Houston Slammed For Clean Air Violations

by Gina Carroll

How long should children have to wait for clean air? Their entire childhood and beyond? How much should families have to shoulder the cost in money and health before industry steps up and stops polluting? How long can Houston area industry skirt around their responsibility for toxic emissions?

Well, the answer thus far is 30 years and counting.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on January 31st that Houston did not meet limits on smog-forming pollution. These limits were put in place in 1979. According to the Houston Chronicle, upwards of 300 chemical plants and industrial facilities in the area could face hefty fines for not meeting the limits. And federal law allows fines to be collected until the standard is met. But the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which would implement the penalty program, has not yet published procedures for how to collect the fines. The TCEQ has to re-evaluate the penalty program. Industry, of course, wants the penalties considered against their economic impact. This all means that it will take more time for the standards to be implemented, and more pollution for the residents of Houston.

Houston leads the nation as the city with the most severe ozone problem. CleanHouston.org says Houston has earned a number of dismal titles. Houston can boast the highest single measurement of ozone pollution on the country, most days exceeding the 1-hr ozone standard and many days exceeding the 8-hr standard. Experts find that our summer months bring an ozone concentration that is two to three times higher than the government standard. That means running or jogging in Houston is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day!

Thirty years of illegal pollution has led us to this. Thirty years is too long. This is the conclusion the Sierra Club acted upon when they brought suit against the EPA for failing to enforce the Clean Air Act in Texas. The EPA’s determination of Houston’s clean air shortfalls has come almost six month after a settlement was reached last fall.

Yes, thirty years is a long time. It’s over two-thirds of my own life–the span of my marriage, the birth of all five of my children—graduations and college, 16 re-locations and two careers! Someone born in Houston 30 years ago and raised here doesn’t even know what it’s like to live in healthy air. If that 30 year-old Houstonian has children, and her children have asthma, she may not even know that her children could have been asthma-free if they lived in a less polluted place.

We’ve waited long enough! Join Mom’s Clean Air Force and sign our petition for strong clean air regulations. Please lend your voice to the call for action NOW.

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Photo credit: Dreamstime

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

David L.

9:32PM PST on Mar 3, 2012

P.S.

Since when has Ozone been a pollutant ???

Hasn't the author ever heard of The Ozone Layer ??

And the hole in the Ozone Layer over the Antarctic.

send a green star

9:24PM PST on Mar 3, 2012

TEXAS !

"Where the men are men..

And the cows run scared..."

J C B.

6:22PM PST on Mar 3, 2012

As a lifelong Houstonian, the put downs hurt, but are deserved. We have been subservient to the fat cats for too long, and otherwise been unwilling to unite to be more progressive for our own sakes.

LMj S.

10:53PM PST on Mar 2, 2012

thank you for sharing

Ann B.

8:14AM PST on Mar 2, 2012

Thanks for sharing. I don't even want to get started....

Ann S.

3:25AM PST on Mar 2, 2012

Ugh, Houston...the armpit of America.

Charlene R.

10:40PM PST on Mar 1, 2012

Let's see, now. Houston is in Texas, right?
We must always be cognitive of the fact that Texas plays by their own standards They feel the beat of a different drummer. Just look at the people they elect.
The officials don't care if their citizens suffer, as long as Big Business is happy.

I apologize to the rational Texans. I'm sure you are out there, but your message gets lost in the ozone.

Jane B.

8:37PM PST on Mar 1, 2012

30 years of illegal prostitution of those paid off whore politicians. Hey, why aren't they blaming
the PEOPLE for this? They ASKED FOR IT, DIDN'T THEY? Isn't it always the VICTIM'S
FAULT? In California they blame us AUTOMOBILE DRIVERS for our air pollution, but never the
SMOKE STACKS FROM THE OIL REFINERIES DUMPING TONS OF POLLUTION INTO THE AIR! Where is this bad air in Texas coming from anyway?

Heather M.

7:48PM PST on Mar 1, 2012

Many years ago London was one of the smoggiest cities in the World and the planners decided to divert traffic away from the city and only allow public transport like buses and taxis, within the city of London. The result was a much,much cleaner city, gone was that horrible yellow smog. Cleaner air for all.

Joe R.

4:47PM PST on Mar 1, 2012

Poor Houston. I feel sorry for people trapped in that hell-hole!