Benzene on the Rise in Houston's Air (Pasadena, Galveston: live, air quality) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

Mr. Football · 03-09-2008, 12:19 PM

Nice, and not too surprising given this administration's close ties with the chemical industry in effect, taking the environmental cops off the beat in Southeast Texas. Of course, the other side has done nothing about it.

The air is getting worse in Houston, especially South and East of Downtown.

Benzene on the rise in Houston's air, city officials say | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

...should help the local Cancer industry.

southeasttexas · 03-09-2008, 01:03 PM

It is sad that people can't understand the truth of the matter, but thats understandable given the vast, vast amount of misinformation the media crams down the throat of a gullible public. Lets reread:

Over two decades, the average amount of benzene in Houston's air fell from 3 parts per billion in 1988 to LESS than 1 part per billion in 2007, said Dan McGowan, a spokesman for the Texas Chemical Council.

Yeah, that came from the TCC, but thats the truth. Air, nationwide, and especially in Houston is IMMENSLEY BETTER than it was 20-30 years ago. No one wants to believe the truth, though, because eviro-hysteria is the new world religion. Al Gore says we are all gonna drown when the ice caps melt next week. God help us.

jfre81 · 03-09-2008, 02:42 PM

That's why we have M.D. Anderson...

But yeah, I think the air in Houston is cleaner than it was 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. I was even in the East End (Polk/McKinney/Sampson) earlier this afternoon and caught only a faint whiff of the refineries at times...

You want bad air? Go drive down Texas Avenue in Texas City.

usc619 · 03-09-2008, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfre81

That's why we have M.D. Anderson...

But yeah, I think the air in Houston is cleaner than it was 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. I was even in the East End (Polk/McKinney/Sampson) earlier this afternoon and caught only a faint whiff of the refineries at times...

You want bad air? Go drive down Texas Avenue in Texas City.

I'm curious as just how bad was the air 10-20 years ago, I've had people telling me horror stories about pasadena.

jfre81 · 03-09-2008, 02:51 PM

The north part of Pasadena, the closer you get to the ship channel, is still nasty. But it's not so bad in the south part of Pasadena which is pretty far away. Pasadena city limits are pretty spread out in its own right. Generally it's better to be south of a refinery complex around here than north, because of the wind coming off the gulf (south). In Texas City, the refineries are south of the city, so the wind is usually blowing it over where people live.

Poltracker · 03-09-2008, 03:09 PM

As far as I know know, the TCEQ only has 2 monitors in the Houston Galveston area that can speciate benzene (Cesar Chavez and Milby Parks equipped with auto GCs) as opposed to general VOC (go to their monitoring webpage) they also do 24 hr. summa canister samples that are run through a GC from 11 other sites in the region. I guess that makes up the 13 quoted. Daily and hourly monitoring can be found here:

Select a Monitoring Site in Region 12 (Houston) - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - www.tceq.state.tx.us

The last report from the TCEQ I've seen (October 2007 http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/p...12_houston.pdf ) shows benzene levels are dropping. I would be interested in seeing any new report.

Overall, the air quality in the Houston region is a lot better than it was even 20 years ago. I am glad Mayor White is persistant, it keeps everyone on their toes, but I do not agree that the City of Houston should have the right to fine and enforce on companies that are out of their jurisdiction. Among other things, it sets a very bad precedent.