Give Mother Nature a fighting chance to improve Houston area's air
by Jane Dale Owen
In the Chronicle's Sept. 9 article ("Ozone levels return to unhealthy status") Dina
Cappiello reports the hourly ozone standard that the Houston-Galveston area has to meet
by 2007 and says it is being "replaced by the more protective eight-hour standard." But I
wonder if that is "protective" to citizens or to the emitters?
I think it really means more protective politically for industry. It provides
industrial facilities with an eight-hour window in which they can flare off or otherwise
dump the toxic volatile organic compounds.
It seems to me that the simple arithmetic indicates that when a one-hour spike of
high ozone is spread over an eight-hour period, it diminishes the one-hour high reading to
one-eighth its value.
Let's look at the actual Sept. 8 episode of high ozone on which this article was
based: The eight-hour standard would be the guidance, based on the averages of the high
one-hour spikes.
One-hour spikes up to 189 parts per billion are diminished to 118 and one-hour
spikes up to 194 ppb are diminished to 116. When all stations are reviewed, eight-hour
averages all become less than 120 ppb, thereby statistically demoting the health-danger
factors.
Peaks in orange ("unhealthy to sensitive groups") and red ("unhealthy to
everyone") now are all diminished to yellow (moderate) when averaged out by applying
this eight-hour scheme.
Houstonians are becoming increasingly aware of the health effects associated with
the large amount of high ozone exceedence days that we have experienced this year.
The real challenge for the State Implementation Plan to come into compliance
with the 125 ppb exceedence limit will be to focus on reducing the highly reactive
volatile organic compounds that are toxins and that contribute to the high hourly spikes.
If this is achieved, pollution will be measurably mitigated.
Unlike Los Angeles, nature is with us here in Houston. During the year we have
very few occasions when meteorological conditions such as Sept. 8 will occur.
Usually, fresh southeasterly breezes blow briskly enough - greater than 10 mph -
to agitate and dissipate the ozone as it is formed. The breezes also dilute and help flush
the concentration and emissions formed by our industrial and urban complex.
Let's give nature a chance to give us back a healthy environment that permits citizens to
enjoy life. We can all help by reducing waste.
Industry has only to limit emissions to a reasonable level, where nature can
diffuse and properly dilute the concentrations so that they are within the tolerances of us
all, especially our children.
