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2005-2006 Air Quality Study
2006 Environmental Achievers

Air Pollution Study in High Gear

A comprehensive study is under way to research air pollution patterns affecting Texas.

While ozone continues to be the No. 1 air quality issue for many urban areas in Texas, levels of particulate matter (PM) have been rising in some urban areas, and regional haze is a growing concern at national parks. All three must be addressed under the federal Clean Air Act.

The 2005-2006 Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS II) began in the summer of 2005 with the mission of examining the formation and movement of ozone, as well as the composition and movement of regional haze. The study wraps up at the end of October.

The project, which concentrates on the eastern half of the state, has drawn on scientific expertise from around the country. Teams of experts, backed by high-tech monitors and equipment, have been called on to assist in the large-scale project.

The purposes of the TexAQS II are:

• To better understand of the importance of different emissions sources in the formation of ozone and particulate matter.
• To document the movement—or transport—of pollutants into and within Texas.
• To acquire more accurate estimates of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions.
• To improve photochemical models through measurement of pollutants over East Texas.
• To understand, without use of photochemical grid modeling, how and why air pollution forms.
• To verify modeling results through independent, objective means.

Extensive Resources

The first phase of the TexAQS was conducted in 2000. That study was shorter and concentrated on an area in and around Houston.

The study region for this second phase includes the areas of Houston-Galveston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Tyler-Longview-Marshall, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Victoria.

Monitoring for ozone and regional haze over this large a region has required a significant expansion of the air monitoring network into rural areas to monitor transport. The TCEQ has added surface monitors, aircraft data, and air quality forecast modeling.

Last summer, a helicopter equipped with a high-tech remote sensing camera made daily flights for several weeks between Houston and Beaumont. The onboard camera scrutinized refineries, pipelines, and chemical plants for emissions of volatile organic compounds that are invisible to the human eye—but not to the infrared camera.

The most concentrated period of air quality sampling occurs this August and September when advanced research aircraft fly missions from the Gulf of Mexico to Oklahoma and between the Interstate-35 and -37 corridor and Louisiana.

Also, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is making available the Ronald H. Brown, the largest oceanographic and atmospheric vessel in its fleet.

Participants from not only Texas but around the country are taking part in the TexAQS II.

Deadlines to Meet

The EPA has set deadlines for Texas to submit air quality improvement plans: attainment plans for the 8-hour ozone standard are due by mid-2007, and a plan to address regional haze must be filed in late 2007.

Based on the anticipated results of the TexAQS II, the TCEQ expects to better understand ozone, particulate matter, and regional haze formation in Texas.

These findings could also lead to more effective control strategies for dealing with federal air quality requirements.

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2006 Environmental Achievers

An energy company that used innovative technology and saved a historic building, an airline maintenance system that lowers water usage, and the Weslaco ISD High School Nature Club are among 10 Texas projects selected as winners of the state's highest environmental honor by Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY
AUSTIN ENERGY

Austin’s Seaholm Power Plant, a 1950s electric plant, was retired from service in 1996. Rather than demolish it, city leaders chose to retain the structure for redevelopment. Much of the building’s concrete floor, however, was saturated with PCB-contaminated oil. PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl), an industrial chemical once widely used in electrical equipment, is a persistent environmental contaminant.

Removing the contaminated concrete would have compromised the structural integrity of the building, and adding an additional layer of concrete would have exceeded the floor’s load-bearing capacity. Razing the plant would have generated tons of hazardous material and cost the city millions of dollars.

Austin Energy, the city’s electric utility, worked with experts to develop a new method for encapsulating the PCB contaminants with a fiber-reinforced epoxy coating. The encapsulation method worked so well that the building now qualifies for unrestricted use—industrial or commercial—and is the first facility of its kind to receive the Environmental Protection Agency’s Ready for Reuse designation among sites subject to the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Seaholm Power Plant is slated to begin its new life as a mixed-use development including parkland, shops, restaurants, and a residential tower.

LARGE BUSINESS/TECHNICAL
AMERICAN AIRLINES

At the American Airlines Maintenance Base at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth (AFW), the environmental department saw an opportunity to recycle water and minimize hazardous waste, thus reducing environmental impact while saving money. The team gathered bids from outside contractors, but was discouraged by the overwhelming cost of implementing a recycled-wastewater system and a program that tracks AFW’s waste reduction.

Needing to prove a return on investment, plant team members came up with their own cost-saving solutions. They expanded a reverse osmosis system to treat 40 million gallons of wastewater, converting an existing treated-effluent tank into a reverse osmosis tank. They re-engineered and upgraded an outdated automation control system at half the estimated price. They also created an inspection and inventory bar code system to track hazardous waste.

The project has allowed American Airlines to reduce its total water usage at AFW from 24 percent to 36 percent the last three years and to reduce costs by almost $1 million. In addition, the amount of hazardous waste generated in 2000 was reduced by more than 50 percent.

LARGE BUSINESS/NONTECHNICAL
ABITIBI-CONSOLIDATED, INC. RECYCLING DIVISION

Students, teachers, and individuals across the state are turning paper into colorful playground equipment, library books, and generous scholarships through Abitibi-Consolidated’s Paper Retriever program.

Through the program, Abitibi-Consolidated provides free on-site recycling bins and collection services to schools, churches, and other nonprofits—then pays the organizations for the paper they collect.

Paper Retriever trucks pick up the recovered paper and take it to Abitibi’s sorting facilities, where it is processed for recycling into new paper products. The program complements existing community recycling efforts by giving people new ways and new reasons to recycle year-round. It also teaches good recycling habits by providing free educational materials in English and Spanish.

Paper Retriever, which began in Houston in 1995, reaches more than 3,500 organizations and has expanded throughout North America and the United Kingdom. In Texas, participants in 2004 collectively recycled 278,000 tons of paper and earned more than $1 million.

According to Abitibi-Consolidated, one ton of recycled paper uses 64 percent less energy, 50 percent less water, and emits 74 percent fewer air pollutants than one ton produced from virgin wood pulp.

SMALL BUSINESS
TEXAS INDEPENDENT AUTOMOTIVE ASSOCIATION

Thanks to a statewide effort led by the Texas Independent Automotive Association (TIAA), automotive shops are doing their part to clear the air through voluntary emissions testing, car care clinics, and a comprehensive public education campaign.
Partnering with the TCEQ and the Texas Department of Transportation in the “Drive Clean Across Texas” campaign, TIAA members help educate the public on proper vehicle maintenance. Additional public outreach activities include car care clinics and emissions testing events, as well as instruction at local high schools and career fairs.

Environmentally aware TIAA members earned nearly five times as many compliance certificates through the TCEQ’s Compliance Commitment Partnership in 2005 than in 2003. Members recycle hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil and antifreeze, more than 850,000 oil filters, and thousands of batteries each year.

GOVERNMENT
BRAZOS RIVER AUTHORITY

When the poultry industry began to expand in the Brazos Valley, community leaders recognized the opportunity for economic growth, but were concerned about the potential risks to water quality. Residents brought their concerns to the Brazos River Authority (BRA), which develops and manages the water resources of the Brazos River Basin, which stretches from the Texas-New Mexico border to the Gulf Coast.

With support from the poultry industry, the involved communities, and elected representatives, the Waco-based BRA secured federal funding for a multi-year, integrated resource planning project called “Quality Water for the Brazos Community.”
The focal point of the project was a watershed master plan that reflected a wide range of water quality issues, including continuous water quality monitoring, aquatic habitat studies, and resource planning through a diverse task force.

Water quality programs and public outreach initiatives began before the plan was completed in August 2005. Six years of baseline water quality data were collected as a benchmark for water quality monitoring. A $771,000 incentive program helped fund better facilities and practices at poultry operations to protect water quality. Another incentive fund was established to encourage non-poultry growers to use poultry compost as a soil amendment. Also two illegal dump sites along the Brazos River were cleaned up by more than 150 volunteers.

CIVIC/NONPROFIT
GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF CENTRAL TEXAS

Goodwill Industries of Central Texas provided jobs or training to more than 10,000 people in 2005. Many of those services received funding from an innovative program that salvages thousands of computers and peripherals for reuse and recycling, and keeps them out of landfills.

Central Texas Goodwill manages a state-of-the-art computer recovery operation, in which donated computers are rebuilt for resale at two of its retail outlets. Goodwill’s Computer Works stores are located in Austin and San Antonio. Systems and parts determined unusable are recycled or disposed of in an environmentally responsible way.

Ninety percent of the revenue generated by Computer Works helps put people to work through job placement, workforce training, and other employment services. People with disabilities and other barriers to employment receive training in computer technology, inspection, and repair through Goodwill’s recycling center. Some gain full-time jobs in the center or at a Computer Works store.

In 2005, both Computer Works stores recycled or resold more than 2,200 tons of computers and peripherals that would have gone to a landfill. Reusing 28 percent of this equipment also saved more than 30,000 tons of natural resources necessary for manufacture of new products. The first Goodwill program of its kind, Computer Works serves as a national model for other Goodwill partners seeking an environmentally responsible solution to disposing and reusing electronic waste.

EDUCATION
BAMBERGER RANCH PRESERVE

Students of all ages come to learn at the Bamberger Ranch Preserve in Blanco County. They explore ancient dinosaur tracks, spelunk in a man-made bat cave, and study watershed management techniques.

Preserving the 5,500-acre ranch is the work of David Bamberger, who purchased the land in 1969. He discovered the ranch was in need of special care. Ashe juniper had overrun the land, choking the water supply and leaving little native vegetation or wildlife.

But after several years of removing the woody juniper and replacing it with native grasses, he watched historic artesian springs on the ranch come back to life. These springs form the headwaters of Miller Creek, an important feeder creek to the Pedernales River and the Lower Colorado River.

The ranch also supports a number of endangered species.

Still a working ranch, the Bamberger Ranch Preserve welcomes 3,000 to 5,000 visitors a year. Most of the visits are educational—school field trips from neighboring cities or adult workshops covering topics such as land stewardship, native grasses, and trees and shrubs.

AGRICULTURE
TEXAS WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTE

The Range Revegetation Pilot Project at the U.S. Army’s Fort Hood base is an example of how to turn two environmental challenges into a win-win solution.

Over six decades, extensive use of training vehicles on Fort Hood’s 67,000-acre west range near Killeen has left the land barren, rock-hard, and prone to erosion. Sediment run-off threatened water quality in the Cowhouse Creek watershed and Lake Belton, the main drinking water source for surrounding communities.

To tackle these issues, the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES) partnered with Fort Hood and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to bring soil relief from an unlikely source: composted cattle manure from the North Bosque River watershed. The run-off from dairies had been identified as a source of phosphorus in the Bosque River.

Research teams at the Texas Water Resource Institute, a division of TAES, and the Blackland Research and Extension Center developed a pilot project to determine whether the nutrient-starved land could benefit from applying composted manure, topped with a native seed mix to encourage revegetation.

Initial results show that adding compost and other land management practices are helping to restore vegetation and reduce erosion—while removing excess nutrients from the North Bosque River watershed. To date, the project team has applied nearly 15,000 tons of composted manure over 600 acres of rangeland.

YOUTH
WESLACO HIGH SCHOOL

In South Texas, Weslaco High School’s botanical gardens serves as an outdoor learning lab, where students cultivate lessons on resource conservation, nutritious foods, and community service.

Since 2004, about 150 students have worked to create and nurture the gardens, which beautify a quarter of an acre next to the school’s special education building. More than 30 species of plants, trees, herbs, and flowering shrubs thrive in this educational ecosystem, including several varieties of fruit and vegetables used in nutrition curriculum. Students have added butterfly gardens, a pond habitat, and a cactus garden. Under the direction of the Texas A&M Agricultural Experiment Station, they helped install a drip line and sprinkler irrigation system.

Every year, the youngsters gather fresh produce and donate it to the Rio Grande Valley Food Bank. They also plant trees in the gardens and throughout the Valley as part of the Valley-wide Rio Reforestation Project. The gardens also host a community celebration of nature, where students receive Junior Master Gardener certifications from the Texas Cooperative Extension.

INDIVIDUAL
BRENT EVANS of BOERNE

As lifelong volunteer environmentalists, Brent Evans and wife Carolyn have led the effort to create the Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne, transforming a thicket of woods and marshland into a tranquil nature trail and full-scale learning center.

Evans has another vision—of a regional system of parks and natural areas that will provide outdoor recreation, encourage water conservation, and protect wildlife habitat. Like the Cibolo project, he is not tackling this one alone. Evans knows how to pull the community together.

When the Master Plan for Parks and Open Space was presented to the Kendall County Commissioners Court, it was unanimously adopted. When a $5 million parks bond went before the public, voters approved it. Evans laid the groundwork by seeking input from residents, public agencies, and environmental experts. He headed a community advisory committee and raised funds for a public interest poll to better understand public attitudes.

The parks system is moving forward as planned. The county has identified the area’s most environmentally critical areas and is proceeding with land acquisition and park development.