POLLUTION INFORMATION

Friday, November 19, 1999
Bright Leaf Preserve
4400 Crestway Drive
Austin, Texas

Ramon Alvarez, a PhD chemical engineer with Environmental Defense office in Austin, gave a presentation on the ED Scorecard website, found at http://www.scorecard.org. This website allows citizens to log on, type in their zip code, and learn about the scale, trends, and health effects of emissions from 21,000 facilities across the United States. Beyond disseminating information about these environmental impacts, the site is empowering people to act on that knowledge, by emailing agency, corporate, and NGO officials about their concerns.

Karen Chapman, with the Texas Center for Policy Studies, followed up on Mr. Alvarez’ presentation with a discussion of a joint TCPS/ED project to develop more detailed, Texas-oriented material for the Scorecard. The additional information would touch on Texas land, energy, soil, water, open space, habitat, and wildlife status, trends and impacts. Ms. Chapman also noted that the second volume of the text-based Texas Environmental Almanac would be published in December 1999, with a good deal of that material to be used in the Scorecard expansion.

Questions and Answers

Q: What is the efficiency of web media? Ramon Alvarez said that the technical difficulty of mounting the website was costly at first, but once up and going was very cost-effective to both update materials and to reach many people (the site has been getting over 500,000 page views per month).

Q: What is the accuracy of the self-reported data in the site? Mr. Alvarez noted that ED had used only public information, had changed none of the data, and had given corporations an opportunity to post responses regarding the validity of the data.

Ramon Alvarez went on to note how information such as that within the Scorecard made it clear that Texas conventional and toxic air pollution is some of the worst in the country. For example, El Paso, DFW, Houston-Galveston, and Beaumont Port Arthur are all in non-attainment for ozone; while 25 of the highest ozone levels in the US were all in Texas, and Houston has surpassed Los Angeles as having the worst ozone readings in the country. He explained that the Texas Air Crisis Campaign, combining efforts by 44 non-profit groups, is seeking to address these problems. The Campaign is focusing on the economic aspects (health costs of Houston’s air pollution are estimated at $3 billion / year, while DFW’s federal highway funds are being blocked due to their non-attainment problem) and the public health issues linked to Texas air (430 are estimated to die prematurely due to Houston’s air pollution, and Houston asthma rates are twice that of earlier years). The Campaign will focus on public education and outreach, government updating of the State Implementation Plan, and agency reform through the Sunset Review process.

Q: How optimistic are NGOs about the possibility of achieving Campaign goals? Ramon Alvarez said that they were quite positive – the Campaign had gotten good coverage from the media, and the responsible state agency, TNRCC (since renamed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), appears to recognize that time has run out for delays in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

It was noted that this was not just some statistical health fluke - many often have asthma attacks on coming to Houston.

Q: Please describe the audit privilege and its role in pollution prevention. Mr. Alvarez explained that the privilege granted immunity for reporting environmental violations as an incentive for companies auditing their environmental performance. Mr. Alvarez felt that this process could be abused and could hamper the companies’ own management from understanding the effects of their operations. He argued that the Toxic Release Inventory had been very powerful simply by requiring good bookkeeping and wide public disclosure of emissions, a process that the audit privilege frustrates.

Q: Why did Bush support industries to pursue voluntary compliance when industrial air releases were so much more significant than automotive pollution in Houston? Mr. Alvarez responded that Houston needs to cut both automotive and industrial pollution.