trails, may be pushing this bridge beyond its design capacity.
Source: FEMA. Bridge constricts water flow (from top to bottom). The pressure of water stacking up behind the bridge forces the water to accelerate under the bridge, causing erosion and scour.See below.Major storms in the last four years have eroded a large area immediately downstream from the bridge.
Concrete and Rip Rap Should Help in Short Term
To address these problems, the City repaired part of a concrete wing wall. They also placed riprap (boulders) downstream from the bridge and below a stormwater drain.
Riprap breaks up the flow of water and slows it down. This reduces erosion and scour.
Partially concreted wall (left) and riprap at Tree Lane Bridge over Ben’s Branch, Kingwood, TX.Photo courtesy of COH Public Works.Tree Lane Bridge repairs, Kingwood, TX.Photo courtesy of COH Public Works.
…But Root Causes for Damage Remain
However, problems remain, both here and upstream.
That 12-inch water line could be taken out in the next flood by a tree flowing downstream. If the flood lasts for several days as it did during Harvey, the loss of water would be a major inconvenience to the residents of Bear Branch.
Until we can address the root causes of such damage, I fear that maintenance on this bridge will be a constant, long-term issue…despite the City’s best intentions.
Slabs of concrete still lean against water main.In extreme event, water could still get behind concrete repair and peel it away from bank.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/31/2020
945 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200327-RJR_0444.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2020-03-31 18:07:122020-03-31 18:13:17City Completes Repairs on Tree Lane Bridge, But Concerns Remain
What You Can Do Right Now to Encourage HCFCD to Buy Woodridge Village Property
Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle has placed an item on next Tuesday’s Commissioners’ Court Meeting that will affect the future of Kingwood. It’s to discuss the possibility of Harris County Flood Control spending $10 million to buy the Perry Home’s Woodridge Village property. It contributed to flooding hundreds of homes in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest TWICE last year.
Where Will Two More Votes Come From?
Cagle needs at least two more votes on Commissioners Court in addition to his own to approve the effort. Reportedly, Judge Lina Hidalgo, Commissioner Adrian Garcia in Precinct 2 and Commissioner Steve Radack in Precinct 3 are the most “gettable.”
Here’s how you can help. Email or call these officials today. Urge them to support Cagle’s motion. Do it NOW. I’ve listed their contact info below.
At Stake: The Future of Kingwood
Without help, Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest could drag down the reputation of the entire Kingwood community.
These are working class neighborhoods. As much so as any in Harris County. People simply can’t afford to flood again.
Language in last year’s flood bond allows Harris County Flood Control District to buy property in neighboring counties for the purpose of building upstream detention. The lack of detention on Perry Homes’ property is the primary reason hundreds of homes in Kingwood flooded. Two years after clearing the property, Perry Homes still has constructed only 23% of the needed detention.
No Other Good Alternatives At This Time
Harris County Flood Control reportedly can start work on expanding detention capacity as soon as Commissioners reach a deal.
If they can’t, Perry has said it will sell Woodridge Village to another developer or continue to develop the property itself. However, if that happens, the detention ponds on the property would still likely be undersized by 40%. That’s because Perry Homes rushed to get their plans approved before the new, higher Atlas-14 rainfall standards went into effect.
Help Now! Here’s How
To contact Judge Hidalgo, Commissioner Garcia or Commissioner Radack:
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo
Commissioner Adrian Garcia, Precinct 2
Commissioner Steve Radack, Precinct 3
Phone: (713) 755-6306
Email: pct3@pct3.com
Remind them that Harris County receives drainage from at least FIVE surrounding counties. This problem is a county-wide problem, not just a Precinct 4 problem.
Please call or write now if you live in the Kingwood, Huffman, Humble or Atascocita areas. Even if you did not flood, flooding from Woodridge Village affects you and your home value. No one in this area can afford to let this sore fester any longer.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/1/2020
946 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 195 since Imelda
EPA Suspends Enforcement of Pollution Rules During Virus Epidemic
The EPA has suspended normal enforcement of air and water pollution rules during the corona virus epidemic. Critics fear it could cause more deaths. They also fear that rules forced through during the emergency could hamper future pollution control efforts. Specifically, a new, broadened rule would limit use of research based on confidential health information in regulatory decisions.
Full Text of EPA Memo
This 7-page memo from the EPA outlines the new policy. It says, the EPA will “generally not seek stipulated or other penalties for noncompliance…” The thrust of the memo: EPA is counting on industry to self-report violations. If violations relate to worker shortages due to the virus, EPA will not seek penalties. EPA will also give offenders time to remedy the situation.
Reaction from Interceptor
Sharon Lerner writes in The Interceptor that “EPA IS JAMMING THROUGH ROLLBACKS THAT COULD INCREASE CORONAVIRUS DEATHS.” The article cites the case of a Pasadena refinery exceeding benzene emission limits. It also cites problems in St. Johns, Louisiana. St. John reportedly has the highest cancer risk from air pollutants in the country. Area residents are routinely exposed to dozens of air pollutants, including the carcinogen chloroprene.
Review by New York Times
Lisa Friedman writes in The New York Times that “E.P.A., Citing Coronavirus, Drastically Relaxes Rules for Polluters.” The EPA, says the article, will focus during the outbreak “on situations that may create an acute risk or imminent threat to public health or the environment” and said it would exercise “discretion” in enforcing other environmental rules. In other words, they will focus primarily on the worst cases.
Ms. Friedman interviewed former EPA administrators. Gina McCarthy, who led the E.P.A. under the Obama administration and now serves as president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called it “an open license to pollute.” Cynthia Giles, who headed the E.P.A. enforcement division during the Obama administration, said: “This is essentially a nationwide waiver of environmental rules. It is so far beyond any reasonable response. I am just stunned.”
A current spokesperson for the EPA, Andrea Woods, disagreed. “For situations outside of routine monitoring and reporting,” she said, “the agency has reserved its authorities and will take the pandemic into account on a case-by-case basis.”
Protest by 21 Environmental and Watchdog Groups
Meanwhile, Rebecca Beitsch reports in The Hill that “Coalition petitions EPA for disclosure as agency OKs suspension of environmental monitoring.” She says, “Environmental groups have characterized the memo as a license to pollute, as companies will not have to submit regular reports to the EPA showing they are not violating environmental laws.” She cites a petition spearheaded by the Natural Resources Defense Council which was signed by 21 environmental and watchdog groups. “We fully appreciate the disruption and harm caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic. But EPA’s unprecedented non‐enforcement policy creates a clear opportunity for abuse,” states the petition.
LA Times Reports on Reaction by California Officials
The Los Angeles Times reports in an article by Susanne Rust, Louis Sahagun and Rosanna Xia. “Citing coronavirus, EPA suspends enforcement of environmental laws.” The LA Times article focuses on the response of California officials. “The severity of the COVID-19 crisis should not be used as an excuse by the EPA to relax enforcement of federal environmental laws designed to protect public health and safety,” said Serge Dedina, mayor of Imperial Beach. His city, on the Mexican border, is under constant siege from pollution. “This crisis has only underscored why protecting public health and safety and our environment is more critical than ever.”
Is EPA Using Crisis as Cover to Make Concessions to Polluters?
Vox in an article by By Zeeshan Aleem claimed that “The EPA appears to be using coronavirus to make huge concessions to polluters.” It says the rule will remain in place indefinitely. And it gives factories, power plants, and other major polluters tremendous discretion. Now they can decide whether or not the coronavirus will prevent them from meeting legal requirements on air and water pollution and hazardous waste management. “Many experts and environmental advocates say that while case-by-case relaxation of rules for companies that are short-staffed due to the pandemic makes sense, the expansiveness of the EPA’s directive appears both unprecedented and designed to give a green light to polluters to act recklessly at a time when air quality is acutely important for public health.”
Other Reaction from Around the Country
For additional perspectives see:
Business Insider: The Environmental Protection Agency says it won’t enforce its own rules during the coronavirus pandemic.
USA Today: EPA suspends some public health monitoring and enforcement because of coronavirus crisis.
Texas Tribune: Citing coronavirus pandemic, Trump administration stops enforcing environmental laws.
CBS News: “An open license to pollute”: Trump administration indefinitely suspends some environmental protection laws during coronavirus pandemic.
An Associated Press Article in Marketwatch: Citing coronavirus, EPA has stopped enforcing environmental laws
The list goes on. A google search returned 11,800,000 results.
Will TCEQ Follow EPA Lead?
To say this is controversial would be an understatement.
At best, you could characterize the reaction to the new rule as “practical” given new constrictions we all operate under.
But, like the national press, I worry that this is part of a broader effort to dial back enforcement against polluters. We see examples of pollution threats right here in the Lake Houston area almost every month. And we saw them before the pandemic.
It will be interesting to see how the TCEQ reacts to the new EPA stance. Will they fall in line? I expect their report on the latest concerns about the Triple PG mine on Friday. The mine allegedly violated the terms of a temporary injunction in its case with the Texas Attorney General. Stay tuned.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/1/2020
946 Days after Hurricane Harvey
City Completes Repairs on Tree Lane Bridge, But Concerns Remain
The City of Houston has completed repairs on the Tree Lane Bridge over Ben’s Branch…at least for now. The City partially concreted a wing wall and placed riprap in the stream bed to help reduce erosion and scour. However, the root cause of the damage remains. Upstream development without adequate detention is funneling more and more water into Ben’s Branch. The higher volume will continue to contribute to scouring and erosion in major storms unless detention ponds upstream are built and fixed.
Water Under the Bridge
As I struggled to understand what I was looking at, an online search revealed this excellent 196-page, well-illustrated document. It’s titled “AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE FOR MONITORING AND PROTECTING BRIDGE WATERWAYS AGAINST SCOUR.” Robert Ettema, Tatsuaki Nakato, and Marian Muste from the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa produced it for the Iowa Department of Transportation.
The document points out that bridge engineers often assume that a stream channel will maintain its course and dimensions. But most channels adjust their alignment and shape in response to floods and land-use changes in their watersheds. That has happened on Ben’s Branch in recent years.
Scour and Progressive Degradation
A review of the entire paper reveals two types of destructive forces at work on the Tree Lane Bridge.
Long-term scour is one. It occurs over a time scale of several years, and usually includes progressive degradation and lateral bank erosion due to channel widening or meander migration.
Progressive degradation is another. It features the almost permanent lowering of the river bed at a bridge site owing to changes in the watershed [e.g., head-cut progression (head-cutting), or human activities (e.g., channel straightening or urbanization)].
The area around the Tree Lane bridge supports has been badly eroding for years. A 12-inch water line that was once buried 5 feet below the stream bed is now at the water surface. See below.
Scour and erosion under and around bridges are constant problems for engineers. This bridge is a great example. Any time a structure interrupts the flow of floodwater, it creates turbulence (vortices in the flow) that can lead to erosion.
During Harvey, scour destabilized the Union Pacific and US59 bridges across the West Fork. Both had to be replaced for safety.
The Tree Lane Bridge doesn’t appear to be to that point yet. But the heavier load placed on Ben’s Branch by new upstream developments, such as Woodridge Village, Woodridge Forest, and Brooklyn Trails, may be pushing this bridge beyond its design capacity.
Concrete and Rip Rap Should Help in Short Term
To address these problems, the City repaired part of a concrete wing wall. They also placed riprap (boulders) downstream from the bridge and below a stormwater drain.
…But Root Causes for Damage Remain
However, problems remain, both here and upstream.
Until we can address the root causes of such damage, I fear that maintenance on this bridge will be a constant, long-term issue…despite the City’s best intentions.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/31/2020
945 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.