Houston Tackles Ozone Levels Despite Federal Delay

Friday has been designated a high ozone day in Houston, something that, unfortunately, is not uncommon. The city is ranked 6th out of 220 cities for high ozone days, and the recent delay of federal standards is not going to help.

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it will delay until 2018 the rollout of stricter air-quality standards that were scheduled to be implemented this year. "The agency is taking time to better understand some lingering, complicated issues so that air attainment decisions can be based on the latest and greatest information," the EPA said in a release.

One Houston group, however, is pushing ahead with its air-pollution efforts.

“We are going to continue our advocacy to reduce pollution levelsthat contribute to ozone formation,” Bakeyah Nelson, with Air Alliance Houston, told Houston Public Media.

Nelson said that the group's focus is on the following: a reduction in driving in the area; pushing industries to implement advanced air-quality technology; and growing the infrastructure that supports biking and walking trails.

Funding, of course, is necessary for all of this, and one researcher stressed that fact.

“In the past we’ve been very productive in sponsoring and actually performing the actual research needed to address the issues,” Jay Olaguer, of the Houston Advanced Research Center, said. “But it’s a bad funding climate right now for people who do research in general, let alone ozone research.”

— Image: Scott Pruitt, EPA administrator (Courtesy EPA)