a publication of mothers for clean air

spring 2000 - vol. 3, issue 1

New Ozone Warning System

A new "Air Quality Index" will be introduced to the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria ozone non-attainment area this ozone season. This index uses colors based on a traffic light to indicate suggested activity levels in regard to the health status of the air: green, yellow, orange, red, and purple. It also comes with health warnings for specific groups in the population. For example, when the Air Quality Index is above 100 (orange level) the air quality is considered "unhealthy for sensitive groups," which includes children who are active outdoors and adults involved in moderate or strenuous outdoor activities. The associated warning is "Active children and adults as well as people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion." You can look at the Air Quality Index in color at http://www.epa.gov/airnow/health/smog1.html#7.

The Air Quality Index will be used in a new system warning of unhealthful levels of ozone through the Internet. In response to the lack of high ozone warnings on October 7 (see Air Quality Basics, page 3), the Harris County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) in conjunction with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commisssion (TNRCC) and other regional, private and governmental agencies has started sending ozone alerts via e-mail. Information from 22 outdoor ozone monitors in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria ozone non-attainment area is now connected to one central computer operated by TNRCC. When any of the connected monitors detects ozone above the federal health standard for outdoor air, Harris County OEM will send e-mail and pager notifications. You can sign up for e-mail ozone notices by clicking on "subscribe to ozone alerts" at http://www.hcoem.org. You can also follow real-time ozone levels on the TNRCC website at http://www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/monops/psi_rpt.

Missing Monitors

The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria ozone non-attainment area is one of the more heavily monitored areas for ozone concentrations in outdoor air, with 23 air monitoring stations. These stations are operated by three agencies: the City of Houston, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), and the Houston Regional Monitoring Corporation (HRM) - an industry funded network that operates monitors on the Ship Channel. (See http://www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/monops/select_month? region12.gif for a map of the air monitoring stations.) Although the non-attainment area consists of eight counties (Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller), until October 1999 only four counties had monitors. A new monitor in Montgomery County has been in operation for about six months, but Liberty, Fort Bend, and Waller Counties still have no air monitors. Therefore, people living in those counties have no good measurements to determine the quality of the air they are breathing.

Mothers Go to Washington

Three members of Mothers for Clean Air attended the Clean Air Network (CAN) Conference in Washington, D.C. February 6 - 8, 2000. With the help of travel money from CAN and assistance from the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP), Jane Laping, MfCA community organizer, and two officers of the Barrett Station chapter, Doris Gobert and Barbara Bluett, flew to Washington and stayed at the Wyndham City Center hotel for 3 days. The conference was attended by environ-mentalists focused on air pollution from all over the U.S., including 8 from Texas. Topics covered ranged from power plants to diesel fuel, but were mostly centered on public policy.

The highlight of the trip came on the last day, when the trio went to Capitol Hill and met with Congressional aides to Representatives Ken Bentsen, Gene Green, Nick Lampson, and Sheila Jackson Lee. The "Mothers" learned the importance of communicating with elected officials and will continue to keep these Representatives informed of MfCA's activities and progress.

Ship Channel by Land and by Sea

Whether by bus or by boat, the Houston Ship Channel looks and smells pretty much the same. Mothers for Clean Air members and friends had achoice of tours last fall. The Barrett Station Chapter sponsored a bus tour of the Ship Channel on October 23 with Neil Carman, Ph.D. of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club as their guide. Neil gave a very informative narration of what was seen, and filled in the time getting from place to place with concrete examples of air pollution.

Another 30-40 friends and members of Mothers for Clean Air took advantage of the second annual Houston Ship Channel tour on the M.V. Sam Houston on November 21. They were treated to a free one and a half-hour ride down the channel to view the industries from the water side. George Smith of the Houston Sierra Club gave the group an introduction of what they would be seeing before the tour. Reserve your place on the M.V. Sam Houstonfor the third annual Houston Ship Channel tour, November 5, 2000, by calling 713/526-0110.

Environmental Justice Grant Received

MfCA has received a one-year grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Justice to establish a chapter of Mothers for Clean Air in the Fifth Ward. This will be the third MfCA chapter in the Houston area. The two other chapter organizations are in Woodland Acres, an Hispanic community on the Houston Ship Channel and Barrett Station, an African-American community near Crosby. They were formed with EPA grants to the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP). The grant for the Fifth Ward chapter is the first EPA Environmental Justice award MFCA has received.

The Fifth Ward was selected over other communities in the Houston area because of five federal and state Super Fund hazardous waste sites located there and its proximity to three heavily traveled freeways. It is located northeast of downtown Houston, east of U.S. 59, north of I-10 and south of I-610. less than 5 miles from the Houston Ship Channel. The Fifth Ward is an older community that is bearing an unfair burden of the negative environmental consequences of industrial and commercial operations.

The purpose of the grant is to train residents of the Fifth Ward to identify local environmental problems, gather information about pollution sources, and work to find solutions to those problems. The Chapter Planning Board of Fifth Ward residents and stakeholders has been meeting with the MfCA community organizer to arrange educational activities for the community. On April 15, residents took a bus tour of pollution sources affecting the Fifth Ward. On May 13, Fifth Ward students participating in an MfCA photography workshop photographed the sources. Future educational activities for the community include an environmental justice workshop on June 24, and training to access environmental data bases on the Internet at the end of June Fifth Ward schools and day care centers have also been included in MfCA's ozone education program. Colette Windom and Carrie Nicholson, residents of the Fifth Ward, were nominated president and vice-president of the chapter.

Organizations within the community have been very supportive of the objectives of the Fifth Ward Chapter. In addition to the Lyons Health Clinic which has provided space for meetings, The Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, Partners/5 West, Pleasant Hill Community Development Corporation, and 5^th Ward Enrichment Program have also contributed in some way.

Air Quality Basics

Why is Houston's Air So Bad?

October 7, 1999 was a typical day for students in Deer Park, a small community east of Pasadena and south of the Houston Ship Channel. After school, kids on soccer, football and cross-country teams went outside to practice, as usual. And for the 44^th time that year, one of the 23 ozone monitors in the Houston-Galveston 8-county area exceeded the federal health standard for ozone - 125 parts per billion (ppb).

This would not be an unusual event for the Houston area except that the Deer Park monitor measured ozone at 251 ppb - twice the national health standard - and the highest ozone concentration in the nation for 1999. Since ozone levels were so high that day, normally healthy high school athletes experienced difficulty breathing, pain in their chests, and coughing episodes. This wasn't the first time, however, that Houston had recorded the highest ozone concentration in the nation. It also happened in 1997 at a measurement of 234 ppb 

Something unusual was happening in Los Angeles, too. After years of having many fewer days of high ozone than Los Angeles, Houston tied LA for the number of high ozone days in the country. This had never happened before. Los Angeles has always had more high ozone days than Houston. But October 7 would not be the last day in 1999 when air monitors in the Houston-Galveston area would record ozone concentrations over the health standard. Three more days in October and five days in November would bring the total number of high ozone days for the year to 52, twelve more days than in 1998 and 8 more days than Los Angeles.

Was this signaling a trend of worsening air pollution in Houston? Not necessarily. The number of high ozone days in the Houston area for the past 10 - 12 years has been fairly stable, averaging about 50 days per year. However, the trend in Los Angeles has been a rather dramatic reduction in the number of high ozone days.

Why is Houston's air so bad when Los Angeles' air has gotten so much better? Los Angeles has recognized their air quality problem and has been making steady progress on it for a number of years. They have reduced emissions that cause ozone formation from 55-75%, whereas Houston has only achieved reductions of 20% for one class of pollutants.

Although the major sources of pollutants in the two cities are different (vehicles in LA and industry in Houston), Los Angeles has been much more aggressive at reducing those pollutants than Houston. Los Angeles has found that technological changes such as cleaning burning fuels and cleaner burning vehicles are more acceptable to the public than behavioral changes such as "no-drive days" and lower speed limits. We should be able to learn from the experience in Los Angeles when it comes to adopting a plan for emissions reductions in the Houston-Galveston area.

Science Fair Award

In carrying out its mission "to encourage the participation of children in learning about air quality," Mothers for Clean Air presented Special Awards for projects related to air quality in three divisions at the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston. Over 1200 students from Harris County and sixteen surrounding counties exhibited their projects at the Astroarena from March 23 - 25, 2000. David DeFelice of Taylor High School in Katy won the Senior High division; Elyse Frithschel, from the Academy of Science and Technology in Conroe was the Ninth Grade winner; and Stephen Keys tied with the team of Miguel Monsivas and Rube Coronado from Burbank Middle School for the Junior High Division award. Winners received a certificate and a complimentary one-year membership to Mothers for Clean Air including a subscription to this newsletter, Clearing the Air.

TNRCC Sunset Review

Are you happy with what the State is doing to clean up your air or do you think they should be doing more (or less)? Each state agency is reviewed every twelve years and a decision is made whether it should be abolished, continued, or enhanced. During June, you will have your chance to tell the Texas Legislature what you think about the Natural Resource Conservation Commission. Start thinking about what you will say at the public hearing in Austin on June 21 and 22. You can also submit your written comments. Learn more on the web: www.texascenter. org/sunset/index.htm