This thesis examines the economic implications of using agriculturally based feedstock for bio-energy production in East Texas. Specifically I examined the use of switchgrass, rice straw, and logging residue as a feedstock for electrical power generation in East Texas replacing coal. To examine the effects of such a substitution, an environmental bio-complexity approach is used to analyze the interactions of agricultural, technological, economic, and environmental factors. In particular, lifecycle analysis (LCA) and Cost-Benefit analysis is used. The results show that as we use more bio-energy for power generation, we will get less Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission, which will be an environmental benefit in the long run. The main problem is that cost increases. Current biomass feedstock production costs are generally too high for biomass feedstock to replace coal in power generation. However I find that GHG offset prices can make biomass economically attractive. In particular GHG offset prices and forgiveness for the emissions from combustion based on photosynthetic absorption would raise the price people would be willing to pay for biomass feedstock making it competitive.

Volunteers are important contributors to response and recovery. Little is known about their engagement, particularly in terms of comparing the engagement of response volunteers to recovery volunteers. This study sought to explore volunteer engagement in response and recovery in the case of flooding experienced by a number of communities in East Texas following flooding in 2016. Data was gathered through interviews with 72 response and recovery volunteers and key informants, an analysis of key documents, and first-hand observations. This study developed a list of factors that were found to explain volunteer engagement in East Texas and factors suggested by the literature. These factors should be systematically tested in the future to expand our understanding of volunteer engagement. / University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center (Grant)

This study contributes a procedure, based on data analysis and geostatistical methods, to evaluate the distribution of chemical ratios and differentiate natural and anthropogenic contaminant sources of groundwater quality in the East Texas Basin. Four aquifers were studied, Sparta, Queen City, Carrizo and Wilcox. In this study, Carrizo- Wilcox is considered as one aquifer, and Sparta-Queen City as another. These aquifers were divided into depth categories, 0-150 feet for Sparta-Queen City and 300-600 feet and 600-900 feet for Carrizo-Wilcox in order to identify individual sources of contamination. Natural sources include aquifer mineral make up, salt domes and lignite beds. Major anthropogenic sources include lignite and salt dome mining and oil-gas production. Chemical ratios selected were Na/Cl, Ca/Cl, Mg/Cl, SO4/Cl, (Na+Cl)/TDS, SO4/Ca and (Ca+Mg)/(Na+K). Ratio distributions and their relationships were examined to evaluate physical-chemical processes occurring in the study area. Potential contaminant sources were used to divide the Basin into three areas: Area 1 to the east, Area 2 in the west and Area 3 in the center. Bivariate analysis was used to uncover differences between the areas. The waters in Area 1 are potentially impacted primarily from oil field waters. Sources present in Area 2 include lignite beds and oil field operations. Area 3 is the cap rock of salt domes that can contain gypsum and anhydrite. Based on the exploratory data analysis (Na+Cl)/TDS, (Ca+Mg)/(Na+K), and SO4/Ca ratios were chosen for geostatistical analysis. Chemical ratios that provided indications of cation exchange, salt domes and oil fields were (Na+Cl)/TDS, (Ca+Mg)/(Na+K) and SO4/Ca. In the Sparta-Queen City 150 zone the procedure did not provide a good method for differentiating between contaminant sources. However, the procedure was effective to indicate impacted ground water in the Carrizo-Wilcox 600 and 900 foot zones.

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East Texas field, a giant U.S. oil-field, produced 5.42 billion stock-tank barrels from discovery in 1930 through mid-2007. The lower part of the siliciclastic Upper Cretaceous Woodbine Group is reservoir rock, and almost all production comes from the upper unit, the operator-termed Main sand. The field could produce 70 million stock-tank barrels (MMSTB) using current strategies, whereas 410 MMSTB of remaining reserves from the Stringer zone (lower unit), along with bypassed pay in both units and unswept oil, is possible. These favorable statistics have increased interest in reservoir characterization of the Woodbine, especially the Stringer zone. This study delineates sandstone geometry and interprets reservoir facies and heterogeneity of the Stringer zone and Main sand in northeast East Texas field. Additional objectives are to define key chronostratigraphic surfaces, such as flooding surfaces and unconformities, and to establish a realistic depositional model for the reservoir succession. To achieve these objectives, well log analysis, core description, and net-sandstone mapping of the Stringer zone and Main sand were conducted. According to sequence-stratigraphic and depositional-system analysis, the Woodbine Group is divided into two genetically unrelated units: (1) the highstand deltaic Stringer zone and (2) the lowstand incised-valley-fill Main sand. Principal reservoir units are Stringer 1 and Stringer 2 sands within the Stringer zone and the Main sand. Stringer 2, best developed in the southwest study area, is the most promising reservoir unit for new production. Well deepening and water-flooding in this more continuous and thicker sand are proposed to increase production in East Texas field. / text

Thesis (D. Min.)--Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, 1986. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-130).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, 1986. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-130).

Lightning Flowers traces the psychological collapse of Waylan Dranger, an East Texas construction worker / folk artist. Waylan suffers from hallucinatory encounters with Reeve, his missing brother. Reeve often blames Waylan for his disappearance and implied death. Waylan also worries that Sam, his live-in girlfriend, will leave him before he can resolve his own increasingly erratic behavior. Largely, Lightning Flowers is preoccupied with the consequences of nostalgic thinking. Among others, the novel grapples with the following questions: What defines contemporary notions of "brotherhood"? To what extent does one's survival necessitate self-delusion? How do social stigmas inform our experience of mental illness?

For many years adventurers from Spain and France had explored Texas. For about fifty years Spain had tried to civilize and Christianize the Indians in East Texas. Finally the Spanish government had abolished the missions and presidios. During the following fifty years, very little had been done toward colonization in Texas. In 1821, Texas was an almost uninhabited country, with the exception of savage Indians. The Anglo-Americans came and changed it into a great state. The East Texas Timber Region has been the gateway through which most of the settlers came to Texas. The settlers who stopped there did their part in establishing the present state of Texas. The East Texans did their part in helping to win freedom from Mexico so they could lay a foundation for American civilization there.

This study is one phase of a research program designed to provide basic information which can be used in the management of East Texas Lakes.