Hurricane Harvey unleashed a second storm of air pollution in Texas. By industry's own estimates, millions of pounds of harmful chemicals escaped into the air during and after the storm. The pollutants included benzene, a cancer-causing compound that is not safe at any level of exposure.
Tell Gov. Abbott to act now to reduce our exposure to unhealthy air before the next storm.
Harvey was one of the largest storm events ever recorded, but it was not the worst-case scenario. We can and must adopt smarter policies to protect public health from the environmental catastrophe that a direct hit from a hurricane could present.
Please let your voice be heard!
Dear Gov. Abbott,
We write today to ask you to protect the well-being of the people of Texas by advancing smart policies and fixing old rules to reduce our exposure to unhealthy air.
Harmful air pollution was one of the unseen dangers of Hurricane Harvey. By industry's own estimates, some 6 million pounds of harmful chemicals escaped into the air statewide during and after the storm. Greater Houston alone had nearly 3 million pounds of excess air pollution because of the storm. That was roughly half the amount of extra pollution released during malfunctions and maintenance events at Houston-area plants for all of 2016. The pollutants included benzene, a cancer-causing compound that is not safe at any level of exposure. In Crosby, a series of explosions at a flooded chemical plant in filled the air with smoke, triggering an evacuation of nearby residents and sending 23 emergency workers to hospitals. Following Harvey, Houston schools reported a spike in the number of children transported to emergency rooms because of asthma.
Texas can and must reduce our communities' exposure to these pollutants. Harvey was one of the largest storm events ever recorded, but it was not the worst-case scenario. We must adopt better management plans to protect public health from the environmental catastrophe that a direct hit from a hurricane could present.
We, the undersigned, call on you to:
We, the undersigned, call on you to direct the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to:
These steps will help ensure that our emergency responders and public health officials can to protect our communities when they are most vulnerable.
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