Revised clean-air plan won't work, group claims

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-backed plan to clean up Houston's air doesn't go far enough, according to a suit filed yesterday by a local environmental group — in fact, the group claims, changes in the local air-quality rules would actually allow industries to pump more smog-forming pollution into the air.

The proposed revisions to the clean-air plan were submitted by the state of Texas and approved by the EPA in September. They shift the focus away from nitrogen oxides, which form ground-level ozone, to chemicals released by industry that are shown to create ozone spikes. The changes were submitted based on computer estimates of what reducing certain types of pollution would do to ozone concentration — a method environmental groups and some scientists have questioned, but which the EPA apparently felt comfortable with:

"They made the argument, and backed it up ... that they could (require smaller reductions) in nitrogen oxides, because there would be more controls on highly reactive" compounds, said Peggy Wade, the coordinator of the Houston State Implementation Plan for the EPA in Dallas. "You can get more bang for your buck by controlling the more highly reactive chemicals."

But the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention, which filed the suit, says the revised plan won't achieve what it's supposed to. By shifting the focus off nitrogen oxides, ground-level ozone — which aggravates asthma and can cause other health problems — could actually get worse, according to GHASP. "In accepting this plan, the EPA backslid from previous plans," GHASP Executive Director Sabrina Strawn said.

Monday was the last day for an appeal to be filed regarding the changes to the air-quality plan.