A new mobile chem lab, which will be used to monitor toxic air in Houston, was unveiled on Jul 12 by the city's Bureau of Air Quality Control.  This is positive step forward in the fight for cleaning up our air. 

An editorial in the Sunday, June 10 edition of the Houston Chronicle noted that while state legislators failed to improve air toxics laws this spring, not all the news is bad.

It could have been worse. A bill to prevent cities from using nuisance laws against polluters outside their borders failed to pass muster, leaving Houston free to use that strategy.

Good point. Now that the legislative session is over, let's get back to work. Mayor Bill White has outlined a plan for reducing toxic air pollution in Houston, and we need to move forward with it.

Ellen Cohen has an excellent column in the Bellaire Examiner this week dealing with air quality in Houston. She does an good job of summing up why the Texas Legislature should not allow SB 1317 (Jackson) and HB 3592 (Smith) to become law.

It is one thing for Texas to stand alone among major refining states without ambient air standards, which consider nonfeasance.  It is quite another for the Legislature to cut off the city’s ability to control what companies are allowed to spew into our air, which I would consider malfeasance. 

Businesses should sit down with state leaders and create ambient air standards for all of Texas.

Until that day, they at least should respect a city’s right to regulate the air.

Houston Mayor Bill White recently proposed a benzene reduction plan that would include negotiating voluntary agreements with petrochemical facilities outside of the city limits. Mayors of several cities east of Houston (including my hometown, Baytown) lashed out at the proposal, claiming that White was overstepping his authority.

On Thursday, March 15, 2007 White met with the other mayors and apparently came to an agreement on the issue, according to an article in the Houston Chronicle.

"It's a really big day in the region," White said after the closed-door summit with the mayors of Pasadena, La Porte, Deer Park, Baytown, Morgans Point and Galena Park. Precinct 2 Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia also attended.

The Houston Chronicle's coverage on air pollution has me wondering if the wind is blowing in a new direction. Though the newspaper is usually supportive of clean air efforts, local media outlets often avoid offending powerful petrochemical companies. Yet several recent articles in The Houston Chronicle have pointedly criticized industry. The most recent is Sunday's staff editorial, which also takes aim at the state.

Although the TCEQ is the agency responsible for protecting the environment and assuring clean air and water in Texas, it plans to submit a revised plan that, like the old one, will fail to meet the federal standard by the 2009 deadline. Such backsliding suggests the agency lacks the will power, the legal authority and the resources to perform its assigned task.