State plan guarantees a hazy for future for Texas’ wilderness areas
February 2008· After nearly a decade since a federal mandate to improve air quality conditions in the country’s national parks, a state plan to reduce pollutants that obscure the vistas of Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks sets compliance deadlines decades into the future.

Pollution prevention and public health: Why isn't the TCEQ doing its job?
January 2008· TCEQ is charged with controlling air pollution and protecting public health, so why do citizens have to sue energy companies to get compliance of the Clean Air Act? This article offers some answers from two people who once worked for the agency and now work tirelessly to bring polluters to justice.

Community despair expressed at EPA hearing
November 2007· In the Manchester neighborhood's Hartman Community Center, residents, environmentalists and elected officials told the EPA their concerns about the health effects of hazardous air pollutants from petroleum refineries. It is the only hearing in the country the EPA on this national issue. The EPA is considering whether to tighten pollution controls at 153 refineries across the country. Five of them are located in Harris County.

Proposed new air quality standards for ozone tough for Texas
September 2007· EPA recently held hearings about its plan to set new air quality standards for ground-level ozone, the main component of smog, to better protect public health and the environment. The hearings were held in five of the country’s smoggiest cities: Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago. The EPA proposes lowering the ozone limit from the current level of 84 parts per billion of air in a range between 70 and 75 parts per billion. The agency’s scientists say the ozone limit should be even lower -- 60 to 70 parts per billion to be safe.

Health Effects of Air Pollution Nightmare for Manchester Family
August 2007· Mayor Bill White has taken a bold stand and is getting tough on toxic polluters and reports show that targeted companies in Houston are reducing their emissions of benzene, butadiene and other toxic chemicals. But is the air quality improving fast enough for families who live with the health effects of toxic emissions everyday? The Marroquin family lives in the Manchester neighborhood of Southeast Houston in the shadow of refineries and chemical plants that spew tons of toxic benzene and butadiene into the air each year. In 2003 their lives changed when their oldest child, Valentin, was diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia. Since then, studies have shown that children living near petrochemical facilities have a higher risk of getting all types of leukemia.

Waiting to Inhale: 32 Years of Dangerous Ozone
July 2007· We’ve all experienced stepping off the plane or opening the car door after time away from Houston. The humidity wraps around you like a wet, wool blanket. You feel suffocated, allergic to the world, and hesitant to breathe. After following the orange and yellow barricaded roads, you finally make it home. But instead of the Emerald City, the veil of smog reveals only glimpses of downtown. Just another day in the neighborhood…

Environmental Groups Urge Perry to “Get White Out”
July 2007·Environmental groups in Texas announced today a campaign to replace Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Chair Kathleen Hartnett White and to ask Governor Perry to appoint a more environmentally conscious TCEQ commissioner. They highlighted the urgent need for a new commissioner who will take steps quickly and decisively to tackle the serious air quality problems affecting Texans.

New Report: Texas Ranks First in Nation for Global Warming Pollution
April 2007·Global warming pollution in Texas increased by 18% between 1990 and 2004, according to The Carbon Boom, a new analysis of state fossil fuel consumption data released today by Environment Texas. This is the first time that 2004 state-by-state data on carbon dioxide emissions have been released. The report finds that Texas ranks first in the nation for total emissions, first for emissions from coal plants, first for emissions from natural gas plants, and first for the largest increase in emissions from motor gasoline consumption.

More Coal Plants = More Pollution, More Illness
March 2007·The number of new coal plants slated for Texas is still up in the air as the energy companies and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) negotiate permitting. But speakers at a recent forum in Houston, Texas – “Coal Fired Power Plants: A threat to public health and the environment” – say there’s no question that pollution from coal plants currently takes a toll on public health. More plants add a tremendous amount of pollution to that toll.

TCEQ Blasted by Citizens at Smog Public Hearing
February 2007· On January 29, 2007, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) held a public hearing on two 8-hour ozone (Smog) plans (called State Implementation Plans) for the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria area.

Toxic Tour exposes hazardous conditions along three coasts
October 2006· The Environmental Justice for All Toxic Tour, September 24-October 1, took bus loads of people up the West Coast, across the Gulf Coast and down the Northeast Coast of the United States to experience first hand the toxic effects of refineries, chemical plants, hazardous waste dumps and coal production on low-income and minority communities. Tour participants, and those who were visited, offered support for each other in fighting the injustices of policies that support corporate profits over public health.

Houston: from benchwarmer to benchmarker
July 2006· Lacking leadership from the federal government, cities and local municipalities have taken it upon themselves to confront the issue of climate change in their own communities. The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities and the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives’ Cities for Climate Protection have been launched to formalize cities’ global warming reduction efforts.

Citizen Air Pollution Complaints Improve Houston’s Air Quality
June 2006· When Houston area residents see or smell industrial air pollution, they may be unsure where to report it. Some people think that the pollution is an inevitable part of living in this region, and don’t report it at all. Others call the offending facility directly.

Dallas Signs Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement
May 2006· Laura Miller, Mayor of Dallas, has signed the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement reports Laura Fiffick, Director of the Office of Evironmental Quality for the City of Dallas. By signing, Dallas pledged to adopt energy efficiency techniques, to meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution, and to urge Congress to pass climate protection legislation.

Another Air Quality Failure: Houston Region Had Worst Year on Record for Fine Particulates
May 2006· Over the past several years, measurements of air pollution in the Houston region have inched towards the federal health standards for fine particle air pollution, coming in at barely acceptable levels. New data show that in 2005, the region may have crossed the line, exceeding those limits. Depending on how EPA interprets the data, Houston could be declared an air quality non-attainment area for fine particles.

States of Shock & Unknowing: On Documenting the Wake of Katrina & Rita in Southern Louisiana
May 2006· John Sullivan with National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center for Environmental Toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston Texas and Bryan Parras give a personal account of their travels to Southern Louisiana in the aftermath of the ecological catastrophe caused by last years hurricanes. Sullivan shares what he has learned through dialogue with citizens and community-based environmental leaders on toxic exposures, health effects and risk factors.

Fired up: TXU's coal plan puts Texans' health at risk
May 2006·Power plant mercury pollution puts our babies at risk for permanent brain damage. We need 90 percent mercury reductions from all sources in order to protect health. TCEQ's weak mercury proposals would allow mercury to increase over the next four years. Eleven Texas fishing lakes and the Gulf of Mexico now have mercury fish consumption warnings. A recent study by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio found a 17 percent increase in autism for every 1,000 pounds of mercury pollution.

Doggett: A Cure for Cleaner Air
April 2006·When we think of health threats, we physicians usually think of viruses, blocked arteries and bad habits such as smoking. But as the summer with its ozone action days draws closer — and the news spreads that six new dirty coal plants have been proposed for our state — we cannot ignore the major threat posed by coal burning power plants.

Q & A with Houston's leaders on cleaning up the air and protecting public health
March 2006· This year could be an environmental milestone for Houston. Mayor Bill White promises to focus on the environment and take action to clean up the air and protect public health. As part of this commitment, he has created the city’s first Environment and Public Health Committee with Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado as committee chair. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) also is focusing on Houston’s environment by naming its first director of Air Quality for Region 12, Rebecca Rentz. Recently, Vicki Wolf, CLEAN’s environment writer, interviewed three leaders about what it takes to create a healthier environment for Houston.

Chavez: A Taxing Burden
September 2005·The dust surrounding the controversy of HISD’s Cesar Chavez High School has yet to settle. Even as HISD touted the safety of the school, parent’s fears have failed to be put at ease. Built in 2000, the school is less than a quarter mile from three grandfathered refineries and is home to more than a thousand students, most of which are Latino. Today, more than five years later a financial disaster has occurred causing the tax zone to plummet. Presently Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No.6 is the only one in Houston loosing money.

Climate Change: Who Cares?
August 2005·Last month, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, called for an investigation of a specific study on global warming, seemingly in a last-ditch effort to stall Washington’s acceptance of the notion that human activities can cause global climate change. This appalled the scientific community, who questioned the intimidating approach and value of the investigation.

Global Warming Get's Local
July 2005·In early June, mayors from around the country gathered at the U.S. Conference of Mayors and unanimously passed a resolution to try and meet emission standards set by the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty created to address the causes of global warming. The United States, a major global warming contributor, has not signed the treaty, now law for 141 countries.

Taking precautions against lead poisoning
February 2005·The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that approximately 434,000 children between ages 1-5 years nationwide have blood lead levels above 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. Texas has about 64,000 children with elevated blood levels.

EPA Fails on Mercury Reductions: Final Rule Even Weaker Than Proposal and Won’t Protect Texas’ Children
March 2005·The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing a rule that allows power plants to continue emitting dangerous levels of mercury long past the deadline set by current law. Compliance with the Clean Air Act would require power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin, by about 90% by 2008.

ACT Environmental Lobby Day held March 8
March 2005·On Tuesday morning, March 8, the Texas State Capitol hummed with a special kind of vibrancy. Among the usual politicians, professional lobbyist and tourists, more than 80 concerned citizens wearing blue and white ACT (Alliance for Clean Texas) name badges began their day at the Capitol Grill.

Houston City Council’s Special Meeting on Toxic Air
February 2005·“Our health and air need protection,” Rosario Marroquin, whose 7-year-old son has leukemia, told Houston City Council at a special meeting on air pollution Feb. 7. In response to citizens’ expressions of concern and call for action to protect public health, Mayor White assured them that, “We are going to do something about this.”

Don’t let Texas become a national toxic sacrifice
November 2004·Texas power plants have the highest mercury emissions in the country. And if an EPA proposal gets through, more mercury emissions will fill the air, pollute the water, contaminate the fish and endanger our children.

Commercial shipping contributes to Houston poor air quality
October 2004·A report released recently by Washington DC-based Environmental Defense attributes roughly one million tons of health-threatening pollution to America's commercial shipping industry. A scientist in the group's Austin office, Ramon Alvarez, said the two pollutants of greatest concern were nitrogen oxide, a key ingredient in ozone formation, and particulate matter, because of the associated health risks. Ozone is known to cause respiratory illness and skin irritation. Particulate matter also impairs lung function and is a major cause of heart of disease.

The Health Effects of Air Pollution VII: Dangers for infants living in a toxic environment
October 2004·Infants are exposed every day to toxic chemicals and other harmful substances in the air they breathe, the water they drink, even in their mothers’ milk. Exposure to these health hazards is putting children at risk for asthma, cancer, and developmental problems. Even infant death and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have been linked to toxic air.

Texas Deluged by Mercury: EPA Must Strengthen Rules to Protect Our Health
May 2006·The EPA is proposing rules for toxic mercury that would pose enormous risks for the health of children. Instead of requiring coal-burning power plants to clean up mercury at all sources, the lame plan would let Texas coal plants off the hook. The “get out of jail free” card the EPA proposes to give utilities would accomplish this goal by removing mercury from the “toxic” category. One outraged woman recently responded, “Mercury not toxic? It’s only brain damage in children.” What appears to be a bad joke is all too real, but the good news is that there’s still time to comment and urge EPA to require real reductions of power plant mercury.

Health Effects Part II: What's in the Air?
August 2005·The definition of a red ozone alert is “unhealthy for everyone”; a purple ozone alert is “very unhealthy for everyone.” The safest thing to do on red and purple ozone days is to stay indoors - take cover, it’s not safe to breathe the air. Since April, Houston has had eight red days and one purple day. People who have asthma and other respiratory problems should stay indoors on orange alert days - Houston has had 16 of those so far this summer.

SIP Postponed
June 2004·The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality or TCEQ postponed taking action on a plan to improve Houston's air quality after commissioners disagreed over the plan's effectiveness. At a public meeting in Austin Wednesday, commissioners argued over whether or not the state implementation plan, or SIP , the state's blueprint to reduce Houston ozone levels will satisfy federal clean air requirements.

Dangers of Diesel PoweredSchool Buses
April 2004·The daily routine of your child’s bus ride to school may prove to be hazardous to their health. The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) reports that children who ride a diesel bus to school may be exposed to more than four times the amount of toxic diesel exhaust that would be inhaled by a passenger of a car driving directly in front of it. Exposure to diesel exhaust may result in lung damage, respiratory problems, allergies, exacerbation of asthma, emphysema, bronchitis and, in cases of long term exposure, increased lung cancer risk.

When An Upset "Can Kill"
May 2004·In a state famous for its wild-west, hard-line approach to law enforcement, the general consensus among legal experts is that Texas regulators and elected officials are uncharacteristically tentative when it comes to enforcing anti pollution laws. A recent conference in at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, brought officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality face to face with the agency's critics in an effort to reshape the state's approach to environmental enforcement. The entire system is currently under an inter-agency review following a state audit last December that blasted TCEQ's enforcement record.