Downwinders at Risk’s Safe and Legal Air Project

In the summer of 2009, when it was clear that the last DFW clean air plan would fail to meet Clean Air Act standards for ozone pollution, Downwinders began to think about how to organize around the fact that the region would be writing two new air plans at almost the same time for the next three years.

We designed the Safe and Legal Air Project to impact the earliest stages of this round of air quality planning by providing independent technical expertise and data to local officials, and facilitating the re-establishment of a regional air quality decision-making body that help can assemble a “SIP Legislative Package” for the 2011 and 2013 state legislative sessions.

Independent Technical Expertise

Local officials need independent sources of technical information about the SIP. Currently no local governments in DFW have the resources to do their own analysis or review state data, so they have no choice but to accept it.

Beginning in January 2010, we began meeting with Dr. David Allen of the University of Texas at Austin Engineering Department to discuss how he and his staff at U.T. Center for Energy and Environmental Resources could fill this gap in local technical expertise.

In going over what research the next three years of air planning in DFW would require, it quickly became clear that there was concern that the state’s “emission inventory” of smog-forming pollution might not be accurate and that new information on the effects of upwind industrial sources on DFW smog was also required.

On September 2^nd, 2010, Downwinders co-hosted a presentation by Dr. Allen to EPA employees, local officials and others that outlined recent research performed by his staff. 

According to Dr. Allen, upwind pollution from as far away as Houston can often have a significant effect on DFW smog levels, making compliance with new stricter ozone standards a statewide problem instead of a local one.

Moreover, in comparing satellite data with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality inventories, there appears to be 15-20% more smog-causing Nitrogen-Oxide pollution in the DFW than TCEQ can account for on paper. Emissions from Barnett Shale gas-drilling activity are believed to be the source for this “extra NOx.”

Finally, because of the 2008-2010 recession, not as many DFW residents are trading in their older, more polluting cars for newer cleaner ones. This may account for as much as 10% more Nitrogen Oxide that TCEQ had predicted prior to the recession.

The early results of our collaboration with Dr. Allen have been productive. Even as the state gears up to design another clean air plan for DFW, it may be underestimating the amount of smog to be cleaned up by 25 to 35%!

We’re now entering a second phase of research in the Safe and Legal Air Project. In the coming months, we’ll be establishing the parameters to run our own computer modeling episodes to demonstrate what impacts new controls on coal plants, cement kilns and gas facilities could have on DFW smog levels. As in Phase one, we’ll be sharing this information with local officials. Eventually, we want DFW municipal and county governments to be able to use Dr. Allen as their own technical advisor.

Re-establishing a Local Air Quality Body

Downwinders was instrumental in re-establishing the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee as the local forum for air quality planning. Meeting with local officials one-on-one, Director Jim Schermbeck built a consensus that saw the Committee come together for the first time in four years on July 29^th, 2010. It’s now meeting monthly.

The Committee is made up five local County representatives, six municipal representatives, three seats for environmental groups, and three seats for representatives from the business community. Downwinders holds an environmental group seat.We want to open up the Committee process to more public input and access. We’re publicizing its meetings; writing about what it’s doing and encouraging more citizen participation.Schedules, agendas and presentations can be downloaded at the Committee’s website.

A SIP Legislative Package with Public Support

There isn’t much time to do the research, have the discussions and plot the strategy of whatever legislative remedies are needed as part of the first clean air plan that must be submitted in 2011. That’s why it was important to get a local forum for air quality planning like the Clean Air Steering Committee up and running as soon as possible.

Now the public and the Steering Committee must quickly prioritize the most useful pollution control measures and what, if any, legislative boost they need.

Downwinders is trying to accelerate this process by using the results of Dr. Allen’s technical analysis to make sure we include enough control measures to do the job. We’re also compiling our own list of preferred measures based on past clean air plans and the data that went with them. Because of DFW’s chronic smog problem, there’s a lot of analysis from past plans that’s still useful in designing these two new ones.

EPA OZONE DIRECTIVE ON THE NEW 75 ppb FEDERAL OZONE STANDARD:

EPA 75 ppb ozone Directive (983 KB)