{"id":3569,"date":"2017-02-20T19:50:55","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T01:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/?p=3569"},"modified":"2017-02-20T19:51:12","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T01:51:12","slug":"revising-the-plan-for-protecting-galveston-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/?p=3569","title":{"rendered":"Revising the Plan for Protecting Galveston Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Public Workshop Wednesday, March 1, 2017<\/h3>\n<h4><em>Or Send Comments<\/em><\/h4>\n<p>Feb. 20, 2017<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gbep.state.tx.us\/\" target=\"_blank\">Galveston Bay Estuary Program<\/a> was established in 1989 to implement a comprehensive conservation plan for Galveston Bay. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/nep\" target=\"_blank\">Established by the federal government<\/a> and administered by the <a href=\"http:\/\/tceq.state.tx.us\/\" target=\"_blank\">Texas Commission on Environmental Quality<\/a> (TCEQ), the program\u2019s goal is to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gbep.state.tx.us\/who-we-are\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cpreserve Galveston Bay for generations to come.\u201d<\/a> It is one of two estuary programs in Texas and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/nep\/overview-national-estuary-program\" target=\"_blank\">one of 28 programs nationwide protecting estuaries \u201cof national significance.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/nep\/basic-information-about-estuaries#whatis\" target=\"_blank\">An estuary<\/a> is \u201ca partially enclosed, coastal water body where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the ocean. Estuaries, and their surrounding lands, are places of transition from land to sea. \u2026 Estuarine environments are among the most productive on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/nep\/basic-information-about-estuaries#whatis\" target=\"_blank\">Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> points out, \u201cwhat happens on the land affects the quality of the water and health of the organisms that live in an estuary. \u2026 For example, if a river or stream \u2026 passes urbanized and suburbanized areas, it gathers substances such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>fertilizers or pet waste that wash off lawns;<\/li>\n<li>untreated sewage from failing septic tanks;<\/li>\n<li>wastewater discharges from industrial facilities;<\/li>\n<li>sediment from construction sites; and<\/li>\n<li>runoff from impervious surfaces like parking lots.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_3565\" style=\"width: 1010px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/?attachment_id=3565\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3565\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3565\" class=\"wp-image-3565 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Ship-channel-s.jpg\" width=\"1000\" height=\"890\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Ship-channel-s.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Ship-channel-s-300x267.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Ship-channel-s-768x684.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3565\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Houston Ship Channel, Buffalo Bayou. Photo by Jim Olive<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Buffalo Bayou is the main river flowing through the center of Houston and emptying into Galveston Bay. Numerous other creeks and tributaries, including Brays, White Oak, and Sims bayous, flow into Buffalo Bayou, which becomes the Houston Ship Channel.<\/p>\n<h4>Updating the Galveston Bay Protection Plan<\/h4>\n<p>The 22-year-old Galveston Bay management plan is being revised. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sierraclub.org\/texas\/houston\" target=\"_blank\">Houston Sierra Club<\/a> is urging the general public to attend a Wednesday afternoon workshop in La Marque to \u201cprovide input on how we can have a cleaner and more ecologically intact Galveston Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/?page_id=3563\"><em>Read the rest of this post.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public Workshop Wednesday, March 1, 2017 Or Send Comments Feb. 20, 2017 The Galveston Bay Estuary Program was established in 1989 to implement a comprehensive conservation plan for Galveston Bay. Established by the federal government and administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the program\u2019s goal is to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,365,315,20,224,262,60,299,276,450,49,341,451,122,131,237],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bayou","category-brays-bayou","category-conservation","category-environment","category-environmental-protection-agency","category-epa","category-federal","category-galveston-bay","category-management","category-mannchen","category-preservation","category-sea-level","category-sierra","category-texas-am","category-texas-commission-on-environmental-quality","category-tributary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3569"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3571,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3569\/revisions\/3571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}