White Smoke

I had the flat screen on Channel 2 yesterday when NBC’s Lester Holt broke in with the white smoke news. About an hour later, the new Pope was announced, and we learned he was an American. Leading up to the conclave, the papal pundits were saying there was no way an American would ever be elected Pope.

When they said Pope Leo XIV was from Chicago’s south side, one of the NBC talking heads surmised he was probably a White Sox fan. Later on, during the day, some folks posted that Pope Leo was a Cubbie fan. Pope Leo’s brother set things straight in an interview yesterday saying he and his brother, Pope Leo, were lifelong White Sox fans. A file photo of, Pope Leo, surfaced from 2005, attending the White Sox – Astros World Series, at then U.S. Cellular Field.

I am rooting for Pope Leo. See the featured photo of today’s Chron front page.

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Uh oh. See this from the Chron:

Groundwater and oil extraction are causing the ground beneath Houston to sink faster than any other major city in the U.S., according to a new study in Nature Cities.

A group of researchers from across the country used satellite data to measure vertical land movement in the 28 most populous U.S. cities. The academics were able to map shifts down to the millimeter.

More than 40% of Houston’s land mass is subsiding at least one-fifth of an inch per year, they said, but that rate varies drastically across the city. The worst spots are sinking 10 times faster. 

“While often considered solely a coastal hazard due to relative sea-level rise, subsidence also threatens inland urban areas, causing increased flood risks, structural damage, and transportation disruptions,” the authors wrote, adding that across the nation the land was sinking “mainly due to groundwater extraction.”

In Houston, they said, oil and gas extraction has also had a major impact on the topographic shifts.

Here is the entire read: Houston is sinking faster than any other big city in the U.S.

Growing up in Baytown, I certainly know about subsidence. Brownwood was a nice neighborhood in Baytown. Then it sank and was prone to flooding. The neighborhood is gone now. Lisa Gray has an excellent piece on the editorial page titled Brownwood, the Houston suburb that sank – Opinion.

Here is the take: Brownwood, the Houston suburb that sank.

What happened to Brownwood isn’t just a Baytown thing. The entire H-Town region was witness to what happened and how it happened. We need to up our game in preventing future Brownwoods.

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The 19-20 Reds visit for the weekend at Daikin Park against the 18-18 Astros.