LA is our b!tch once again! Thank you Houstonians for your hard work. We did it!! http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/2826187 Houston tops for bad air Smog season shows more bad days than L.A., hitting '98 levels By ERIC BERGER Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Here's the good news: Houston is beating Los Angeles. The bad news is that we're not talking about the Rockets and Lakers. With just weeks left in this year's smog season, Houston appears set to reclaim the mantle of worst air quality in the nation. Through September, Houston has eight more days of bad smog than Los Angeles and appears unlikely to give up its lead, air-quality experts say. Thursday put an emphatic stamp on Houston's smog season when 95 percent of the region's air-quality monitors reported unhealthy ozone levels. Bad smog levels haven't been that widespread in the Houston area since at least 1998. "This year, and this week in particular, shows how far we are from achieving our air-quality goals," said John Wilson, executive director of the environmental group Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention. Ozone, an odorless, colorless gas, is a primary component of smog. It is closely watched because in high-enough concentrations it is harmful to the lungs. Ozone also is a good indicator that other chemicals, such as hydrocarbons, are present in the atmosphere. The most common measure of air quality is the number of days a year that ozone levels exceed federal standards at one or more monitoring sites in an area. Levels this year exceeded that standard, 125 parts per billion for at least one hour, on 35 days. Los Angeles has had 27 such days. By this measure Houston had worse air than Los Angeles in 1999 and 2000, bringing national scrutiny and worrying business leaders trying to attract companies to the area. Smog season generally ends after October in Los Angeles and after November in Houston. Yet simply measuring the gross number of days that an area measures at least one air-quality violation is a "poor statistic," said Bryan Lambeth, a senior meteorologist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality who tracks ground-level ozone. Lambeth said the health concern is regular exposure to ozone, and it is less critical if one site in southeast Houston measures unhealthy levels one day, and a site in northwest Harris County the next. "It is also very important to mention that the areawide statistic is heavily influenced by the number of monitors," Lambeth said. Indeed, although the number of bad smog days has remained relatively constant in Houston for the past four years, the number of air-quality monitors has nearly doubled to 45, he said. Los Angeles has 35 monitors in a four-county area. Lambeth said a better way to measure air quality is the number of days air quality exceeds federal standards at a particular site. The worst location in Houston this year is near Tom Bass Park, in south Houston, where there have been eight air-quality violations. Yet even by using this statistic Houston remains a long way from its goal of meeting federal clean-air standards by 2007, Wilson said. Any monitor in the Houston area can't have more than one violation a year to meet the Clean Air Act requirements, he said. By most measures, however, Houston isn't having a terribly bad smog season. It now has the same number of days as last year and is below late-1990s levels, when the city averaged more than 40 bad smog days a year. It is the improvement by Los Angeles that will likely vault Houston back into the position of having the worst smog in the country. Los Angeles has seen a dramatic fall-off from 2003, when it recorded 68 bad-air days. Air-quality experts don't credit pollution-control measures with that city's success this year. The city has had cooler temperatures and windier conditions this season, both of which lead to cleaner air. Sunshine helps ozone form, and calm winds allow the chemicals to accumulate over a particular area. "This has been a very clean year for us," said Joe Cassmassi, a senior meteorologist with California's South Coast Air Quality Management District. "It's been one of those years where the weather conditions have lent themselves to keeping the smog levels down. "It's just the opposite of last year."
As a contributor to this fine award we are about to receive, I just want to say thank you to all the elderly and small children without whom this recognition would be meaningless. Behad Currently placing .17 lb/MMBTU of NOx, .08 lb/MMBTU of SOx, and 17ppm/HR of CO worth of effort into maintaining our #1 status!
I think that can of chili with beans that I ate last night may have put us over the top. You're welcome.
No wonder Yao gets tired so easily. At least if he leaves Houston (AND HE NEVER WILL), there's little risk he'd go to the Lakers.
hope they have air purifiers in the Toyotal Center...next thing you know les will have Yao wear the face masks like Michael jackson used to wear.
why is it that we are worse than LA.. I'm sure they have more cars etc... is it the refineries.. do they make that big a difference?
No, it's the cars. They make up over 50% of the ozone in the atmosphere http://www.policyalmanac.org/graphics/noxchrt3.gif
but other places have cars too... who has the most cars in america.. are we 4th..? La has more.. I'd assume NY has more even though a lot of people take subway etc.. not sure if we have more than chicago or not
To say that the refineries don't make a big difference is absurd. The heat also makes a big difference.
Let's get one thing clear...do not lump refineries in with utilities generation units. Power stations and such are clearly the big cause of VOC emissions within the area. While refineries are a part, they are not a big culprit. The top twenty producers in Texas can be found on this page: http://www.texasep.org/html/air/air_6maj.html Notice the top 13 and 16 out of 20 are utilities companies.
From the same site: As a result, motor vehicles (onroad) still contribute significantly to air pollution, accounting nationwide for a quarter of the CFCs in the air, 51 percent of the carbon monoxide, 30 percent of the carbon dioxide, 34 percent of the nitrogen oxides, nearly one-third of VOCs emitted in the United States, and 10 percent of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5).. In addition to these on-road vehicles, off-road forms of transportation like farming equipment and construction vehicles contribute some 25 percent of carbon monoxide, 22 percent of NOx, 18 percent of hydrocarbons, and 18 percent of fine particulate matter. Taken together, transportation is a significantly greater source of pollution than are industrial sources, power plants or small businesses*
Amazing that the auto manufacturers have not improved the design of the engine that much since the piston engine was invented. I saw a show on the discovery channel where 2 brother built a new engine for a Saturn that was based upon turbine technology (kind of like a jet) and the car went from Houston to NY on one tank of gas. The 2 brothers were both old Compaq millionares, but both in their 70s, I wonder what happened to them. DD
Umm, I've spent a couple of years helping power generators come up with strategies on how to reduce their emissions. But thaaanks for your enlightening information. Now I know the difference between a refinery and a power plant.