Interesting article on pollution in Houston

[Roma]

I read this post a couple of days ago. Then last night when I was flipping the channels I came to CNN with Anderson Cooper "Planet in Peril" and they were talking about this exact same subject regarding the plants along the ship channel in Houston.

I missed the beginning of the show and the end. But the part of the show that I did see was that some chemicals in the pollution from that location in Houston was causing child leukemia (The rate was EXTREMELY high). Then they were saying that where there is such dangerous chemical pollution is in the poorer communities because the wealthier communities would fight and have the plant...etc shut down (which makes sense). So definitely something serious is going on there. They were talking about a neighborhood that is right next the plants. I don't remember the name of the neighborhood as I don't live in the Houston area so the name didn't stay with me. But I'm pretty sure you could look this up with CNN if you were more interested.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by Roma

I read this post a couple of days ago. Then last night when I was flipping the channels I came to CNN with Anderson Cooper "Planet in Peril" and they were talking about this exact same subject regarding the plants along the ship channel in Houston.

I missed the beginning of the show and the end. But the part of the show that I did see was that some chemicals in the pollution from that location in Houston was causing child leukemia (The rate was EXTREMELY high). Then they were saying that where there is such dangerous chemical pollution is in the poorer communities because the wealthier communities would fight and have the plant...etc shut down (which makes sense). So definitely something serious is going on there. They were talking about a neighborhood that is right next the plants. I don't remember the name of the neighborhood as I don't live in the Houston area so the name didn't stay with me. But I'm pretty sure you could look this up with CNN if you were more interested.

The neighborhood you are speaking of is the Milby Park/Manchester area right at 610 and 225. In 2005, the major problem there was found to be 1,3-Butadiene originating from the facilities on the south side of 225. This has not been a problem for a year or two now.
The article, while good, is slanted a bit. It gives you total unpermitted emissions for a period of 6.5 years. It does NOT show that those emissions were more extensive in the first 2 years than in the last 2 years. It would be a problem if they admitted that improvements have been occurring. Further, the article discusses the state emission event reporting regulations and gives numbers of enforcement etc. but does not discuss changes to those laws and enforcement policies made midway through the data collection period listed. These changes have resulted in increased enforcement compared to 10 years ago. Also while concentrating on emission event rules and investigation, it does not discuss other programs like TERP, etc. that have been occurring over the past years and caused emission reductions. Just a few examples.
While it isn't a perfect picture and more can certainly be done (and we should push for it), I think there should be some acknowledgement to how much better things have gotten over the past 20...well, even 10 years.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by Poltracker

While it isn't a perfect picture and more can certainly be done (and we should push for it), I think there should be some acknowledgement to how much better things have gotten over the past 20...well, even 10 years.

Exactly! But good luck. That would mean some admitting something positive about Houston, which unfortunately, isn't the "hip" thing to do.

[dv1033]

Living next to one of the nation's largest petrocomplex complexes and a major port causes a higher rate of incidence of cancer and other pollution-related ailments?

... brilliant!!!!!!