|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||
 |
||||
|
Something in the Air
By Lily Auliff Some researchers are currently investigating Houston’s air. They aren’t scientists from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They’re just concerned individuals trying to find out what exactly they are breathing. These citizen samplers, organized and trained by the Citizens’ League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN), the Texas Bucket Brigade, and Mothers for Clean Air (MfCA), collect air using five-gallon plastic buckets fitted with stainless hardware and Tedlar plastic bags, an EPA approved method. Professional laboratories analyze the samples.
And even well-intentioned agency workers, hampered by heavy caseloads and travel time, are slow to respond to complaints, Anderson says. “When citizens, especially fence-line citizens who live right next to industry, smell a horrible odor, they can take a sample immediately,” she explains. “We all recognize that the agencies cannot be everywhere at all times,” agrees Doug Lipka, director of EPA’s Region 6 Environmental Services Branch Laboratory in Houston. “This is one way to expand the network of sampling.” Others hope these efforts will catalyze action from both the regulatory agencies and industry. “When I sit down with agency representatives and show them the results of our tests, they will have to do something,” says Dr. Michael Sommer, who works with CLEAN. Anderson says local industry is already paying attention to citizen efforts. “It did the same thing in California,” she notes. “Once industry realized the Bucket Brigade was out there, and the citizens had the buckets in their hands and were trained, industry cleaned up their act. And it’s beginning to have the same impact in Texas.” Some eventually want to use the evidence gathered to stop industry abuses, possibly through litigation. “We plan to knock on the doors of the chemical companies and say, ‘What are you doing? Why are these levels so high?’” says Anderson. “And we plan to publish this information, so the public knows what they and their children are breathing.” “I want to find the specific offenders, and I want to expose them,” adds Sommer. But that’s easier said than done, he admits. In order to prove that a chemical comes from a specific plant, samples must be taken on all four sides of the facility in a timely manner. And it is still questionable whether evidence gathered by individuals will hold up in court. Funding has been a barrier to running many citizen samples. The buckets cost about $200 to construct, but that is just the beginning. Some laboratories charge as much as $500 to test each sample, a prohibitive cost for most grassroots organizations. Luckily, Sommer, analytical chemist by trade and self-appointed “intellectual thug for hire” runs air samples for community groups for $100 each. Last year, outraged by local environmental abuses, Sommer decided to take action. One year and $30,000 later, he has built a laboratory in his Clear Lake garage, complete with a mass spectrometer and computer modeling software. He runs tests on air, water, and soil that he says are more accurate than those from expensive far-away laboratories.
Sommer believes his findings are better because he’s intimately familiar with the chemical processes that local industries use. “I look at the nature of the manufacturing process for the chemicals that I know are produced near where the samples are taken,” he explains, something that a far-away testing laboratory can’t do. “You need to know what chemicals these companies are making and how they’re making them in order to be certain about what they are releasing.” For example, analysis of an MfCA sample by a California lab reveals a variety of unidentified branched alkanes. By understanding local chemical processes, Sommer says he can precisely identify those compounds. So far, Sommer has tested 20 or 30 samples from CLEAN and one from Mothers for Clean Air. The results for most tests have been similar, he says. “Virtually every sample I run around here will have benzene, toluene, acetone, and other light hydrocarbons, as well as plenty of natural products, all in very small amounts.” Benzene is a known human carcinogen, but was found at very low levels. Sommer has been investigating one industrial site where extremely high concentrations of toxic compounds were found, along with chemicals the facility is not authorized to release. Due to ongoing litigation, he declined to disclose the location of the site and details of his findings, but he plans to release that information soon. In order to get samples with higher concentrations of toxic chemicals, which he knows are out there, Sommer recommends taking samples as close to industry as possible, when wind direction and atmospheric conditions are favorable. And he emphasizes that many, many samples from various locations at various times are needed. The EPA’s Houston lab is stepping in to help citizen air sampling efforts. Their first task is to compare the accuracy and functionality of the buckets and other sampling equipment, to see which methods work best in which situations. “We’re looking to calibrate the various types of sampling devices and build a database that we all can understand,” explains Lipka. “I think that the agencies that are responsible for air quality – local, state, and federal – all agree we need more information. But we also need quality information. We’re interested in working with citizens in that area.” The EPA plans to schedule a workshop on this project for all interested citizen groups sometime in August. |
||||
|
