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Environmental News Update 1/5/01 COALITION NOTES GBEP Reports Progress on Galveston Bay Plan The Galveston Bay Estuary Program is preparing a progress report on the 1995 Galveston Bay Plan. The Plan Review Summary is now available for comment at http://gbep.tamug.tamu.edu. The original plan is online as well. You may fax comments to (281) 332-8590 or send by email to gbep@tnrcc.state.tx.us. LOCAL Recycle Your Christmas Tree Christmas trees can be recycled at 10 locations in Houston from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until January 7th: Sunbeam Neighborhood Depository, 5100 Sunbeam; Lawndale Neighborhood Depository, 9200 Lawndale; Kirkpatrick Neighborhood Depository, 5565 Kirkpatrick; Sommermeyer Neighborhood Depository, 14400 Sommermeyer; Westpark Consumer Recycling Center, 5900 Westpark; Memorial Park, Ball Fields 4 & 5, 7300 Memorial Drive; Living Earth Technology, 5625 Crowford Road or 1503 Industrial Drive; CJM Soils Supermarket, 12202 Cutten Road or 1700 Hwy. 90A East (Gessner at Hwy. 90). For more information, call 713-837-9130. STATE EPA Approves Dallas Smog Plan On January 4, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced their approval of Dallas-Fort Worth area's plan to reduce ground-level ozone smog. The plan will be published in the Federal Register for a last round of public comment before final EPA adoption. Measures in the plan include reducing industrial emissions, lowering highway speed limits by 5 mph, requiring more-stringent emissions tests for most vehicles, and banning the use of heavy diesel equipment on summer mornings. Air pollution in the Metroplex equaled or topped the federal health limit for ozone five times last summer and 10 times in 1999. Clean air advocates say the plan would improve the health of many in the region. But it also imposes hardships on some businesses and consumers and is being challenged in court. http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/01/01042001/krt_texassmog_41157.asp NATIONAL Voters Want Tougher Air Quality Standards Voters want tougher clean air health standards based on science rather than economics, according to a post-election national survey conducted for the Clean Air Trust and Clean Air Network. Nearly nine of ten voters favor updating clean air health standards to reflect new science. More than ninety percent favor requiring that people be told when air pollution levels in their community are high enough to impact their health or the health of their families regardless of how much it will cost them to clean up. More than two-thirds of voters say the health standards should be set at a level strict enough to protect children with asthma and senior citizens. And nearly seven in ten favor setting clean air standards based solely on scientific data without regard to the cost of pollution cleanup. http://www.cleanairtrust.org/release.122600.html Arctic Wildlife Refuge Drilling Poll MSNBC is taking a poll on whether we should allow oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Go to http://www.msnbc.com/news/500606.asp?0nm=N22A to participate. WORLD Pollution Linked to Asthma Scientists at Leicester University in the U.K. found proof that traffic pollution causes higher levels of bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory conditions in children, according to a December 28, 2000, report in the Australian Herald Sun. Researchers have discovered tiny carbon particles from the exhausts of vehicles lodged in the lungs of children only three months old. The researchers obtained the first-ever pictures of the particles being attacked by the body's immune system. Their electron micrograph images show the white blood cells that fight off germs attacking the invaders in children's lungs. It is this process that triggers inflammation leading to coughing and bronchitis. It is also linked to asthma. http://envirolink.netforchange.com/frame.html?page=http%3A//c.moreover.com/click/ here.pl%3Ft13634465 ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION CEC Environmental News Update is a weekly publication by the Citizens' Environmental Coalition, a 501(c)3 dedicated to fostering dialogue, education and collaboration about environmental issues in the Houston-Gulf Coast Region. Visit the CEC online at www.cechouston.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe, or to suggest items for inclusion, send your request via e-mail to Sarah Doss at sarah@cechouston.org. |
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