FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Natalie O'Neill 281-326-1933

Katie Chimenti 281-286-9750

Harvill E. Weller 281-286-4900

July 25, 2001

ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE LISTENING ON AIR POLLUTION

More than a dozen elected officials were in the crowd that packed the Houston Yacht Club ballroom last week to hear distinguished toxicologist Dr. Michael Kleinman describe human health effects of small particle air pollution deriving from diesel exhaust at a major project like the proposed container terminal at Bayport.

          State Representative John Davis (R) of District 129 ,  State Senator Mike Jackson (R), and Pasadena Mayor John Manlove were at the event--the first in a report-back series based on Bayport technical studies commissioned by the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association (GBCPA). All three represent voters immediately affected by the Port of Houston Authority's plans for a megaport.

          Among about 200 people present were Seabrook City Council members Pete Braccio, Buddy Hamman, and Dick Rogan; Taylor Lake Village Mayor Natalie O'Neill and Council Member Larry Tobin; La Porte Councilors Charlie Young and Peter Griffiths; and Nancy Edmonson and Mary Becker of Shoreacres City Council.

          Natalie Ong represented the El Lago City Council and trustee Bob Davee of the Clear Lake Independent School District was there. Three Houston City Council candidates who also came to hear Dr. Kleinman were Claudia Williamson, Mike O'Brien, and Dr. Shelley Sekula-Rodriguez.

          More than 300 recent studies document how small particle pollution from combustion sources, and especially diesel combustion, damages people's lungs, according to Kleinman. Some of the health effects are rapid and localized: "Children growing up near roadways with lots of diesel trucks have significantly more asthma and doctor visits than children a short distance away," said Kleinman.

          Other effects are slower and broader, such as making the problems of allergy sufferers worse, and triggering chronic bronchitis-type conditions in high-risk groups like the elderly and the very young. "But there is now new evidence, in the last year or two, that air pollution is associated with the creation of lung disease," said Kleinman.

          Dr. Kleinman is a professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Medicine at the University of California’s College of Medicine at Irvine, and co-director of the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory there. He was a co-author of a major 1999 air pollution report prepared for the City of Houston by Sonoma Technology, titled Assessment of the Health Benefits of Improving Air Quality in Houston, Texas.

          That report concluded that there are 435 premature deaths a year in the Houston area as a direct result of fine particle pollution. A key finding of sampling for the report was that Houston already has a disturbingly high annual average concentration of small particle pollution (known as particulate matter or PM 2.5, for its particle size of 2.5 microns in diameter).

          At 11 micrograms per cubic meter of air, our “background” or “normal” level of PM 2.5 is close to the proposed national air quality standard of 15 micrograms per cubic meter. Thus any small boost in pollution can push us well into the danger level. Ambient PM 2.5 in the Houston area comes mainly from automobiles, trucks, ships, and petrochemical and power plants.

          "We were gratified to have so many elected officials interested to learn about the large and growing body of research about the complex but undeniable impacts of small particle pollution," said GBCPA Chair Jim Blackburn.

          In introducing Kleinman's presentation, Blackburn recognized three companies in the Bayport industrial complex that have responded to citizen concern about air quality. American Acryl, Nova and Atofina are financing local installation of a sophisticated air monitoring station where the presence of some 30 chemical substances in the air will be documented in detail.

          All three companies also had representatives attending to hear GBCPA's report-back on small particle pollution. Blackburn noted that monitoring by the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission records ozone levels but not the many other pollutants that will also be tracked when the new station begins operations.

Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association
P.O. Box 323, Seabrook, Texas 77586
Phone: 281-326-3343
Website: www.gbcpa.org
E-mail:  gbcpa@gbcpa.org