U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Battle Against the Keystone Pipeline

Environmentalists and landowners battle to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and its load of crude from flowing across Texas rivers and aquifers.

Federal Judge Agrees Threatened Dams Near Grand Parkway Project Need More Study

Back in June, we looked at how extensive new development along the Grand Parkway is contributing to a scary scenario where the Addicks and Barker dams could fail with Katrina-like effects. Now a federal judge has agreed with us, kinda. U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison has issued a 42-page memora ... More >>

If the Addicks and Barker Dams Fail

They've already been labeled "high risk." Experts say the resulting damage could be bigger than Katrina in New Orleans.

Cover Story: We're All Screwed In a Hurricane Katrina-Like Way If Addicks and Barker Dams Are Breached

Last week's rains and floods might be child's play compared to what could be in store for Houston if Addicks and Barker dams were to crumble into dust. Located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8, the two flood-control mechanisms have been at an "extremely high risk of catastrophi ... More >>

Blood Money

More than 200 soldiers are suing KBR for knowingly exposing them to toxic chemicals in Iraq, whose effects started with nose bleeds and could end with cancer. KBR says that didn't happen. But even if it did, the company isn't responsible. Taxpayers are.

Cover Story: Soldiers Say KBR Exposed Them to Dangerous Chemical

In 2003, just weeks after the U.S. declared war on Iraq, workers for Houston-based KBR were busy trying to restore the invaded nation's oil industry. Under a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, part of KBR's job was to restore a dilapidated water-injection facility in the south. America ... More >>

Oprah of the Piney Woods

Kathy Patrick wields some hefty clout out of her beauty shop/book store

Bad Business

After Ryan Sumstad was charged with murdering his wife, his secrets were exposed.

Anchor Bay: Judge Gives West Galveston Development Green Light

The Army Corps can issue its permit​A federal judge has lifted an injunction against construction of a controversial West End development on Galveston Island, the U.S. Attorney's office has announced.Judge Sim Lake lifted an injunction that had prevented the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from issui ... More >>

Yay! Houston's KBR Gets Another Iraq Contract!

UPI (Motto: "Yes, we're still around") is reporting that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a "follow-on" contract to Houston's KBR (Halliburton) to continue work on a convoy supply camp in Iraq.And why not?It's not like KBR has senators demanding investigations into allegations that soldi ... More >>

Should The Feds Help Save Galveston's Beaches?

Paranoia Self Destroyer

A New Birth Brass Band set at the Volcano makes Racket long for a new and improved tinfoil hat

Draining the Swamp

A scorched-earth management philosophy is sucking the life out of our region's wetlands

Bridging the Gap

Birders and the port are new buds seeking to block the proposed toll span at Bolivar

Best Bureaucrat

Jon C. Vanden Bosch

Best Role Model

Terry Hershey

Mixed Messages

Casualties aren't easy to count in the continuing battle of Bayport

The Highs and Lows of Life with Lee

The best and worst from the Brown days

Taking a Toll

A bridge to Bolivar might be good for business -- but not for the birds

The Long Goodbye

It sounds so simple: FEMA purchasing homes flooded by Tropical Storm Allison. Then come the bureaucratic blizzards and personal angst over giving up and getting out.

Houstonpalooza

Saturday, February 23

Out of Control

The City of Houston requires developers in the floodplain to elevate and mitigate -- build houses on higher ground and dig detention ponds for runoff. Except, not always.

Letters, December 6

Cover-ups, Firing Line

Range War

The shootout over gun club safety

Not Worth A Dam

Clear Creek is on the rise, and local flood-protection methods have been helpless against it. Soggy residents, tired of being perpetual victims, are ready for a fight.

Blind Faith

Luke and Rachel Watson have lost most of their sight. They eventually will lose all motor skills. Their parents are losing sleep -- do the adults tell their kids they're dying of Batten disease?

Dimitri's Last Stand

Will naturalists rid the wetlands of a wily immigrant's sex clubs?

Deep Six

Corps beliefs about wetlands stall TxDOT's paving plans

Adrift

Has the fight over port expansion turned a bay watchdog group into a rubber duck?

We're Not the Worst!

Letters

Local Control

Will the state be able to continue to review environmentally sensitive projects, or will it cede power to the feds?

Killer Weed

The life-suffocating Salvinia molesta has entered Texas waterways. It's green, fast and deadly.

Wetlands Maul?

The Sierra Club got paid off, but a developer's bizarre problems continue

Waste Not, Want Not

Local residents unite to fight the mountain of landfill trash headed their way

Changing the Channel

For years, homeowners, developers, environmentalists and the federal government have wrangled over a flood-control plan for Clear Creek. Now a compromise is in view -- but the creek's future is murkier than ever.

Mall Rat

The Mall That Ate Katy

Big money, big lobbyists, big tax breaks. The Mills Corporation is bringing one of its "megamalls" to Katy, and it's hardly business as usual in the little town on the prairie.

The Airport That Wouldn't Die

Last fall, environmentalists thought they'd finally put a stake through the heart of the West Side Airport. But the mayoral race seems to have given it a new lease on life.

Sweet Deal

Why did county commissioners agree to subsidize a swanky golf resort that will benefit a wealthy Harris County developer?

In The Rough

In its quest for a Municipal golf course, Lake jackson learned a valuable lesson: Never buy land without checking it out first. Unfortunately, the lesson came six years too late.

Down the Drain

Encroaching development and bureaucratic inertia are jeopardizing Sheldon Reservoir, one of east Harris County's last natural outposts

From the Allens to today, Buffalo Bayou has helped define the city of Houston. Now, after decades of abuse, it may finally be making a comeback as an urban resource. If, that is, we don't blow our chance.

The Trial of Joe Russo

An intimate look at how -- and why -- Houston's high flyer of the '80s was taken apart in court

The fight to save the Katy Prairie

How many winters more will Arctic waterfowl make their 10,000-year-old journey to the western edge of Houston?