Texas Clean Air Matters

Did You Know that Ozone Season Is Longer than the Major League Baseball Season?

By / Bio / Published: April 25, 2014
Source: Texas Tribune Haze over Dallas Area

Source: Texas Tribune Haze over Dallas Area

Para leer este artículo en español, haga clic aquí.  

As bluebonnets dot the Texas highways signaling the arrival of spring and summer, concerns about ozone pollution also begin to surface. March 1 marks the official start of ozone season in the Dallas Metroplex and in Greater Houston. Other metro areas, including Austin and San Antonio, mark April 1 as their start date. Ozone forecast season ends for most areas on October 31, but in Houston it lasts through November 30. Ozone season is nothing to celebrate, but this primer can help get you up to speed on the basics of ozone pollution and what you can do to improve air quality and protect the health of your family.

What is ozone? Ground-level ozone is the main component of smog and is the single most widespread air pollutant in the United States. Ozone pollution forms when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (primarily released from combustion of fossil fuels, like car exhaust) react with heat and sunlight. Texas’ combination of heavy industrial activity, hot summers, and millions of cars on the road increases the potential for generation of harmful levels of ozone. Read More »

Also posted in Air Pollution, Energy Efficiency, Ozone / Comments are closed

Why Doesn’t Texas Want Clean Air?

By / Bio / Published: December 10, 2013
Source: EPA

Source: EPA

Para un breve resumen de la crítica de Texas contra CSAPR en español, haga clic aquí.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard arguments over two critically important clean air protections – the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and the Standards for Mercury and Air Toxics. Texas has fought tooth and nail against both of these major pollution protections – protections that together have been estimated to prevent up to 45,000 deaths, 19,700 heart attacks and 530,000 asthma attacks.

Why are These Rules Important to Texas?

Air pollution from Texas’ coal plants is, like many things in Texas, giant sized. Texas power plants collectively are the nation’s largest emitter of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and the second largest emitter of sulfur dioxide (SO2). Both pollutants are components of smog and are harmful to human health.

The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSPAR), which applies to the eastern U.S, is of particular interest to Texas, not only because it helps control emissions within the state, but also because it helps protect the state from air pollution blowing in from neighboring states. CSAPR provides for upwind states to be good neighbors and protect downwind communities from harmful particulate matter and smog-forming pollution discharged from power plant smokestacks. Read More »

Also posted in Air Pollution, Clean Air Act, Environmental Protection Agency, GHGs, MATS, Ozone, TCEQ / Tagged , , | Comments are closed

“Think Local, Act Global” is a Win-Win for Texas

By / Bio / Published: December 5, 2013

Para leer este artículo en español, haga clic aquí. 

Source: AmCham Colombia

Source: AmCham Colombia

Texas is a big player in international trade and leads the country in exports, sending over $260 billion worth of goods to overseas markets in 2012. While robust trade can bring many positives, it can also present challenges for local air pollution. As we have highlighted before, poor air quality is a growing concern as scientists learn more about the connection between air pollution and diseases, such as asthma, bronchitis and cancer.

What does that mean for a state trying to reduce the impact of freight transportation on urban air quality? As international trade growth continues to strengthen the Texas economy, EDF recognizes that diverse partnerships are pivotal to reducing air pollution here at home.

This week, we are pleased to share the latest of our outreach efforts targeting international freight shippers: our article was published in the AmCham-Colombia Spanish-language magazine Business Mail, in a special issue dedicated to corporate social responsibility. This trade publication reaches hundreds of leading companies engaged in international trade and will enable us to introduce EDF’s principles of green freight transportation to a new audience.

The Business Mail article considers the journey of Colombian coffee as it travels from the highlands of Colombia to stores in North America, transferring to various modes of transportation along the way. For each step of the journey, we highlight an approach that can improve efficiency and sustainability such as sharing container space or choosing fuel-efficient cargo ships. The bottom line of the story is that decisions about trucks, ships and trains made globally can directly impact the quality of air that we breathe in Texas.  Read More »

Also posted in Air Pollution, Ports, Transportation / Tagged , , , | Comments are closed

EPA Is Listening: Share Your Climate Change Story

By / Bio / Published: November 6, 2013

BiLK_Thorn/flickr

The following post regarding U.S. EPA’s listening sessions on carbon pollution standards for existing power plants originally appeared on EDF’s Voices blog. There will be a listening session in Dallas on Thursday, November 7 at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. More information, including time, address, how to sign up or submit comments via email, and information about sessions around the country can be found here.

Para leer este artículo en español, haga clic aquí.

Imagine if we didn’t have seatbelt or car safety standards in place to reduce the dangers of car crashes, the leading cause of unintentional death to children. Or what if society made no effort to curb tobacco use, the single most preventable cause of disease?

Well, we didn’t always have these important standards and guidelines even though today they are well accepted. It took the work of many advocates to bring them about.

Our country currently has the chance to address another hazard. We can help slow climate change by placing common sense limits on carbon pollution from power plants – the single largest source of climate pollution in the United States. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Air Act, Climate Change, Dallas Fort-Worth, Environmental Protection Agency / Comments are closed

Clean Truck Initiatives Hit The Road In Texas And Make A Personal Impact

By / Bio / Published: October 16, 2013

Para leer este artículo en español, haga clic aquí.

Courtesy of Juan Manuel Salazar

The following story about the clean truck program in Houston appears in the Fall 2013 issue of EDF’s Solutions newsletter. As we have highlighted before, ports are hotspots for air pollution and the best way to mitigate emissions from ships, trucks and other transportation equipment is to engage key stakeholders and find common sense solutions that provide access to cleaner, more efficient technologies. Below is a success story from Houston: Since the H-GAC Drayage Loan Program began in 2010, it has replaced almost 200 of the oldest, most polluting trucks with newer, cleaner ones. 

When Juan Manuel Salazar was hauling industrial materials all over Houston in his 1989 International truck, his two daughters worried. “They were concerned about me driving all day, then working half the night to fix the truck,” Salazar says. So it was no surprise that, as an owner-operator, Salazar jumped to qualify for a combined grant and low-interest loan program tailored by EDF and its partners such as the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC). Salazar invested in a cleaner 2012 Kenworth truck that uses less gas and goes farther without problems. “My daughters convinced me,” he says.

A few years before, an emissions inventory found that one-third of the toxic air pollution at the Port of Houston was spewed out by its 3,000-truck drayage fleet. The result was the loan program. Since its creation, almost 200 trucks in Houston have been updated. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Car Standards, Drayage, Goods Movement, Houston, Transportation / Tagged | Comments are closed

Global Freight, Local Impact: Cleaner Air In Texas Through Partnerships Abroad

By / Bio / Published: August 29, 2013

Para leer este artículo en español, haga clic aquí.

Improving Texas air quality requires a broad coalition. How broad? Well, we know that much of the commerce that is transported through the state either has a foreign origin or destination. Although the delivery takes place in our backyard, many of the crucial decisions that affect that route are made elsewhere. That’s why EDF participated in the 5th Annual Forum on Supply Chain Sustainability in Buenos Aires, Argentina last week.

As the keynote speaker, I provided an overview of EDF’s vision for freight and supply chain sustainability, shared some of our clean air success stories from Houston and presented our “Five Principles for Greener Freight.”  I also met with key stakeholders in the international trade and transportation sector, including the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology (ITBA), which is in the midst of developing a study center geared toward sustainable freight strategies. The forum was a tremendous learning opportunity that will enable EDF to strengthen its advocacy at home in Texas by bringing together new partners and applying key lessons from our neighbors.

Many of the challenges Houston and other port cities face in the United States are similar to those in Argentina, such as older, polluting trucks dominating short distance service, lack of sufficient data to make informed sustainability decisions and difficulty in making long-term investments for cleaner, more efficient technology upgrades. Read More »

Also posted in Goods Movement, Houston, Ports, Transportation / Tagged | Comments are closed