Insights from a Survey of Texas Gulf Coast Residents on the Social Factors Contributing to Willingness to Consume and Purchase Lionfish

Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) are the first marine teleost to become established in the Western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. Lionfish have been labeled a global conservation issue and pose major threats to local economies. To test whether commercial harvest of lionfish is a socially accepted management approach in Texas, we measured the components of an environmental behavior intention model with survey responses of Texas Gulf Coast residents (n = 420). Regression analyses of survey responses indicate that individuals were significantly more willing to consume lionfish if they had a high level of concern for the environmental problems posed by the invasive species and were more knowledgeable about the fish. Participation in an educational program that addresses lionfish was also found to be associated with greater willingness to consume lionfish among those who are moderately to highly concerned about the issue. The originality of this study is related to its contribution in identifying social factors that contribute to an individual’s willingness to consume lionfish. Insights from this study demonstrate the attitudinal and behavioral mechanisms that can be addressed to increase acceptance of using consumption as a sustainable management strategy to combat marine fish invasions.

Spatial Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Contaminants after Hurricane Harvey in a Houston Neighborhood

Background. Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane on August 25, 2017, producing unprecedented precipitation that devastated coastal areas. Catastrophic flooding in the City of Houston inundated industrial and residential properties resulting in the displacement and transfer of soil, sediment, and debris and heightening existing environmental justice (EJ) concerns. Objectives. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the presence, distribution, and potential human health implications of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a residential neighborhood of Houston, Texas following a major hurricane. Methods. Concentrations of PAHs in 40 soil samples collected from a residential neighborhood in Houston, Texas were measured. Spatial interpolation was applied to determine the distribution of PAHs. Potential human health risks were evaluated by calculating toxicity equivalency quotients (TEQs) and incremental excess lifetime cancer risk (IELCR). Results. Total priority PAH concentrations varied across samples (range: 9.7 × 101 ng/g-1.6 × 104 ng/g; mean: 3.0 × 103 ng/g ± 3.6 × 103 standard deviation). Spatial analysis indicated a variable distribution of PAH constituents and concentrations. The IELCR analysis indicated that nine of the 40 samples were above minimum standards. Conclusions. Findings from this study highlight the need for fine scale soil testing in residential areas as well as the importance of site-specific risk assessment. Competing Interests. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Guest Editorial: Hundreds of Thousands of Stripper Wells - Massive Liability or Golden Opportunity?

Working with clients who are looking to buy upstream oil and gas wells, I almost always hear, “We don’t want stripper wells.” Now that the recent heyday of US unconventional wells is also waning, this often goes along with, “We want conventional production.” With gas prices having been relatively low the past couple of years, it is often, “We want oil-weighted production.” I am used to unicorn hunts and impossible asks, so I thought this was something reasonably doable. After a long year in a terribly gridlocked acquisitions-and-divestitures (A&D) market, I started thinking about it a little more. Most of the conventional packages that were coming to market had low-rate wells with many inactive wells tagging along. We were evaluating a lot of deals but were seeing several fail due to plugging and abandonment (P&A) liability and the inability of low-rate wells to handle the General and Administrative (G&A) structure of clients. One client group was competent and ready to deploy capital, and we had gone on the hunt for off-market deals adjacent to their current production. Our team initially found 19 interesting assets, based on size and proximity, and was pleased to find that nine of the 19 had operators who engaged as seriously interested in selling. Our client turned down all nine assets. Every one of the nine assets was cash flow positive (surprisingly in 2020), in the right region, conventional, and the right size. Every one of the nine was turned down because of the large number of inactive and low-rate wells. In a depressed A&D market with the lowest deal counts in over a decade, having nine assets rejected immediately was frustrating. We decided to screen out assets with low-rate wells and high inactive well counts before making calls and engaging sellers. I downloaded data from all the wells in a Rockies state, screened for current production to get a flowing barrel comp range representing the right deal size, looked for oil-weighted properties, took out unconventional wells, added a rate cutoff around 20 BOED per well, and applied a cutoff where reported inactive wells made up less than 50% of the total well count. Out of about 400 to start with, there were three assets left - only three. At first, I thought that had to be wrong. I knew that US onshore conventional production probably had a large number of low-rate wells, but it seemed reasonable that there would be several assets that had wells doing 20–30 BOED. Thinking about it more, I sent a text to a colleague: “I bet US onshore conventional production is actually dominated by low-rate wells.” I then pulled data for the Texas Gulf Coast because I had another group looking there. The results were shocking: 97% of the wells were 15 BOPD or below. All these clients want conventional assets without stripper wells - but they are all stripper wells.

Professional Counselors’ Experiences Counseling and Working in Areas Repeatedly Impacted by Hurricanes

Previous research on professional counselors’ lived experiences of disaster counseling has focused mainly on single disasters. Researchers have identified a need to explore further the phenomenon of post-disaster counseling and shared trauma between counselors and clients. In this article, the authors sought to answer the following research question: What are the lived experiences of professional counselors who live and facilitate post-disaster counseling in areas repeatedly affected by hurricanes along the Texas Gulf Coast? The authors describe their phenomenological study of licensed professional counselors (n = 6) who lived and worked in areas repeatedly impacted by hurricanes along the Texas Gulf Coast. Implications for counselors, counselor educators, and supervisors are provided.