The Dallas Morning News
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Ozone strategy forming

State to look into high-tech options

08/23/2000

Associated Press

HOUSTON – State officials on Tuesday announced the formation of a council that will help regulators and lawmakers pursue technologies that may reduce smog-causing ozone in Houston and other Texas cities.

Members of the Texas Council on Environmental Technology will be named within two months.

"We must summon the ingenuity and brainpower of the scientific community in meeting the ozone challenge in Texas," Lt. Gov. Rick Perry said. "This effort is about the kind of Texas we want to leave for future generations, and Texans have never stood down when it comes to meeting a stiff challenge."

Mr. Perry cited advances in hydrogen fuel cells, such as those that propel spacecraft, as one way transportation could become pollution-free.

Mr. Perry, appearing briefly before an air quality panel organized by State Sen. Buster Brown, R-Lake Jackson, noted that the concept was aimed at long-term solutions.

"I do not view this as a substitute for the difficult choices Houston and other cities are making," he said.

Those "difficult choices," including proposed restrictions on transportation, construction and industry, were the main focus of Tuesday's meeting.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see we've got a problem," said Jeff Saitas, executive director of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. "We'll have to push the [technological] envelope if we're going to solve it in a reasonable manner."

Area politicians and state environmental regulators have until year's end to submit an air quality proposal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

If they miss the deadline, or if the EPA rejects the plan, the Houston area could lose highway money and be forced to live under federal restrictions.

Sharp differences of opinion on how to reduce pollution were revealed Tuesday.

"I know it's difficult to get to these big manufacturers and refineries because they've got a room full of lobbyists," said state Rep. Al Edwards, D-Houston. "They're not just here, they're going to be in Austin, lobbying for companies who, maybe at this time, do not want to spend the money to clean up pollution."

Others at the meeting complained about a proposal to ban construction before noon, with one man predicting that lawsuits were sure to follow.