Benefits of smog plan aren't so clear

State agency's higher ozone levels make 2006 goal more elusive
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS - The Dallas Morning News - Saturday, June 9, 2007

Sometime between mid-December and late May, the most important environmental effort in North Texas took a turn. As a result, achieving an elusive clean-air goal by late 2009 for a region that is home to 5 million people might be harder.
Changes that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality made to the region's new smog plan from its proposed to its final versions eased pressure on oil and gas companies, electric utilities and cement makers to cut their emissions. Changes to the way local vehicle emissions plans are counted also affected the final version.
Under either version of the plan, local pollution levels still would be significantly lower in 2009 than they are now, since each version orders cuts in the emissions that form lung-scarring ozone, or smog, in the air.
However, the final version, which two of the state agency's three commissioners voted to approve May 23, allows higher ozone levels than the earlier version, triggering concerns among health groups and federal officials. That's because the final plan doesn't require the same deep pollution cuts throughout North and East Texas as the draft – 70 tons per day of reductions in the draft plan, 49 tons per day in the approved version.
In just the nine-county Dallas-Fort Worth area, where emissions have the biggest impact, the local cuts went from 33 tons per day in the draft to 27 tons per day in the final version.
The biggest loss to the plan came when a group of local traffic control measures didn't make their way into the final version. Timing and accounting problems led to that shortfall.
Emissions reduction requirements shrank for engines that run pipeline compressors across East Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth area power plants and Ellis County cement plants. The cement plants, North Texas' biggest industrial polluters, had faced 11 tons per day in reductions under the draft. That reduction dropped to 10.4 tons per day in the final version.
Environmental groups had sought twice as much reduction from cement plants.
In each case, the reduced requirements for cuts by industries came after the affected companies complained that the initially proposed cuts were too expensive or impractical.
The higher emissions translate to higher ozone levels under the final version than under the draft. The draft would have left two of the nine local monitoring stations with higher ozone levels in 2009 than the federal standard, 85 parts per billion. In the final version, that number increases to four.
...However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which must determine whether the plan meets federal requirements, already has signaled concern over the changes. EPA Regional Administrator Richard Greene wrote to the TCEQ on May 23 to say the agency might not be able to approve the revised plan.
The lingering smog problem in Texas has some Dallas-Fort Worth business leaders worried about air pollution's effects on people's health and the region's economy.
"We still need more help," said Garrett Boone, chairman of the Coppell-based the Container Store company and co-founder of Texas Business for Clean Air. "We're really concerned about North Texas. Austin and Waco are probably right on the edge; Austin's probably, I guess, barely in attainment. There's a whole bunch of things that need to be done."
...The average ozone level in North Texas has dropped since the mid-1990s, but it is still too high to meet the federal health standard. In the plan's baseline period, 1999-2001, all nine local monitors were over the federal limit of 85 parts per billion. To meet the federal standard, all monitors must be below the limit.
The worst ozone was in Denton, with a three-year reading of 101.5 parts per billion. Next was Frisco, with 100.3.
Ozone tends to be highest north and northwest of Dallas County because prevailing winds carry the region's emissions in those directions. By midafternoon, when temperatures rise, the sun cooks the emissions into ozone.
Neither the draft nor the final state plan achieves the federal goal outright. Under the draft, the highest ozone level predicted for 2009 is 87.7 ppb in both Denton and Frisco. Under the final plan, the highest levels would be 88.7 ppb in Frisco and 88.6 in Denton.
The final plan also would have two additional monitors higher than the federal limit. ... The EPA's outside science advisors unanimously endorsed a much tougher standard, as low as 70 ppb, citing what they called compelling medical evidence that the current standard doesn't protect people.

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Local Leaders Criticize State Clean-Air Effort

By Scott Streater, Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Thursday, 7 June 2007
Local leaders are becoming frustrated with the ongoing efforts to devise a plan to clean up ozone in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The state approved a clean-air plan last month, but federal regulators say it is flawed and may not do enough to cut pollution and bring the region into compliance with ground-level ozone standards by a 2010 deadline.

Failure to meet that deadline would subject the nine-county region to severe federal sanctions that limit economic development.

The state's plan has been roundly criticized by local leaders for not doing enough to crack down on the cement kilns in Ellis County or on the tons of pollution emitted from the millions of cars and trucks that pass through the Metroplex each day.

Local leaders want to be involved in deciding what revisions are made to the plan.

"Right now we're outside the loop," Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said. "In serious public health issues like air quality we should all be rowing in the same direction, but somebody dropped an oar."

The issue

Richard Greene, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator in Dallas, has warned that the State Implementation Plan -- which outlines exact steps the region will take to meet federal ozone standards -- is flawed and may not be approved by the EPA.

Among the problems: The state appears to have seriously underestimated the amount of pollution emitted by small compressor engines that power natural gas rigs and transmission pipelines in the region.
State regulators say the plan is fine, but they have indicated that they will make revisions to the plan where needed.

Why it's important

Ozone is a health concern. Ozone concentrations above federal health-based standards can trigger asthma attacks and worsen the conditions of those suffering from emphysema, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments.

The nine-county region -- Tarrant, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker and Rockwall counties -- faces severe federal sanctions if it fails to complete a federally approved clean-air plan, including the possible loss of tens of millions of dollars in highway funding.

What's next

The EPA will meet again with state environmental regulators, perhaps as early as this month, to try and resolve concerns that the clean-air plan won't work.
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Biggest polluters don't bear brunt of new clean-air laws

Most legislation targets consumers, not industry
By JANET ELLIOTT - Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau - June 4, 2007
AUSTIN — The Legislature made it easier for Texans to recycle their old computers, replace their polluting old clunkers and save money on energy-efficient appliances.

While putting the onus on consumers to improve their state's environment, it was business as usual for the industries that spew toxics into the air.

There was unprecedented momentum going into the session, with proposals for new coal plants stirring citizen concern. Scientific evidence kept mounting of the adverse health effects on those living in toxic hotspots along the Gulf Coast. A record number of bills were filed to address air pollution and global warming concerns, but most of those bills died without getting a legislative hearing.

"The Legislature kept in place the plan to allow for increased emissions from new coal plants and continued releases of toxics from industrial plants," said Cyrus Reed, a lobbyist with the Lone Star Sierra Club.

Lawmakers did significantly increase funding for programs to reduce vehicle emissions in urban areas that fail to meet federal air quality standards. But they declined to put a moratorium on new coal plants or require regulation of cancer-causing chemicals released into the air.

Despite the disappointment, environmental groups and lawmakers from both parties say the 2007 session was a turning point for environmental legislation. A bipartisan House clean air caucus grew to 62 members and environmental activists said for the first time they got to spend their time trying to pass good bills instead of fighting bad ones.

Air-quality bills fail
Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, said he was disappointed that the Legislature didn't give state and local officials more power to regulate air quality. He introduced bills to eliminate the tax on ethanol-blended fuel and provide subsidies for the purchase of hybrid cars and solar panels. He says he's "ahead of the curve" as a Republican who sees the need to balance job growth with protecting the environment.

"It just makes sense that people get to breathe clean air," he said. "For me being a conservative means being a conservative with nature as well as conserving tax dollars."

The Texas Association of Manufacturers opposed a bill by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, that would have required state regulators to hold public meetings to inform affected communities about areas on the agency's toxic watch list.

The manufacturers opposed proposals that would interfere with successful statewide efforts to reduce air emissions or were redundant to existing law, said Tony Bennett, chairman of the association.

"For example, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality already has the authority and is doing an outstanding job of compiling and posting an on-line air pollution watch list and monitoring sites. We were concerned that SB 1924 reduced the flexibility TCEQ has to continue this progress," he said.

Business groups did support Senate Bill 12, which expands a program that allows a family of four earning up to $60,000 annually to qualify for subsidies to replace older, polluting vehicles. The state budget also boosts funding to retrofit diesel engines.

Gulf Coast pollution
House Environmental Regulation Chairman Dennis Bonnen, R- Angleton, said he thinks it's appropriate to focus on mobile sources of pollution since industry has reduced its ozone-causing emissions by 80 percent.
"The state of Texas has had greater emission reductions than any state in the nation," he said.

Though Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are among areas struggling to reduce smog-producing ozone, the issue of toxic air is largely confined to the Texas Gulf Coast.

During House debate on SB 12, Bonnen accepted an amendment to require TCEQ to consider the cumulative effects on public health when making decisions on permit applications.

He allowed another amendment requiring the environmental agency to set standards for five toxic pollutants.

Both those amendments were stripped off during late-session House and Senate negotiations. Bonnen, who has several facilities on the state's toxic watch list in his district, said the amendments were "not germane" to the legislation.

Bonnen authored a bill that would put Texas at the forefront of states working to keep "e-waste" out of landfills under a bill on Gov. Rick Perry's desk.

More than a dozen activists rallied at the Governor's Mansion on Thursday to deliver 750 letters urging Perry to sign House Bill 2714.

The bill would require computer manufacturers selling in Texas to establish free and convenient programs to collect and recycle their brand of desktops, laptops and monitors.

Retailers would only be allowed to sell brands that establish recovery programs.

Robin Schneider of Texas Campaign for the Environment said similar bills had been introduced in the previous two sessions but were lacking support from computer manufacturers. So the Austin-based group put pressure on hometown company Dell.

"We did our best to be Michael Dell's worst nightmare," she said. "We knew that to pass legislation in Texas we needed to have business support."

Dell took the lead in offering consumer recycling, and Hewlett-Packard soon followed. They supported the legislation to make sure other companies that wanted to sell in Texas had to follow the same guidelines.

A coalition of business and environmental groups also was key to progress on energy efficiency and renewable energy. House Bill 3693 by Rep. Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, said while other lawmakers were battling over proposed coal plants, his group was working on measures to decrease the demand for electricity.

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