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.

This month, Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released a report on emissions of carcinogens from refineries around the nation. The report lists the top ten offenders. Six of them are in Texas, and three are in the Houston area: BP Texas City, ExxonMobil Baytown and Lyondell-Citgo.

The report, Refined Hazard: Carcinogenic Air Pollution from America’s Oil Refineries, also found major inconsistencies in carcinogen emission data.  EIP said this raises serious questions about the accuracy and completeness of oil industry reporting to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about such pollution.