Texas Clean Air Matters

Selected tag(s): Air Alliance Houston

Air Alliance Houston Delivers 2014 “State of the Air”

By / Published: February 19, 2015

This post was written by Adrian Shelley, Air Alliance Houston Executive Director.

State of the Air keynote speaker Dr. Bob Bullard on environmental justice and air pollution.

State of the Air keynote speaker Dr. Bob Bullard on environmental justice and air pollution.

Earlier this month, Air Alliance Houston held its annual “State of the Air” luncheon. This event is an opportunity for our friends, allies, and supporters—including EDF—to learn about our work and for other groups to highlight how they are also working to improve Houston air quality.

The first guest speaker at this year’s State of the Air was Better Houston’s Peter Brown, known in some circles as Pedestrian Pete. Mr. Brown serves on a committee developing Houston’s first ever General Plan. Although to many “Houston planning” is  an oxymoron, the General Plan provides an opportunity for Houston to intelligently manage the City’s explosive growth, which will see an additional one million people move to Houston in the next twenty years. Air Alliance Houston is participating in the planning process, encouraging the city to adopt strategies that promote increased use of mass transit, walkability, and a reduction in the impact of diesel trucks on residential areas. (If you live in Houston, you too can provide input by clicking here.)

The real highlight of the event came with a presentation by our keynote speaker Dr. Robert Bullard, the Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University. Dr. Bullard—also the newest board member of Air Alliance Houston—delivered a powerful presentation titled “Environmental Justice Challenges in the 21st Century: The Right to Breathe vs the Right to Pollute.” Read More »

Posted in Air Pollution, Environmental Justice, Houston / Tagged | Comments are closed

“Refinery Pollution Affects ME!”

By / Published: July 28, 2014

This commentary originally appeared in Air Alliance Houston’s newsletter.

Isn’t it time you said that to the EPA?

By: Adrian Shelley, Executive Director, Air Alliance Houston

There are 149 oil refineries in the United States. Of those, 5 are located in Houston, with an additional 3 in both Port Arthur and Texas City. The refining industry is more than 100 years old, and some people might be surprised to learn that there is equipment operating in some of our refineries that is a century old as well. As you can imagine, a lot has changed in that century.

Regulations governing the refining industry have not kept up. You’ve probably heard by now about the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Refinery Air Toxics Rule. You may even have seen announcements lately about a hearing on the rule to be held in Houston on August 5. The hearing is a unique opportunity to influence a landmark rule in the fight against refinery pollution.

Air Alliance Houston has been promoting the hearing since it was announced. Today, I’d like to take a few minutes to explain why YOU should attend the hearing. Read More »

Posted in Air Pollution, Environmental Protection Agency, Houston, Oil / Also tagged , | Comments are closed

One Year Later: Texas Environmental Agency Fails to Address Public Comments on Pollution in Texas City

By / Bio / Published: May 12, 2014

This post was co-authored by Adrian Shelley, Air Alliance Houston Executive Director. 

rp_Estimated-Distribution-of-Benzene-Annual-Concentration-Based-on-Retrieved-Primary-Source-Location-and-Wind-Direction-Frequency-300x179.jpg

Estimated Distribution of Benzene Annual Concentration, Based on Retrieved Primary Source Location and Wind Direction Frequency

One year ago this week, EDF, along with Air Alliance Houston (AAH), submitted comments to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) regarding its proposal to remove Texas City from the state’s Air Pollutant Watch List (APWL). We believe the agency’s proposal to remove Texas City from the Watch List for benzene and hydrogen sulfide, two lethal air pollutants, was premature.

To date, the TCEQ has not addressed our public comments on the Texas City proposal, though it has found time to analyze and recommend two other areas for removal from the APWL. We believe that this reflects TCEQ’s misplaced priorities. The agency seems to prefer removing areas from the APWL — thereby lifting a burden on industry— rather than ensuring adequate protection for public health. Read More »

Posted in Air Pollution, Environment, Particulate Matter, TCEQ, Texas Permitting / Also tagged , | Comments are closed

Shelley: EPA Mandate Would Benefit the Lives of all Houstonians

By / Published: March 4, 2014

This post was written by Adrian Shelley, Air Alliance Houston Executive Director.

This op-ed originally appeared in the Houston Chronicle on February 22, 2014.

Adrian Shelly, Executive Director, Air Alliance Houston

Adrian Shelly, Executive Director, Air Alliance Houston

We know that ozone pollution is a public health threat in Houston. Now a study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests that threat is greater than previously thought. As a result, the ozone standard is likely to be lowered by the end of the year. Houston has never met an ozone standard, but it is time for us to get serious about protecting our health.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been considering lowering the standard since 2008, when President George W. Bush‘s EPA revised it to 75 parts per billion. That revision defied an EPA recommendation for a standard as low as 70 parts per billion. Now the agency recommends that 60 parts per billion may be needed to protect public health.

Ozone, unlike other air pollutants, isn’t restricted to certain parts of Houston. It’s found everywhere, and it causes asthma attacks, heart disease and even early death. In the Houston region, 6 million people are at risk.

It is the responsibility of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to bring ozone down to healthy levels. In reacting to the EPA’s new findings, the TCEQ focuses not on the need to protect public health, but on the regulatory burden of reducing air pollution. The TCEQ is already attacking the science behind the new study. TCEQ Chief Toxicologist Michael Honeycutt has questioned even the concept of an eight-hour ozone standard, suggesting in a Houston Chronicle story that it might be “more appropriate” to return to a one-hour standard, as the EPA had in the 1970s.  Read More »

Posted in Air Pollution, Environmental Protection Agency, Ozone / Also tagged | Comments are closed

Collaboration on Environmental Justice Issues Leads to Stronger, More Inclusive Action

By / Bio / Published: February 11, 2014

This commentary originally appeared on EDF’s Voices Blog. 

This post was co-authored by Lucía Hennelly, with contributions from Adrian Shelley, Executive Director of Air Alliance Houston.

Source: Mataparda/flickr

Source: Mataparda/flickr

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Presidential Executive Order calling for Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, which prompts us to ask: What would the environmental movement in the United States look like if there were genuine cross-pollination, collaboration, and feedback between large, national-scale organizations and locally-based, environmental justice organizations?

Last week, we at EDF had a chance to experience a small glimpse of what this would be like when we delivered comments at EPA’s public hearing on new carbon pollution limits for new power plants alongside other Latino representatives and environmental activists. Among these activists was Adrian Shelley, Executive Director of Air Alliance Houston.

Air Alliance Houston (AAH) is the region’s leading air quality and public health non-profit, working in the most diverse city in the United States. With a population that is more than one-third Latino, Houston is a majority-minority city seated in Harris County, the fastest-growing county in the country. It’s also ground zero for the environmental justice movement. The distribution of health risks is unequal, as air pollutants that pose a definite risk to human health are found in greater numbers in several East Houston neighborhoods adjacent to the Houston Ship Channel. Read More »

Posted in Air Pollution, Clean Air Act, Climate Change, Environmental Protection Agency, GHGs / Also tagged | Comments are closed

Now You Can Use Your Smartphone To Check Houston Smog Levels

By / Published: March 25, 2013

This post was written by Larry Soward, Air Alliance Houston Transition Director.

Source: Air Alliance Houston

Houston area residents can now track ozone pollution levels anytime, anywhere with a new groundbreaking Smartphone app created through a partnership between Air Alliance Houston, the American Lung Association Plains-Gulf Region, and the University of Houston Honors College.

This exciting new tool extends the resources already available through the Houston Clean Air Network website – the first real-time ozone website for the Houston region – developed by these three groups through a generous grant from the Houston Endowment. The Houston Clean Air Network website and now the Smartphone app enable citizens of the Houston region to get up-to-the-minute air quality information and take control over their own exposure to ozone, reducing the associated health effects.

The new “Ozone Map” app is available free on iPhone and iPad through the Apple App Store and on Android devices through Google Play.

Although individuals are currently able to check ozone values at monitor locations through various government agencies, that data available is typically about 1.5 hours old. This is important because ozone values can change quickly, and people in sensitive groups need to know actual exposure levels. “Ozone Map” provides a unique visual representation of how the real-time ozone levels are moving throughout the Houston area. Displayed much like a weather radar map, users can see the ozone “cloud” moving across the Houston area, as well as the ozone levels in different parts of the city. Read More »

Posted in Air Pollution, Ozone / Also tagged , | Read 1 Response