Chambers Counties Research Articles

Geospatial analytics of driving mechanism of land subsidence in Gulf Coast of Texas, United States

Land subsidence has been an ongoing issue for over a century along the Gulf Coast of Texas in the United States. This study assesses and models the factors contributing to land subsidence covering fifty-six (56) counties along the Gulf of Mexico coastline from Louisiana to the border of Mexico, approximately 300,000 km2. Geospatial statistical techniques and regression models were employed to investigate and predict the fundamental causes of land subsidence by integrating multiple datasets such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) (147 stations), groundwater extraction (78,420 wells), hydrocarbon production (84,424 wells), precipitation, and population growth. In the last two decades, the overall population rose by 33 % and the compound annual population growth rate increased from 2.08 to 4.10 % in Montgomery, Waller, Fort Bend, and Chambers counties. Emerging hotspot analysis reveals that the groundwater level is persistently declining and the regression model (R2 = 0.92) tested over Harris County predicts that the population growth significantly contributes to land subsidence in this region. The groundwater withdrawal rate is increased from 23 to 96.6 billion gallons in Harris, Montgomery, and Fort Bend counties in the last two decades. A prolonged drought from 2010 to 2015 due to low precipitation affected all fifty-six counties. Oil production increased eightfold and a high extraction rate of 19.5 to 40.1 million bbl/yr of oil in Karnes County was recorded within the last 20 years. The regression model (R2 = 0.73) over this county suggests that oil extraction is a primary contributing factor to the observed subsidence. Although the gas extraction rates for all counties are decreasing over time, some counties in the southern part of the Gulf Coast Aquifer show relatively higher extraction rates. For the first time, this research determines that all fifty-six counties along the Gulf Coast of Texas are undergoing land subsidence and experiencing high population growth, groundwater withdrawal, and hydrocarbon extraction.

A Phase I Cultural Resources Survey of the Orbit Pipeline Project Jefferson, Liberty, and Chambers Counties, Texas

A Phase I Cultural Resources Survey of the Orbit Pipeline Project Jefferson, Liberty, and Chambers Counties, Texas

Historic Alabama Courthouses: A Century of Their Images and Stories by Delos Hughes

Reviewed by: Historic Alabama Courthouses: A Century of Their Images and Stories by Delos Hughes Pamela Sterne King Historic Alabama Courthouses: A Century of Their Images and Stories. By Delos Hughes. Montgomery: New South Books, 2017. 162 pp. $25.95. ISBN 978-1-58838-334-1. Professor Delos Hughes has turned a trove of photographs and historical documentation into a neat, compact, readable book. It is about an important topic---Alabama's historic courthouses---and it offers a multi-faceted way of learning about each county's "tastes," how they stamped aesthetic preferences onto the public space, and, [End Page 167] sometimes, the fate of these buildings. Hughes organized Historic Alabama Courthouses: A Century of Their Images and Stories alphabetically, county by county, and included every structure at least one hundred years old that he could document. Those built later, such as the architecturally rich 1929 Jefferson County Courthouse, did not make the cut. Maybe a later edition will incorporate some of the more recently constructed courthouses. Roman architect Vitruvius's "strong opinions about the qualities of fine architecture" provide Hughes with a reference point for analyzing the tastes of Alabama's courthouse designers. He uses the ancient scholar's "standards for judging architecture," namely commodity, firmness and delight, and applies them to this state (3). Readers will get a quick, succinct romp through Alabama's public architectural mores. They will not, Hughes makes clear, get an exhaustive, academic tome requiring advanced degrees to finish. Readers should pay attention to Hughes's two "observations of special interest." One is the extent to which Alabama courthouses did not reflect necessarily a county's unique personality as, he asserts, readers might presume. Rather, they often mimicked or in some cases "literally copied" other courthouses (6). Second, he asks the reader to notice the influence of South Carolina's "courthouse tradition," especially in Alabama's Black Belt, where many Palmetto State residents moved. However, although the older state revered the separation of powers evident in the "literal independence of administrative and judicial spaces," the author contends that "no such history nor any such actual separation of powers existed to be expressed at the county level in Alabama" (7). Such a conclusion seems premature without more proof. Hughes, emeritus professor of politics at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, is a graduate of Lee County High School in Auburn and, since retirement, has spent time researching and writing about architectural history. This combination of expertise and interests lures both the academic and the lay scholar who may be interested in economic, social, or political history along [End Page 168] with those seduced more by builders, architects, and practitioners. As it happens, these disciplines always are interfaced with individual personalities and money, but also, uniquely to public buildings, with taxpayers' demands. The author captures these realities with facile writing, archival mastery, and precision. In his "A Last Word" the author acknowledges that he hopes this volume challenges earlier American historians' declarations that Alabama was a backwater, lacking "taste and resources," especially in the postbellum period (153). He achieves this counter narrative and much more. Where possible he reveals each courthouse's style, architect, builder, and cost of construction. He also points out those that are singularly notable such as Washington County's bare-bones 1854 courthouse still (barely) standing in St. Stephens; Pickens County's second courthouse, reportedly etched by lightning with the first courthouse arsonist's face on his way to the executioner; or Cherokee County's courthouse, in Centre, built after the state legislature stipulated its location precisely at the county's center point. Hughes also treats us to a compendium of Alabama courthouse designs which may surprise many. Classically-inspired style, he points out, was "de rigueur in antebellum Alabama" (Madison County and Montgomery County) and "survived with some vigor in post-Civil War years" (Greene County). But, he explains, "an entrepreneurial class in the Reconstruction era embraced the emergent New South philosophy and looked for more appropriate, nay, modern architectural styles," as exemplified in the courthouses of Bibb, Butler and Chambers Counties (6). These boosters, he notes, often were more interested in dollars than design, equating modern style with "evidence...

Access, use and completion of a brief disaster mental health intervention among Hispanics, African-Americans and Whites affected by Hurricane Ike

Sumary African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionally affected by disasters. We evaluated differences in the use and completion of a web-based mental health intervention, Disaster Recovery Web (DRW), by White, African-American and Hispanic adults in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Approximately one year after the hurricane, a telephone survey was carried out with adults from Galveston and Chambers counties. A total of 1249 adults participated in the survey (80% White, 14% African-American and 6% Hispanic). Mental health and mental health service utilization were assessed. Whites were more likely to have previously used the Internet to obtain general health information than African-Americans or Hispanics (P < 0.001). A logistic regression was used to identify differences in the use of the Internet intervention after controlling for covariates. There were no differences in rates of non-use and dropout attrition between Whites, African-Americans and Hispanics. Thus the findings suggest that web-based mental health interventions can be used to reach African-American, Hispanic and White adults at similar rates after a disaster.

The course of posttraumatic stress symptoms and functional impairment following a disaster: what is the lasting influence of acute versus ongoing traumatic events and stressors?

Ongoing traumatic events and stressors, rather than acute sources of trauma, may shape long-term post-disaster mental health. The purpose of this study was to compare the influence of acute hurricane-related exposures and ongoing post-hurricane exposures on the short- and long-term course of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and functional impairment (FI). A random sample of adults (n = 658) in Galveston and Chambers Counties, Texas, was selected 2-6 months after Hurricane Ike and interviewed 3 times over 18 months. Hurricane-related exposures included traumatic events such as death of a family member due to the hurricane and stressors such as loss/damage to personal property due to the hurricane. Post-hurricane exposures included traumatic events such as sexual assault and stressors such as divorce or serious financial problems. Experiencing an acute hurricane-related traumatic event or stressor was associated with initial post-hurricane PTSS [RR = 1.92 (95% CI = 1.13-3.26) and RR = 1.62 (1.36-1.94), respectively] and FI [RR = 1.76; (1.05-2.97) and RR = 1.74 (1.46-2.08)], respectively, and acute hurricane-related stressors were associated with a higher rate of increase in FI over time [RR = 1.09; (1.01-1.19)]. In contrast, ongoing post-hurricane daily stressors were not associated within initial PTSS and FI, but were associated with PTSS and FI at the second and third interviews. While immediate postdisaster interventions may influence short-term mental health, investment in the prevention of ongoing stressors may be instrumental to manage long-term mental health status.

Resilience in the Face of Disaster: Prevalence and Longitudinal Course of Mental Disorders following Hurricane Ike

ObjectivesNatural disasters may increase risk for a broad range of psychiatric disorders, both in the short- and in the medium-term. We sought to determine the prevalence and longitudinal course of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), depression, and suicidality in the first 18 months after Hurricane Ike.MethodsSix hundred fifty-eight adults representative of Galveston and Chambers Counties, Texas participated in a random, population-based survey. The initial assessment was conducted 2 to 5 months after Hurricane Ike struck Galveston Bay on September 13, 2008. Follow-up assessments were conducted at 5 to 9 and 14 to 18 months after Hurricane Ike.ResultsPast-month prevalence of any mental disorder (20.6% to 10.9%) and hurricane-related PTSD (6.9% to 2.5%) decreased over time. Past-month prevalence of PTSD related to a non-disaster traumatic event (5.8% to 7.1%), GAD (3.1% to 1.8%), PD (0.8% to 0.7%), depression (5.0% to 5.6%), and suicidality (2.6% to 4.2%) remained relatively stable over time.ConclusionsPTSD, both due to the hurricane and due to other traumatic events, was the most prevalent psychiatric disorder 2 to 5 months after Hurricane Ike. Prevalence of psychiatric disorders declined rapidly over time, suggesting that the vast majority of individuals exposed to this natural disaster ‘bounced back’ and were resilient to long-term mental health consequences of this large-scale traumatic event.

Mental Health Outcomes Among Adults in Galveston and Chambers Counties After Hurricane Ike

To examine the mental health effects of Hurricane Ike, the third costliest hurricane in US history, which devastated the upper Texas coast in September 2008. Structured telephone interviews assessing immediate effects of Hurricane Ike (damage, loss, displacement) and mental health diagnoses were administered via random digit-dial methods to a household probability sample of 255 Hurricane Ike-affected adults in Galveston and Chambers counties. Three-fourths of respondents evacuated the area because of Hurricane Ike and nearly 40% were displaced for at least one week. Postdisaster mental health prevalence estimates were 5.9% for posttraumatic stress disorder, 4.5% for major depressive episode, and 9.3% for generalized anxiety disorder. Bivariate analyses suggested that peritraumatic indicators of hurricane exposure severity-such as lack of adequate clean clothing, electricity, food, money, transportation, or water for at least one week-were most consistently associated with mental health problems. The significant contribution of factors such as loss of housing, financial means, clothing, food, and water to the development and/or maintenance of negative mental health consequences highlights the importance of systemic postdisaster intervention resources targeted to meet basic needs in the postdisaster period.

Differences in the determinants of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression after a mass traumatic event

Hurricane Ike struck the Galveston Bay area of Texas on September 13, 2008, leaving substantial destruction and a number of deaths in its wake. We assessed differences in the determinants of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression after this event, including the particular hurricane experiences, including postevent nontraumatic stressors, that were associated with these pathologies. 658 adults who had been living in Galveston and Chambers counties, TX in the month before Hurricane Ike were interviewed 2-5 months after the hurricane. We collected information on experiences during and after Hurricane Ike, PTSD and depressive symptoms in the month before the interview, and socio-demographic characteristics. The prevalence of past month hurricane-related PTSD and depression was 6.1 and 4.9%, respectively. Hurricane experiences, but not socio-demographic characteristics, were associated with Ike-related PTSD. By contrast, lower education and household income, and more lifetime stressors were associated with depression, as were hurricane exposures and hurricane-related stressors. When looking at specific hurricane-related stressors, loss or damage of sentimental possessions was associated with both PTSD and depression; however, health problems related to Ike were associated only with PTSD, whereas financial loss as a result of the hurricane was associated only with depression. PTSD is indeed a disorder of event exposure, whereas risk of depression is more clearly driven by personal vulnerability and exposure to stressors. The role of nontraumatic stressors in shaping risk of both pathologies suggests that alleviating stressors after disasters has clear potential to mitigate the psychological sequelae of these events.

Prevalence and consequences of disaster-related illness and injury from hurricane ike.

To explore the extent to which disasters may be a source of injury and disability in community populations, we examined the prevalence and short-term consequences of disaster-related illness and injury for distress, disability, and perceived needs for care. A random population survey was conducted 2-6 months after Hurricane Ike struck Galveston Bay on September 13, 2008. The sample was composed of 658 adults representative of Galveston and Chambers Counties, Texas. The prevalences of personal injury (4%) and household illness (16%) indicated that approximately 7,700 adults in the two-county area were injured, and another 31,500 adults experienced household-level illness. Risk for injury/illness increased with area damage and decreased with evacuation. In bivariate tests, injury or illness or both were related to all outcome measures. In multivariate analyses that controlled for co-occurring stressors representing trauma, loss, adversities, and community effects, injury or illness or both were associated with global stress, posttraumatic stress, dysfunction, days of disability, and perceived needs for care, but not with depression or anxiety. The associations of injury with distress and disability suggest that community programs should reach out to injured persons for early mental health and functional assessments and, where indicated, intervene in ways that reduce further disability and need for complex rehabilitative services. The results also point to the potential effectiveness of evacuation incentives with regard to the prevention of disaster-related injury and disability.

Hydrocarbon emissions from industrial release events in the Houston-Galveston area and their impact on ozone formation

Abstract Ambient measurements have shown that ozone formation in the Houston-Galveston area of Texas is frequently much more rapid than in other urban areas. One of the contributing factors is believed to be short-term episodic or “event” emissions from industrial facilities, particularly releases that contain significant mass fractions of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HRVOCs). In this work, time series analyses are used to compare average annual flow rates for air pollutant emissions with those released during reported emission events. The results indicate that the magnitude and frequency of HRVOC event emissions are an important element in accurately reflecting ozone precursor emission patterns in the Houston-Galveston area, particularly in Harris, Brazoria, Galveston, and Chambers counties. More than 50% of the reported episodic (event) emissions of HRVOCs are ethene and approximately a third are propene; the remainders are isomers of butene and 1,3-butadiene. Most events last less than 24 h. The mass released in an event can vary from a few hundred to more than 100,000 lb, and the dominant type of industrial source is chemical manufacturers (SIC 2869). Daily emissions from a single facility can vary from annual average emissions by multiple orders of magnitude at a frequency of several times a year. Because there are so many facilities in the Houston-Galveston area, HRVOC emission variability of this magnitude can be expected daily, at some time and some location in the Houston-Galveston area. If the emission variability occurs at times and locations where atmospheric conditions are conducive to ozone formation, both ambient data and photochemical modeling indicate that industrial emission events can lead to elevated concentrations of ozone. Specifically, peak, area-wide ozone concentration can be increased by as much as 100 ppb for large HRVOC emission events.

Gemstones of Lee and Chambers Counties, Alabama

Gemstones of Lee and Chambers Counties, Alabama

Economic Status of Tenure Groups in Tallapoosa and Chambers Counties, Alabama

Economic Status of Tenure Groups in Tallapoosa and Chambers Counties, Alabama