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MAYOR BILL WHITE ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY
TO HELP CITY'S CLEAN-AIR PROGRAM
February 24, 2006 -- Mayor Bill White today announced that the City is acquiring new high-technology equipment, including infrared cameras and a mobile monitoring unit, that will help with monitoring Houston's air and enforcing clean-air regulations. The equipment is being funded with grant money, and is expected to be in operation by the end of 2006.
"This gives us invaluable new tools to clean our air and hold polluters accountable - and without tapping city tax dollars," said Mayor White.
Mayor White outlined the newest elements of the City's ongoing clean-air initiative. They include:
- Houston Endowment has awarded a $200,000 grant to purchase two Infra Red cameras. These cameras will enable City investigators to see, literally, gaseous emissions that are currently not visible to the naked eye or otherwise easily detectible. This is the newest technology and the cameras can be hand-carried to sites and/or attached to ships or helicopters to locate emissions.
- The City expects shortly to acquire funding for the purchase of a $500,000 mobile monitoring unit that can be used to assess ambient air in parts of the city where there is inadequate monitoring. Currently, there are no mobile monitors in our region. The unit's technology will allow City inspectors to "fingerprint" the sources of pollutants and allow for full investigation of identified "hot spots" as well as characterization of emissions. If the City can identify the sources, it can more effectively combat toxic emissions. The Houston Endowment also has awarded the City a grant of funds to support the operation of the mobile monitor over a three-year period.
- The City has placed on line a new fixed based air monitoring station in southeast Houston (CAMS 416), with a full complement of instruments monitoring ozone, particulates, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and weather to track concentration and duration of pollutants. This addition at Park Place gives us continuous on line information in close cooperation with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, it enhances our air quality network, gives more access to the public, and made possible with pass-thru grants from EPA.
Mayor White offered gratitude for the Houston Endowment's contributions to the effort. "The Endowment has done the community a tremendous service with its support of this program," he said.
These projects will be part of the City of Houston's Department of Health and Human Services' (HDHHS) Bureau of Air Quality Control (BAQC). BAQC's vision is clean air, meeting milestones of the Federal Clean Air Act and the State Implementation Plan (SIP). Their mission is to protect public health through improving the quality of ambient air in Houston. The BAQC's functions include air monitoring, permit-related review and comment, complaint investigation, inspections, new regulation engagement, emission surveillance, data analysis, community outreach, and support for clean air initiatives of the Mayor's Office. BAQC has a strong commitment to best technologies and quality assurance and has managed an air quality laboratory for thirty-seven years. BAQC gathers data under State and Federally-funded clean air programs, and operates and maintains monitoring networks under State-approved quality management and assurance plans. For many years, BAQC's monitoring sites have been part of national and state/local monitoring systems; BAQC's monitoring networks and data have been used regularly in preparing SIPs.
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