March 26, 2018
To: Ellen Cohen, Mayor Pro-Tem of Houston City Council
From: Janet Asante, Chief Environmental Science officer for the Houston Health Department
Re: Urban Houston Communities Suffering from Pollution after Hurricane Harvey
Background and History:
Hurricane Harvey is the first hurricane to hit the Texas coast since Ike in 2008 and the first major hurricane to hit Texas since Brett in 1999. Houston, which was founded on the banks of the Buffalo Bayou in 1836 and rises barely above sea level, has long been susceptible to flooding. 4All of this rainfall caused catastrophic drainage issues and made rivers rise greatly.2 Houston is essentially two cities right now: the part that was open for business two weeks after the storm and …show more content…
The Houston area comprises the largest concentration of petrochemical manufacturing in the world.5 Petrochemical plants and refineries released millions of pounds of pollutants in the days after Hurricane Harvey began barreling toward Texas. From Aug. 23 to Aug. 30, 46 facilities in 13 counties reported an estimated 4.6 million pounds of airborne emissions that exceeded state limits. At least 14 toxic waste sites were flooded or damaged, and nearly 100 spills of hazardous substances have been reported.7 High levels of the carcinogen benzene were detected in a Houston neighborhood close to a Valero Energy refinery as well as elevated levels of childhood leukemia in several areas in Houston due to high levels of chemicals in the air. Harvey caused damage to facilities that leaked more than a million pounds of dangerous air pollutants into communities around Texas.6 Preliminary air sampling in the Manchester district of Houston showed concentrations of up to 324 parts per billion of benzene, said Loren Raun, chief environmental science officer for the Houston Health Department. That is …show more content…
The primary issue with this argument, and what we must make clear to city administration is that the kind of financial penalty that would work has never been done before. We need to impose stricter fines on these companies and ban them from continuing their business in these especially vulnerable communities until they clean up their mess. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is responsible for policing these polluters, but a new report finds that the agency’s enforcement activity is inadequate. According to a report by Environment Texas and Environmental Integrity Project, the agency issued penalties for less than 3 percent of illegal releases of pollutants from 2011 to 2016.12,13 During that span, facilities released pollutants about 25,000 times, emitting more than 500 million pounds of pollutants in total. Some years, TCEQ enforcement is almost non-existent. In 2016, for instance, the agency issued fines in just 20 of the 3,720 cases of pollution events (approximately 0.5 percent of the time).12,13 This is not due to the scientists and regulators within the TCEQ, but rather a sign of the stronghold between the governor and energy lobbyists. We need to hold powerful people
To: Ellen Cohen, Mayor Pro-Tem of Houston City Council
From: Janet Asante, Chief Environmental Science officer for the Houston Health Department
Re: Urban Houston Communities Suffering from Pollution after Hurricane Harvey
Background and History:
Hurricane Harvey is the first hurricane to hit the Texas coast since Ike in 2008 and the first major hurricane to hit Texas since Brett in 1999. Houston, which was founded on the banks of the Buffalo Bayou in 1836 and rises barely above sea level, has long been susceptible to flooding. 4All of this rainfall caused catastrophic drainage issues and made rivers rise greatly.2 Houston is essentially two cities right now: the part that was open for business two weeks after the storm and …show more content…
The Houston area comprises the largest concentration of petrochemical manufacturing in the world.5 Petrochemical plants and refineries released millions of pounds of pollutants in the days after Hurricane Harvey began barreling toward Texas. From Aug. 23 to Aug. 30, 46 facilities in 13 counties reported an estimated 4.6 million pounds of airborne emissions that exceeded state limits. At least 14 toxic waste sites were flooded or damaged, and nearly 100 spills of hazardous substances have been reported.7 High levels of the carcinogen benzene were detected in a Houston neighborhood close to a Valero Energy refinery as well as elevated levels of childhood leukemia in several areas in Houston due to high levels of chemicals in the air. Harvey caused damage to facilities that leaked more than a million pounds of dangerous air pollutants into communities around Texas.6 Preliminary air sampling in the Manchester district of Houston showed concentrations of up to 324 parts per billion of benzene, said Loren Raun, chief environmental science officer for the Houston Health Department. That is …show more content…
The primary issue with this argument, and what we must make clear to city administration is that the kind of financial penalty that would work has never been done before. We need to impose stricter fines on these companies and ban them from continuing their business in these especially vulnerable communities until they clean up their mess. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is responsible for policing these polluters, but a new report finds that the agency’s enforcement activity is inadequate. According to a report by Environment Texas and Environmental Integrity Project, the agency issued penalties for less than 3 percent of illegal releases of pollutants from 2011 to 2016.12,13 During that span, facilities released pollutants about 25,000 times, emitting more than 500 million pounds of pollutants in total. Some years, TCEQ enforcement is almost non-existent. In 2016, for instance, the agency issued fines in just 20 of the 3,720 cases of pollution events (approximately 0.5 percent of the time).12,13 This is not due to the scientists and regulators within the TCEQ, but rather a sign of the stronghold between the governor and energy lobbyists. We need to hold powerful people