An OGJ staff member just commented on having seen a new air emissions monitor at the on-ramp to the freeway as he drove to work in Houston.
Houston's Harris County and seven surrounding counties are intensifying (mandated) efforts to reduce air pollution in this community of urban sprawl, two-car garages, and the largest concentration of refining-petrochemical facilities in the world.
Carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide emissions from the river of vehicles flowing slowly-both ways-along the city's many freeways and streets mingle in the sultry morning air. They blend with emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds from the more than 120 refining, petrochemical, and manufacturing plants lining the Houston Ship Channel.
The result is an ever-present hazy smog of ground-level ozone, which too frequently exceeds federal standards and has garnered for Houston the unwanted distinction of being the city with the dirtiest air in the US.
Houston's clean air efforts
But like Los Angeles, which until 1998 held that unenviable title, Houston is working hard to change its status.
Freeway traffic is now limited to 55 mph, and vehicle tailpipes must be inspected annually. Industrial plants must reduce NOx releases by an average of 90%, and refiners are charged with the time-consuming and costly task of equipping plants to reduce sulfur-the "lead of the 1990s"-to 30 ppm from a current average that ex ceeds 300 ppm.
Eight other US cities are also short-listed to vastly improve their air quality by 2004.
It can be done.
Environmental cleanup technology has been continually advancing over the past 30 years, and the results of its implementation are surprising.
Past improvements
Earlier this year, for example, a group called Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. (EEA) completed an air quality improvement study that indicated that, even though there has been a dramatic rise in US energy consumption since 1970, there also has been an equally dramatic improvement in US air quality overall.
The study, produced for the Foundation for Clean Air Progress (FCAP), was based solely on data produced by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy.
EEA tracked US air quality gains and energy consumption during 1970-99. The data showed that, since 1970, five important pollutants have decreased considerably in the US:
- Airborne lead levels declined 98%.
- Particulate matter levels dropped 75%.
- Carbon monoxide levels decreased 28%.
- Sulfur dioxide dropped 39%.
- Volatile organic compound levels fell 42%.
In addition to the decrease in pollutants, overall energy consumption rose 41%. Of that amount:
- Commercial energy consumption grew by 80%.
- Transportation energy increased 64%.
- Residential energy grew by 34%.
- Industrial energy consumption increased 21%.
The only pollutant that increased overall during that 30-year period was NOx, which rose by 22%-about one-half the rate of energy consumption. NOx emissions have been targeted for substantial future reductions, assured by new diesel fuel requirements and technological advances, and are expected to decline in the future.
A state-by-state analysis evaluated air quality and energy consumption during 1985-99. Those data were drawn from the National Emission Trends database from EPA.
With the technology available today and EPA's push behind it, there is every reason to believe that future air quality also will improve.
Context
These data can add context to the heated debate over environment and energy, especially in light of the furor over postulated catastrophic climate change.
Much of the concern over human contributions to greenhouse gases is predicated on projections of increasing energy consumption, especially with economic growth.
Looking at the energy consumption and pollution reduction trends of the past 30 years, maybe there is still scope for further pollution reduction with conventional fuels-without sacrificing economic growth-that the critics aren't allowing for. After all, the grim projections of energy use and pollution growth patterns made a generation ago failed to come to fru ition.
Contrary to what some politicians have said, Houston is trying to do something about its designation as having the country's dirtiest air.
Now if we could only do something about that other label-America's fattest city.
Maybe all the newly planned bike paths will help on both counts.
