Thursday was another Orange ozone day (why not use a "grey-brown-black" lung color scheme?) as is today. Pilot Point and Denton monitors recorded 8 hour averages over the old 1997 federal ozone standard of 85 ppb that DFW still hasn't met, while they and four more - Keller, Frisco, Grapevine, and Eagle Mountain Lake - exceeded the new 2011 75 ppb standard. So far, the last two days have seen five "exceedences" of the 85 ppb level - now considered "unprotective of human health" by EPA. This doesn't look like the kind of summer we were promised by the folks at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, but maybe things will get better in June, July and August, huh?   Read More

Even though the federal government has established a new ozone standard of 75 parts per billion, DFW still hasn't managed to conquer the previous standard of 85 ppb. That was true again on Wednesday - the very same day the Dallas City Council began debate over a new gas drilling ordinance that could worsen regional air quality. Three ozone monitors - Dallas Executive Airport (the old Redbird), Dallas Hinton Street, and Arlington Municipal airport all registered 8 hour averages of 85 or above.  They were the first such "exceedences" of the standard this year. Arlington had at last three or so hours when it was breathing ozone levels of over 100 ppb. Whatever was happening today stuck around long enough to cause Parker County's monitor to still have readings in the 80's well past 10 at night. There were nine monitors that were at or above the new standard of 75 ppb spread out over four counties. Thursday is being forecast as another Orange Day for DFW, so in short order we could be halfway to an official violation (4 readings at the same monitor of 85 or more in one season) by the end of the week.  Read More

(Clarification - The alert came out today, Tuesday May 15th. It applies to Wednesday the 16th)The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has issued an "Ozone Alert" for DFW for Wednesday May 16th predicting "Orange" i.e. unhealthy and illegal pollution levels. So far, it's the only one announced for any metro area in Texas, which is a little strange, because we're usually tied in tandem to Houston in such matters.  This is the second Officially bad air day of the seven-month-long season so far. The first came back in March with the late Spring heat wave and left us with the highest March ozone readings ever recorded by the state - on a Saturday at that. Please take it easy out there and pass the news along. Not to worry too much though, we're sure this is an aberration. The TCEQ computer in Austin, affectionately nicknamed GIGO by admiring citizens, has spoken and said that DFW shall have historically low ozone levels this year.   Read More

Since DFW was first identified has having a smog problem in the mid to late 1980's, there's a standard formula that's become familiar to folks in local air quality: NOx and VOCs + Sunlight = Ozone. There have always been two primary culprits to North Texas' chronic smog problem. NOx, or Nitrogen Oxides which primarily come from combustion sources (engines, boilers, furnaces), and VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds that are mostly invisible plumes and fumes from things like gasoline pumps, storage tanks, as well as combustion. These pollutants combine with sunlight and heat that chemically interacts with them and forms ozone downwind. When the first air pollution control measures were adopted, Austin and the EPA agreed that VOCS were the driving force DFW ozone levels. Some old-timers may remember the Mrs. Baird's bakery on the West Freeway in Ft. Worth having to install controls that eliminated the smell of baking bread that was stout enough to waft across the highway. That's also why every gas pump in Collin, Denton, Dallas, and Tarrant Counties has a "Vapor Recovery Unit." Over the years, the blame shifted to a combination of VOCs and NOx, and that's what made it possible to bring large NOx polluters like cement plants and coal plants into the picture. Still, VOC emissions remained a major player in the DFW smog problem, and they've been addressed with controls on everything from solvents, to boat resins, to bakeries by every single clean air plan ever drafted by the state and EPA. But now Austin is saying VOCs aren't such a big problem after all, that DFW's smog is all about the NOx. Why? Austin's computer model says so. This is the same computer model that says DFW ozone levels will reach historic lows this summer. But might there be another reason? TCEQ's de-emphasis on VOCs coincides precisely with a very large jump in VOC pollution from the gas industry, a jump due to the explosion of drilling in the Barnett Shale and the government's lack of regulation to control it. In 2006, cars and trucks in DFW still spewed more VOCs than the gas industry. This year, the gas industry will release 30 MORE TONS PER DAY of VOCs than all the cars and trucks in DFW combined according to the TCEQ itself. But you'd never know it from looking at any of the public material the TCEQ produces about DFW's ozone problem. Instead it's all NOx all the time. This slant benefits a politicized TCEQ in a couple of ways. First, when you talk about NOx, you don't have to talk about the doubling of gas industry emissions over the past decade or so. Second, you can keep repeating the mantra that it's all about cars. Cars only produce about 15% of the VOC pollution in DFW vs 49% of all NOx in North Texas. No need to worry about new controls on cement plants or coal plants when it's really all about cars. Until today, that TCEQ message creep was showing up locally in websites and promotional material sponsored by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) made up of area municipal and county governments. Unlike in past years when the familiar formula of both NOx and VOcs was recited to the public, this year NCTCOG's Air North Texas site, Air Facts page trumpeted that "On road vehicles cause half of the ozone forming emissions. Ozone forms when nitrogen oxides (NOx) combine with sunlight and intense heat." That just wasn't true. When you combine all VOC and NOx emissions (as calculated by TCEQ) in DFW, on-road vehicles account for 29% of ALL ozone forming emissions. Point Sources like cement plants and other industrial facilities, combined with oil and gas sources, total 25% - a much different looking pie chart than when you use NOx emission alone. To its credit, as a result of our inquiry, the NCTCOG Air North Texas "air facts" page has been re-edited to put VOCs back into the equation as of today, along with a little bit of spin claiming that "historical emphasis has indicated NOx reductions are the most appropriate way the region can lower ozone levels." We label that spin because it relies totally on the TCEQ's point of view, which has been, how do we put it, "historically wrong." We've already discussed how the DFW smog problem began as just a VOCs problem. We know they're still a factor. And if NOx reductions alone are so darn effective, why haven't they worked better? According to the TCEQ, total NOx pollution from ALL DFW sources decreased by almost 150 tons per day over the last six years. And yet 2011 was the worst ozone season since 2007. VOC Pollution? It's increased by 17 tons per day despite almost every individual category going down, save the ambiguous "Area" sources and emissions from the Oil and Gas industry. So if NOx decreases ozone so much more effectively than VOC decreases, how come 2011 ozone levels didn't reflect that? Many public officials around the country cite scientific evidence that already smoggy air turbocharges the ability of gas patch pollution to create more ozone. Usually very weak VOC molecules are transformed into smog-producing machines. TCEQ refuses to factor in this scientifically validated increased reactivity of VOCs being released by gas sources despite predominate winds carrying already smoggy air into the heart of drilling country in Tarrant, Denton, Wise, and Johnson Counties. It's model doesn't recognize this phenomena happening. TCEQ may also be underestimating the ability of these weak VOCs to already make ozone. In her 2011 landmark "Leaking Money" report for Downwinders, Dr. Melanie Sattler wrote that just the sheer volume of new gas industry VOCs is enough to affect DFW ozone levels. If DFW is ever going to solve its chronic smog problem, it has to have reliable information about what the increase in gas industry pollution is doing to our air. We don't have that now and no one in Austin is interested in finding out. Local leaders would be wise to decouple themselves from the TCEQ's politicized and uncurious approach to DFW air quality planning in Austin and find funding for their own research that can test for things the state doesn't want to know....Here's the full statement of Chris Klaus, Senior program Manager at NCTCOG and the lead staff person ther for all things air: "We appreciate your e-mail and comments regarding air quality facts and information on our Air North Texas and the North Central Texas Council of Governments’ (NCTCOG) websites.  We welcome and value this type of input.  In regards to your comments, historical emphasis has indicated NOx reductions are the most appropriate way the region can lower ozone levels.  Of the primary emission sources, on-road vehicle activities account for nearly half of the NOx inventory.  We frequently discuss NOx and VOCs when providing outreach, and have updated the Air North Texas website to make sure VOCs are referenced when appropriate.  Air North Texas is meant for the general public, and NCTCOG staff feels it is more effective to educate them about what they can do to improve air quality, and how to protect their health and the environment."  Read More

First, if you haven't read our updated post below, please notice the correction to Tuesday's initial story. DFW's "Moderate" classification by EPA under the new 75 ppb ozone/smog standard is actually a more serious ranking than Houston's "Marginal" ranking. In fact, areas with Marginal status are expected to be able to achieve the standard without even having to submit a clean-up plan with special pollution control measures. That's right, for the first time in forever, Houston won't even have to submit a "SIP" - State implementation Plan - while DFW will have to write yet another one, the fourth one in 15 years. According to EPA's announcement, most metropolitan areas were classified as "Marginal," identifying North Texas right off the bat as one of the more seriously smoggy places in America (but still way behind parts of California with an "Extreme" label slapped on the LA basin, and "Severe" for three more separate areas.) Most of DFW's sunbelt peers have fared better than our metormess. Atlanta started out at the same place as DFW 15-20 years ago, but has cleaned up its act enough to rate a "Marginal" in this round. Phoenix is also "Marginal." But of course neither one of those has a major natural gas play in the middle of them. Second, the timeline for the next DFW's next smog plan is known. The clock begins ticking 60 days after the new designations are published in the Federal Register - sometime between July and September of this year. From that date, DFW leaders and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have exactly three years - until the summer of 2015 - to design and build a new clean air plan for DFW that will meet the 75 ppb standard. We have a three year running average of 90.6 ppb. Not to worry however. TCEQ has already told us that ozone levels will drop to historic new lows this summer thanks to so many new cars being bought. On the outside chance that doesn't happen, the Rick Perry- driven TCEQ will have to find some other nonsensical rationalization for avoiding new controls on the Governor's industrial contributors - cement plants, the gas industry, and power plants, like they did last year with the new car strategy. But don't look for Austin to even start working on this clean air plan until 2014. There's no rush because the agency doesn't believe the 75 ppb standard is even necessary. The Commission's leadership was vocal in its opposition against it.  If local leaders were smart, they'd disconnect their own clean air efforts from the state's and begin doing their own planning immediately, but traditionally they don't move until TCEQ says "jump". Add to this the new element of regional elected officials who, like Governor Perry, not only don't want to impose any new controls on industry, but don't even concede the value of cleaner air, and you already have a formula that's in danger of repeating last year's Worst Clean Air Plan Ever. 2015 isn't that far away, but without a serious overhaul of the regional air quality planning process, hope of meeting the new smog standard seems further than ever. By the way, counting our correction of the original story we ran on Tuesday, we've now published three posts on the new smog boundaries and deadlines. That's three more than any other source that we can find this morning.   Read More

(A previous edition of this post defined Houston's EPA rank of "Marginal" has being more sever than DFW's EPA rank of "Moderate." This was a mistake. In fact, it's just the opposite. "Moderate" is more severe under EPA's ranking than "Marginal." We regret the error. Thanks to a reader for pointing it out.)..........At around closing time came news that the EPA had finalized the boundaries of the new "non-attainment area" for smog in North Texas that corresponds to enforcement of the "new" 75 ppb ozone standard approved last year. The 9 counties that were already in violation of the older standard are still there: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, and Tarrant. The only new addition is Wise County, but it's a huge one given its prodigious amount of gas industry pollution and commuter traffic to Tarrant and Denton Counties. It also means that Wise County will be getting an ozone monitor. If it's placed correctly by TCEQ - and that's a big if - it could be giving us a much truer understanding of how high or low ozone levels are really going. Since predominant winds during "ozone season" (April -November) are from the southeast to northwest, much of DFW's dirty air gets pushed into Wise County, where it then officially falls off the map because there's no air monitors there to record it. TCEQ likes it that way because ozone readings in Wise - where DFW dirty air meets gas patch emissions - could be significantly higher than in most of the rest of DFW. And that would dampen the Austin happy talk about improving DFW air quality. Also coming to Wise are things like those Vapor Recovery units on gasoline pumps, and other stricter pollution control requirements - although the impact on the entrenched gas industry infrastructure already there is unclear. Hood County was also singled out by EPA for inclusion in the non-attainment area but is left off this final order. It also has a number of gas industry facilities, including compressor stations, although most have shown up over the last ten years as opposed to Wise, which has seen decades of oil and gas production. There was no explanation for Hood exclusion in EPA's letter. DFW will be classified as a "Moderate" non-attainment area under the new standard while Houston will get a less severe "Marginal" classification. Dallas and Houston remain Texas' only non-attainmenta areas for smog, although that could certainly change over time. Next up is EPA's determination of the compliance timeline for all non-attainment areas. The worse the air, the more time a region has to clean it up. Officials don't have to get serious about cleaner air until around 2015 for a 2017-18 deadline. That''s been the pattern up to now - keep waiting until the last minute to think about how to dig yourself out of a multi-decade deep hole. And believe us, with this process, 2 years is "the last minute." There could be all kinds of useful planning and researching going on right now but they'll be none of that.  Because insuring receipt of federal highway dollars, not protecting public health, has been the primary motivating factor behind the clean air machinery in North Texas. Until those priorities are reversed and clean air is sought for its own worth, we're likely to always be behind the curve, chasing "unattainable" smog standards.  Read More

(CORRECTION: A previous edition of this post cited Houston's "Marginal" classification for ozone pollution by EPA as more severe than DFW's "Moderate". In fact the opposite is true, "Moderate" is a more severe classification than "Marginal." We regret the error and apologize for any confusion this caused)........At around closing time came news that the EPA had finalized the boundaries of the new "non-attainment area" for smog in North Texas that corresponds to enforcement of the "new" 75 ppb ozone standard approved last year. The 9 counties that were already in violation of the older standard are still there: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, and Tarrant. The only new addition is Wise County, but it's a huge one given its prodigious amount of gas industry pollution and commuter traffic to Tarrant and Denton Counties. It also means that Wise County will be getting an ozone monitor. If it's placed correctly by TCEQ - and that's a big if - it could be giving us a much truer understanding of how high or low ozone levels are really going. Since predominant winds during "ozone season" (April -November) are from the southeast to northwest, much of DFW's dirty air gets pushed into Wise County, where it then officially falls off the map because there's no air monitors there to record it. TCEQ likes it that way because ozone readings in Wise - where DFW dirty air meets gas patch emissions - could be significantly higher than in most of the rest of DFW. And that would dampen the Austin happy talk about improving DFW air quality. Also coming to Wise are things like those Vapor Recovery units on gasoline pumps, and other stricter pollution control requirements - although the impact on the entrenched gas industry infrastructure already there is unclear. Hood County was also singled out by EPA for inclusion in the non-attainment area but is left off this final order. It also has a number of gas industry facilities, including compressor stations, although most have shown up over the last ten years as opposed to Wise, which has seen decades of oil and gas production. There was no explanation for Hood exclusion in EPA's letter. DFW wil be classified as a "Moderate" non-attainment area under the new standard while Houston will get a less severe "Marginal" classification. Dallas and Houston remain Texas' only non-attainmenta areas for smog, although that could certainly change over time. Next up is EPA's determination of the compliance timeline for all non-attainment areas. The good news is that DFW's deadline should be sooner than Houston's because it's not as severely ranked. The worse the air, the more time a region has to clean it up. The bad news is that it could still mean officials don't have to get serious about cleaner air until around 2015 for a 2017-18 deadline. That''s been the pattern up to now - keep waiting until the last minute to think about how to dig yourself out of a multi-decade deep hole. And believe us, with this process, 2 years is "the last minute." There could be all kinds of useful planning and researching going on right now but they'll be none of that.  Because insuring receipt of federal highway dollars, not protecting public health, has been the primary motivating factor behind the clean air machinery in North Texas. Until those priorities are reversed and clean air is sought for its own worth, we're likely to always be behind the curve, chasing "unattainable" smog standards.  Read More

This annual effort was released this week and relies on data from 2008, 2009, and 2010. In other words, it does not include last summer's horrific ozone season, the worst in five years, and the one that had Dallas taking away the title of worst air in Texas from Houston. Even without those numbers, air quality in the DFW metromess is ranked 12th worst in the country out of 277 metro areas, while Houston is ranked 8th. It also gives a pass to DFW on particulate matter, despite seeing levels that have been associated with strokes. This is because the metrics the ALA uses rely on federal standards - as long as you're above those standards, it gives you a passing grade. But now science tells us that those standards are not protective, so take these kinds of assurances with appropriate grains of salt. Look at the year-by-year charts for DFW pollution. The good news is that both ozone and PM levels started to fall dramatically around 2006-7 - perhaps as a result of the last semi-competent air plan that was implemented during this timeframe. Change is possible. We can find ways to clean the air when we want to. The bad news is that since that plan was adopted and carried out, there's been no follow-up by the state, and no attempt to reign-in the air pollution from the gas industry, which has almost doubled in the last six to seven years. This is why ozone numbers climbed last year and it's also why many of us predict that this summer will see no relief from our chronic ozone pollution. Next year's State of the Air report will not be as kind.  Read More

The Dallas Residents at Risk Alliance, of which Downwinders is a member, is taking its successful March 27 community meeting format on the road again over the next couple of weeks. If you want to know what all the fuss was about, or need a refresher, you'll have three chances: Thursday April 26th, 6:30 to 8 pm, El Centro Community College/West Campus, 3300 North Hampton Road;  Thursday May 3rd, 7 pm to 8:30pm North Hills Prep School, 606 E Royal (near L.B. Huoston),  Tuesday, May 8th, 7 to 8:30 pm Harmony School, 8120 West Camp Wisdom Road. All three will feature members of the Alliance going through the Fracking 101 slide show and fundamental concerns, special guest speakers from the Dallas gas drilling task force and other experts, and a list of things that residents can do to make sure this epic saga has a happy ending when a vote comes up at the City Council within the next 30-60 days. Momentum is growing toward a saner solution. Come be a part of the most important environmental issue in Dallas since the lead smelter fights of the 1980's. And if you really want to plug into how to stop fracking from riding roughshod over Dallas, don't forget about the weekly Tuesday 6 pm evening Residents at Risk Alliance organizing meetings at 3303 Lee Parkway Suite 402, the offices of Alliance member Texas Campaign for the Environment. Everyone is invited. All you need is your interest in preventing a disaster before it starts.   Read More

For the second time in a row, the "Real Estate Writer" for the Dallas Morning News has written a feature article about a nice, new expensive development where there are gas leases and permits already being requested, and yet failed to mention anything about those pesky gas wells. From what we can tell, the Real Estate Writer seems to be a DMN position paid for by Real Estate developers. Last month it was the West Dallas area surrounding the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, where the city has leased its own land out for multiple gas leases. Today it's the "Cypress Waters" planned community being built by Lucy (Crow) Billingsley around North Lake, where there's already a gas pad permit in the pipeline, so to speak. But you'd never know it from reading the article. “We have 82 acres on LBJ Freeway that we have saved at the project’s primary entry point so that we can have retail to service the development,” Billingsley said. “We will also have restaurants on the lake.”  And if the wells get permitted, those diners will be getting lots of items off the official menu. We know she's a Crow. We know its a big development. But really? To be this much of a shill is embarrassing. UPDATE 11:30 AM: Dallas Area Residents for Responsible Drilling's Raymond Crawford e-mailed the DMN writer, Steve Brown and asked him if he knew about the wells slated for this development. Brown's reply was as enlightening as it was brief: "Yes, they've set aside six drill sites on the master plan for the project...I'm thinking that they consider this not a problem for rental housing but of course it would be a factor for people buying homes." Yes, of course, because homeowners have lungs, whereas we're not even sure if renters are a higher life form at all. Amazing isn't it?   Read More