Air Quality

Title: TCEQ Hearing: Severe Ozone Nonattainment Area Failure to Attain Fee
Location: Houston-Galveston Area Council at 3555 Timmons, Room A
Link out: Click here
Description: The TCEQ will hold a public hearing on this proposal in Austin on January 5, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. in the TCEQ Campus, Bldg E, Room 201S, at 12100 Park 35 Circle. A second hearing will be held in Houston on January 6, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. in the Houston-Galveston Area Council at 3555 Timmons, Room A.

For further information, please contact Kathy Pendleton, Emissions Assessment Section, at (512) 239-1936.
Start Time: 14:00
Date: 2006-01-06

(Tell them you heard about it from us!)

1. City of Houston seeks Administrative Specialist to Adminsiter REEP Weatherization Program. Administers the Residential Energy Efficiency Program (REEP) weatherization program daily operations and works with REEP team to ensure program is meeting its weatherization goals. Assists with applicant eligibility verification. (more…)

By Ella Tyler

The Houston area now has three electric car dealers!

(more…)

By Ella Tyler

I am starting a trip to Fort Davis in the morning, and the e-mail from the Chronicle “Subject: Breaking News – Texas gasoline prices hit record high” made me really glad that I have rented a Prius for the trip.

(more…)

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. (more…)

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is proposing a rule that establishes a new standard permit for permanent rock and concrete crushers. The standard permit would authorize rock and concrete crushers up to 200 tons per hour of production. (more…)

By Alex Cuclis

(Cuclis has been a research scientist at the Houston Advanced Research Center since 2004. Prior to that, he spent two years performing air quality studies with the University of Houston and 13 years at Shell’s Deer Park Complex. He has degrees in chemical engineering (UT-Austin) and analytical chemistry (UI-Urbana). He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon.)

Many universities require that their engineering students take Engineering Ethics. One of the scenarios in the textbook used at Texas A&M goes something like this: (more…)

By Leslie Ness

(Leslie is CEC’s intern. She has degrees in communication and nursing. We sent her to the EPA hearings to report her impressions. For other reports, see this Chronicle article and this Houston CLEAN report.)

As I drove into Houston’s Manchester neighborhood to attend Tuesday’s hearing on the EPA’s proposed emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants from refineries, I was struck by the billowing plumes of white smoke and realized that a person like me, who is not knowledgeable about petroleum refining, hasn’t a clue whether the smoke is harmless steam or poisonous benzene-laden pollution. (more…)

Press Release

Congressman Nick Lampson (D-TX) and Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) have introduced the Clean Air and Water Investment Act of 2007, to restore a provision that enables tax-exempt bonding for air and water pollution control facilities. (more…)

By Ella Tyler

The EPA is holding public hearings on proposed changes to the 8-hour ozone standard on Wednesday, Sept 5 at the Houston Marriot West Loop, 1750 West Loop South, near the Galleria. (more…)

By Lauren Barth

One of Governor Perry’s few vetoes of the last legislative session was of a bill that would have prohibited diesel-fueled school buses from idling unnecessarily outside schools and school events. (more…)

The U.S. Environmental Protection recognizes and honors outstanding, innovative efforts in achieving cleaner air with its annual “Clean Air Excellence Awards.” (more…)

By Ella Tyler

The City of Houston’s Planning Department, as part of its Urban Corridor Planning, is holding a series of workshops so residents can participate in planning for growth along METRO’s light rail and guided rapid transit corridors. (more…)

By Ella Tyler

The report “An Analysis of Toxic Chemicals Released in Communities across the United States”, recently released by Environment Texas, is fascinating, in a horrifying kind of way. (more…)

By Ella Tyler

The report “Toxic Pollution and Health” released this week by Environment Texas shows that the Houston-Galveston area leads the nation in industrial emissions of air toxics. (more…)

By Ella Tyler

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will hold hearings on its proposed clean air plan on Monday, Jan 29. Two sessions are scheduled, one beginning at 2 pm and the second beginning at 6 pm. (more…)

By Ella Tyler

Environmental activists from across the state will be meeting in Austin on February 11 and 12 to rally and lobby against issuing permits for proposed new coal-fired power plants under a fast-track procedure authorized by Texas governor Rick Perry in October 2005. (more…)