MAYOR BILL WHITE WELCOMES MOBILE AIR MONITORING UNIT TO AID CITY'S CLEAN AIR PROGRAM
July 12, 2007 - Mayor Bill White today welcomed the arrival of the Mobile Ambient Air Monitoring Laboratory (MAAML), a first of its kind in the region, that will increase the City's ability to identify and characterize air toxics emissions and determine the likely emission source(s).
"This helps take us to another level to monitor our air and enforce clean-air regulations," said Mayor White. "Using the best technology and data to protect people's health and improve our quality of life are among the most important things we can do to keep Houston growing."
The laboratory is funded through grants from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Houston Endowment, Inc. It will provide the City's Bureau of Air Quality Control (BAQC) with the type of high-quality data necessary to identify and characterize air toxics emissions. With this ability, the City can begin to work with the generators of the emissions to actively reduce the amount and frequency of the emissions. The mobile lab is expected to be deployed later this month along with other additional equipment added to BAQC's arsenal, such as infrared cameras and toxic vapor analyzers for detection of gaseous emissions.
Mayor White reiterated key elements of the City's ongoing clean-air initiative. These elements include:
Continued use of the hand-held infrared cameras acquired via a $200,000 Houston Endowment, Inc. grant in detecting unauthorized gaseous emissions throughout the City. The cameras provide City investigators a unique opportunity to help pinpoint the emission sources as well as visually indicate the intensity of the emission events.
CAMS 416, the City's newest fixed-base air monitoring station in southeast Houston, continues to collect high-quality ambient air monitoring data for ozone, particulates, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and weather conditions. Its role in the continuous tracking of concentrations and durations of pollutants, along with its uplink with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, enhances our air quality network and allows greater public access to important air quality data. Pass-through grants from the EPA provided funding for this fixed-base station.
These projects fall under the leadership of the City of Houston's Department of Health and Human Services' (HDHHS) through the Bureau of Air Quality Control (BAQC). HDHHS' guiding principle is that every Houstonian should have a healthy, clean and safe community and neighborhood in which to live. In this respect, BAQC works to improve Houston's air quality and protecting the public health of Houstonians in collaboration with other local, state and federal agencies and other partners. BAQC functions include air monitoring, community outreach and education, complaint investigation, data analysis, emission surveillance, inspections, new regulation engagement, permit-related review and comment, and support for clean air initiatives of the Mayor's office.
BAQC gathers and collates data under State and Federally funded clean air programs, operating and maintaining monitoring networks under State-approved quality management and assurance plans. For many years, national and state/local monitoring systems have incorporated BAQC's monitoring sites while BAQC's monitoring networks have their collected data regularly used in SIP preparation.
