Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention - News

EPA sets a new standard for ozone

CD Brum — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:00:00 -0700

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EPA announced a new federal ozone health standard today of 75 parts per billion (ppb), down from 80 ppb.

The new standard is not low enough to adequately protect those who are most vulnerable - children, seniors and those who suffer from chronic respiratory illness like asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Ozone also contributes to worsening cardiovascular illnesses.

According to the EPA's own science advisers, the standard should have been lowered to 60 ppb.

Click here to read GHASP's reaction to today's ruling.

Blast victims cry foul to BP's plea agreement

CD Brum — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:25:03 -0800

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Victims of the 2005 BP Texas City explosion spoke out in opposition against the plea agreement between BP and federal prosecutors at a hearing on Feb. 4, and asked U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal to reject the agreement.

Attorneys for the victims said that a $50 million fine is too lenient for the deaths of 15 people. Additionally BP and the prosecutors failed to disclose how they came up with that amount of money. After hearing from the victims, Bloomberg news reported that the judge gave lawyers on both sides additional time to file briefs.

As part of the plea deal BP has 3 years to comply with its OSHA agreement for safety improvements, but the plea does not lay out any specific oversight. The OSHA agreement sets a weak deadline for the completion of safety upgrades and gives BP the right to ask for further extensions.

"The best way to eliminate the loss of life and reduce unnecessary air pollution is for BP to operate its facilities as safely and efficiently as possible," said GHASP Executive Director Matthew Tejada. "The death of 3 more people since the 2005 explosion is proof that BP has failed to learn any lesson."

Available Internships

CD Brum — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 07:15:54 -0800

Currently there are no available internships. Please check back May 2008 for new postings. Thank you for considering GHASP.

Houston has another tool for detecting pollution sources

CD Brum — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:39:43 -0700

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.

EPA may tighten ozone standard

Laurie H — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:19:55 -0700

On Thursday, June 21, the U.S. EPA announced proposed revisions to the federal health standards for ozone. Though the proposal would make the ozone standard slightly more stringent, it doesn't go as far as recommended by the EPA's science advisors. It also leaves open the possibility of leaving the standard as is.

Texas asks for another extension of ozone deadline

Laurie H — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:27:33 -0700

Houston's first deadline to meet federal health standards for ozone was 1975. Now, 32 years later, we still haven't reached that goal, and Governor Perry is asking the EPA to extend our deadline (yet again) to 2018, according to a Houston Chronicle article by Dina Cappiello.

Texas officially asked the federal government Friday for an extra nine years to meet health standards for ground-level ozone, saying that it would be "practicably impossible" for the eight-county Houston-Galveston region to comply with the law by 2010.

Let's move forward with the Mayor's plans

Laurie H — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:56:34 -0700

AnÂ editorial in theÂ 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.

Bills to reduce toxic pollution fail to pass Texas Legislature

Laurie H — Wed, 30 May 2007 06:44:41 -0700

The 80th session of the Texas Legislature ended on Monday, May 28, and ultimately, none of the 20 or so bills that could have reduced toxic air pollution in the state passed.

In recent weeks, our biggest hope hung on SB 12. That bill passed the Senate and was amended during the House debate to includeÂ language that would have improved air quality policies in Texas. The bill passed the House with the amendments, but they were stripped out over the weekend during the conference committee hearings.

Rep. Dennis Bonnen was the chair of the House conference committee,Â and Sen. Kip Averitt was the chair of the Senate conference committee.

Bonnen won't hear bills unless they pass Senate

Laurie H — Thu, 03 May 2007 07:26:20 -0700

Texas Rep. Dennis Bonnen, chair of the House Environmental Regulations Committee, has said he won't hear any air toxics bills in his committee unless they pass the Senate, according to an article in the Brazoria County Facts.

Passage of Jackson's bill a setback for air quality

Laurie H — Thu, 03 May 2007 07:10:13 -0700

Despite strong opposition from 11 Texas Senators, SB 1317 (Jackson)Â passed the Senate on Wednesday after the third vote. The purpose of the bill is to prevent Texas cities from using nuisance ordinances to address air pollution that impacts their residents, if the pollution originates outside the city limits.

The bill was developed in direct response to the pollution reduction efforts of Houston Mayor Bill White. There's a blog on the Texas Observer that gives his reaction to the passage of the bill.