Texas Gulf Waits & Worries

LAPORTE -- Richard Arnhart spends much of his days monitoring wind trajectories, scientific bulletins and TV newscasts.

Parts of an oily blob three times the size of Rhode Island -- and growing -- are believed by many experts to be lumbering closer to the Texas Gulf, and Arnhart is part of the first line of defense.
As a regional director for the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program in the Texas General Land Office, Arnhart is paid by the state to fight oil spills, and he's heavily involved in state and federal contingency planning for any possible impact on Texas from the massive oil spill lurking in the Gulf of Mexico.

Communities all along the Texas coast are making similar preparations as they join the rest of the world in tracking daily developments in one of the worst oil spill disasters in history.
No one knows for sure if remnants of the spill, which was about 160 miles east of the Lone Star State late last week, will reach Texas waters. The consensus seems to be that if there is an impact it will be in the form of tar balls or a frothy substance resembling chocolate mousse. Experts don't expect any residue to hit this far west for several weeks.

Beyond that, just what threat the spill poses for a region of the state whose economy and culture is tied to the gulf is difficult to gauge. Environmentalists warn of possibly irreversible damage to the state's fragile ecosystems and endangered wildlife. Others worry about potential losses to fishing and tourism, though local officials say they have yet to see any signs of an economic backlash.
"It's going to have an impact one way or another," said state Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, chairman of the state House Select Committee on Emergency Preparedness, which has scheduled a Monday hearing in McAllen to examine Texas preparations for the spill. "We swim in that ocean. We eat the food that comes out of that ocean. It's part of our [committee's] charge to be prepared for emergencies, and this is certainly an emergency that Texas should be prepared for."
'No news is good news'

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, whose office would be in charge of fighting residue from the spill and enforcing the cleanup, took steps late last week to calm fears about the oil slick.

"We're watching and waiting, but it's just not time to go to general quarters," said Patterson, who is scheduled to testify at Monday's hearing. "No news is good news."

Patterson sought to dispel TV reports that tar balls from the spill are already showing up on Texas beaches. Although tar balls occasionally wash ashore along the Texas Gulf, they may be decades old and could come from natural seepage or earlier spills, the land office said. An analysis on tar balls collected from Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island last week proved conclusively that the substance did not come from the oil slick in the gulf, said Cmdr. David Berliner of the Coast Guard.
Nevertheless, an out-of-control underwater gusher dumping more than thousands of barrels of oil into the gulf each day is impossible for Texans to ignore. Houston area residents watching TV last week, for example, might have seen ads aired by attorney Jim Adler offering his service to victims of the spill.

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Oil spill threatens already weakened wetlands

by Brad Woodard / 11 News
khou.com


Crews depart with giant box to help Gulf oil leak
With millions of gallons of oil already in the gulf and massive underwater plumes that could poison and suffocate sea life across the food chain, experts say the damage from the spill could endure for a decade or more. For Galveston, however, the picture isn't quite as bleak.

"There may be some kind of effect coming this way, some little tarballs, but we'd be talking about almost three weeks into the future, which gives it more time to break up. More time to sink," said Peter Davis, chief of the Island's Beach Patrol.

If Davis doesn't seem overly concerned, it's because he's seen it all before.

"I've worked here for almost 30 years, and before that I was on the beach all the time," says Davis. "I remember in the 80s when there was less regulation; there was tar around a lot more."

Long before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, in fact, long before offshore drilling, tarballs were washing up on Texas beaches. The state estimates as much as a million barrels of crude oil leaked into the gulf through natural seepage in just the last year.

Although the coast is clear in Galveston, at least for the moment, some business owners along the seawall worry all the news surrounding the spill with scare off tourists.

"They don't know if there is oil or no oil," says Izzy Wolraich, the owner of four businesses on the Island. "And we know there's no oil.

There're afraid about poisoned fish and dirty water, but there's not a panic yet."

And that's what he fears the most.

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Kingwood Panthers Going For Gold!

By Todd Hveem
Chronicle correspondent

The Kingwood Park Panthers will have several chances to bring home gold medals at the Class 4A state track meet on Friday at the University of Texas in Austin.

Shawn Barber might represent the Panthers’ best hopes of winning gold after capturing the Region III-4A pole vault title with a leap of 14 feet, 6 inches.

The Panthers finished fifth in the regional meet with 39 points.

The Lady Panthers, who finished second in the Region III-4A meet with 70 points, best hopes could come from Zahri Jackson in the 800 and 1,600 meters. Jackson won both events at regionals.

ABOUT THE MEET
Matchup: Class 4A state track meet

When: Friday

Where: University of Texas in Austin

At stake: Gold, silver and bronze medals

Kingwood Park boys to watch: Shawn Barber (14-6 in pole vault); Ian Ebow, Nick Rollo, Kolby Chandler and Brett Parker (3:15.33 in 4x400 relay).

Kingwood Park girls to watch: Zahri Jackson (5:09.85 in 1,600 meters and 2:15.29 in 800 meters); Grace Fletcher (11:14.19 in 3,200 meters); Jennifer Nwuli, Jackson, Nicole Aponte and Amadu Mariam (3:54.75 in 4x400 relay).

HIGHLIGHTS
Boys: The Panthers’ 4x400 relay team has a realistic shot to bring home a gold medal after running under 3:16 at regionals. Barber may have to go higher than 14-6 to get on the medal stand in the pole vault, but it all depends on the weather. A windy day could bring all eight competitors into play.

Girls: The Lady Panthers’ Jackson and Fletcher have played huge roles in Kingwood Park’s cross country success over the past two years and should do the same in track on Friday. Jackson is favored to score a rare double gold by winning the 800 meters and 1,600 meters in the same meet.

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Destination Round Rock for area baseball

By SAM KHAN JR.
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

On the home side of Andy Wells Field in Kingwood, there's a small wooden sign that hangs with two words on it: Round Rock. They're short and simple but they speak volumes of the expectations.
“Every time you get a helmet or a bat, it's a constant reminder that that's why we're here,” Kingwood coach Kelly Mead said. “We're practicing for the ultimate goal. Every day you touch ‘Round Rock' but only if you can believe we can do it.”

Kingwood, the area's top-ranked Class 5A team, enters this postseason with the same goal that just about every other big school has — to get to Dell Diamond in Round Rock, home of the Class 5A and 4A state tournament.
While the Greater Houston area is virtually guaranteed at least one representative (from Region III-5A), the area is experiencing a brief drought in what has been over two decades of dominance in Texas Class 5A baseball. The last 5A champion from Greater Houston came in 2007, when Cy-Fair hoisted the state championship trophy.

The last time the area went three straight years without a champion in the University Interscholastic League's highest classification was 1972-1976 when Lubbock Monterey, Midland and Duncanville combined for five Class 4A titles in that span. The Houston area produced the next four 4A champs and since Class 5A baseball began in 1981, the area has produced 16 of the 29 state champions. From 1998-2007, the Houston area was home to eight of 10 champions in that span.
And while two or three years without a championship is nothing to get worked up about, there is a bit of local pride at stake coming into the postseason.
“We want to do it for us No. 1 and for Houston No. 2,” Mead said. “I feel that in the Houston area, the talent we breed is unbelievable. I believe it's the best in the state of Texas.”
Mead's no stranger to the state tournament. He was an assistant at Kingwood when the Mustangs earned state tournament berths in 2004 and 2005, which included a state championship in 2005.
In this year's playoff bracket, many of the Houston-area's usual suspects are lurking. In addition to Kingwood, Bellaire, Brazoswood, Memorial and Pearland are among the Region III-5A favorites and Klein, Cy-Fair, Cypress Falls, College Park, The Woodlands and Tomball are among the teams to watch in Region II-5A.

Seven of those teams have won a state championship since 1980. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll emerge from the pack - the last two Region III-5A champions have been teams that did not win their district - Bellaire in 2008 and Pearland in 2009.
“
The thing about the playoffs is that you just want to get in,” Bellaire coach Rocky Manuel said. “Nobody cares how you got in. Look at Butler in (NCAA) basketball. It's a giant tournament, the biggest tournament in the state of Texas and hopefully you win your round.”
Even if his team doesn't make it, Mead said he's hopeful that the 5A trophy returns to the area.
“When you have those Houston teams in there it makes you feel so much better,” he said. “When you go on a run and the team to that beats you wins it all, you know that you got beat by the best.”
sam.khan@chron.com

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