IT’S MARCH. HOW CLEAN IS YOUR AIR?

By Ella Tyler

March 1 begins the ozone season in the Houston area. Ground level ozone forms when sunlight and warm air (which we’ll have lots of) react with hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. High ozone levels can cause coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. They are dangerous to children, the elderly, and people with asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

Whether by coincidence or design, EPA and TCEQ officials and local officials and business leaders gathered today in Beaumont to celebrate the Beaumont-Port Arthur region’s reaching the eight-hour standard for ozone. Ozone monitoring data from 2005 to 2007 shows that the area meets the current eight-hour ozone standard of not more than 0.08 parts per million as well as the former one-hour standard of 0.12 ppm, which was revoked in 2005.

“This is an important clean air milestone for everyone in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area,” said EPA regional administrator Richard E. Greene. “EPA is pleased to recognize the committed efforts of the many residents and industry leaders who have worked side-by-side with air quality staff at the local, state and federal levels to reduce ozone in the region.”

Upon hearing the news from Beaumont, Matthew Tejada, executive director of the Galveston Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP) said “I guess we should say “good job, now get back to work”, because Beaumont will again be out of attainment under a new standard for ozone due to be released in a couple weeks. But this is a great sign that communities can achieve better, healthier air quality when they work with their elected officials and have industries that recognize their role and responsibility for cleaning up the air.”

Houston is nowhere near meeting the EPA standard. According to Jane Laping, executive director of Mothers for Clean Air, there were 28 days in 2007 when ozone higher than the health standard and 36 days in 2006. “Since ozone formation depends on energy from the sun and since rain and clouds block energy from the sun, the weather in 2007 most likely contributed to cleaner air,” Laping said. New technologies and regulatory controls on industrial emissions also likely contributed to lower ozone pollution in 2007.

“The 2008 ozone season should answer if it was the weather or pollution reductions that made Houston’s air cleaner. But the odds are high that we won’t have two quiet ozone years in a row, so we need to be prepared to protect our health and the health of our children. The best way to do this is to reduce outdoor exposure when ozone levels are unhealthy,” said Laping.

GHASP announced today that is going to make it easier for citizens to find out when ozone levels are unhealthy. The organization commemorated the opening of the ozone season with an announcement that it will provide real-time information about ozone levels from four monitors in Waller, Fort Bend and Montgomery Counties and central Houston.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality allows the public online access to its ozone monitors, but it usually takes at least an hour before the information is available, according to Matthew Tejada, GHASP’s executive director.

“There are serious gaps in TCEQ’s existing ozone monitoring network,” Tejada said. “Parents, teachers, school officials and anyone concerned with breathing healthy air while outside need to be quickly informed about the quality of the air. Ozone information that can be one or two hours old simply is not good enough to protect people’s health.”

View the GHASP ozone monitoring information

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SOUTHEAST TEXAS AIR FINALLY MEETS U.S. STANDARD