Chicago Tribune (August 29)
“The scale of flooding in the Houston area as a result of Hurricane Harvey is hard to imagine, and the images of suffering are horrifying to behold. In central and south Texas, an area the size of Michigan is now a storm-tossed lake.”
Tags: Flooding, Horrifying, Houston, Hurricane Harvey, Michigan, Scale, Storm, Suffering, Texas
Houston Chronicle (August 26)
“Once again, a hurricane has slammed ashore on our coastline and all too many Texans will now face the daunting task of cleaning up and starting over.” Current Texans can take solace by remembering “that generations of Texans have survived storms as bad and even worse than Harvey. At the same time, let’s also remember a lesson we’ve learned through bitter experience: We can’t prevent hurricanes from hitting us, but we have to do everything we can to prepare for them.”
Tags: Cleaning up, Coastline, Hurricane, Prepare, Starting over, Storms, Survive, Texas
The Economist (July 4)
“Shale matters. The industry has become huge—listed firms have invested over half a trillion dollars of capital…. Shale firms owe almost as much debt as Greece. After drilling beneath much of Texas and North Dakota, they account for 5% of global oil output. The health of shale firms affects people around the world, from Western drivers and Saudi Arabia’s sheikhs to Asia’s consumers.”
Tags: Asia, Capital, Consumers, Debt, Drilling, Greece, North Dakota, Oil, Output, Saudi Arabia, Shale, Texas
Los Angeles Times (May 1)
California “continues to attract more manufacturers and create more jobs than almost any other. The numbers don’t lie.” Toyota and Occidental Petroleum both announced plans to move their headquarters from California to Texas. Nevertheless, California’s business environment remains vibrant given the state’s unique “ability to incubate new companies and tech innovators, putting its businesses in the vanguard of new industries.”
Tags: Business, California, Environment, Innovators, Jobs, Manufacturers, Occidental Petroleum, Texas, Toyota, Vanguard
Bloomberg (April 22, 2013)
“Last week we were reminded both of the dangers posed by chemical plants and of the threat of terrorism in the U.S., and the conclusion that chemical plants could be a lot safer is unsettling. But such a conclusion is also inescapable.” The Texas blast, which killed 14, took place at a fertilizer plant storing highly combustible and toxic substances. The plant “was clearly too dangerous to be located a few blocks from a middle school, a nursing home and a 50-unit apartment building.” The Government needs to institute rules to keep the public safe.
Tags: Blasts, Chemical plants, Fertilizer plant, Government, Terrorism, Texas
