24 News Items Found
January 27, 2023
Maintenance For Flood Control Projects to Face Delays as Harris County Agency Deals With a Smaller Budget
Harris County’s plans to curb residential flooding are facing delays thanks to a reduced budget. If maintenance is executed incorrectly, “what your floodplain studies tell you should be the case will not be the case,” said faculty scholar Jim Blackburn.
August 24, 2022
Houston Developers Reshape Flood Maps Post-Harvey
"The homes being built today will be facing storms in 2050, 2060," said Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar Jim Blackburn, on the ongoing development of Houston's floodplains. "I’m worried, with bigger rains ... that the water will demand more space."
May 24, 2022
Capturing Carbon Credits from Grassland
Energy scholar Jim Blackburn commented on a report that ranchers are cashing in on sustainable land practices using BCarbon, which measures carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil — a standard originating with research by the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies
Read more at Successful Farming. April 16, 2022
Blackburn: Current 'Ike Dike' Plans Fall Short
Planners behind the "Ike Dike," the proposed Texas coastal barrier, should think bigger: the seawall should be built to withstand the extreme storms expected to come with climate change, said Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar Jim Blackburn. “They’re building for a Category 1 or 2 storm, but it’s the 3s, 4s and 5s that we should be building for as our planet warms."
Read more at Nola.com. February 4, 2022
Would Stormwater Tunnels Help Prevent Houston Flooding?
The Army Corps of Engineers is revisiting the possibility of a massive underground storm tunnel system to help alleviate flooding in Houston. The Baker Institute's Jim Blackburn has discussed the feasibility of the multi-billion dollar plan.
Read more at Houston Matters.