2000 SO2, NOX, AND CO2 EMISSIONS FROM UTILITIES   SO2 NOX CO2 Tons per year, Texas 557,511 381,992 243,811,104 Tons per year, U.S. 10,634,077 4,699,874 2,393,857,309 National Rank 7 1 1 Source: EPA, Emissions Scorecard 2001

Air pollution can be hazardous to human health. When people breathe dirty air, pollutants may come into direct contact with their lungs. On days when air pollution is bad, both deaths and hospital admissions increase.^* So consistent is the association between dirty air and health problems that some epidemiological studies blame air pollution for the premature deaths of more than 50,000 individuals every year from heart disease, lung cancer, pneumonia, asthma, stroke, and bronchitis, among other diseases.^* Possible health effects of air pollutants that are toxic to human health include: cancer; birth defects; damage to the brain, nervous system or respiratory tract; and even, in rare instances, death.^* Air pollution also threatens plants, animals, and the natural environment. Common air pollutants can also damage property, dirtying buildings and corroding monuments and statues. And the haze produced by air pollution reduces visibility, affecting a number of activities, including airplane transportation, astronomical investigations by observatories, and tourism at national parks such as the Grand Canyon and Big Bend National Park.

The quality of the air we breathe is of utmost concern to Texans. With over 20 million cars on its roads; 437 electric utility generators using gas, oil, coal, and other sources of fuel; 60 percent of the nation's petrochemical production; 26 percent of the nation's refining capacity; and a population of approximately 21 million people, Texas must grapple with a full range of clean air issues. Urban neighborhoods are exposed to toxic air pollution from both car and industrial emissions. Some rural residents believe that air pollution from local crop burning, cotton gin plants and animal feedlots affect their health. Visitors to Big Bend National Park complain of faded vistas. And perhaps most importantly, nearly 51 percent of the state's population currently lives in metropolitan areas that do not meet federal standards for ozone.^* In fact, for several years, the Houston metropolitan area has competed – and won – the title over Los Angeles for having the worst ozone pollution in the U.S.

FYI The average adult is assumed to breathe about 13,000 liters, or 13 cubic meters, of air per day. Children breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults Source: EPA, Health and Environmental Effects of Ground Level Ozone Fact Sheet [July 17, 1991]

The first efforts to deal legislatively with visible air pollution occurred in the late nineteenth century and were directed at smoke emissions from steam boilers. It was not until the 1960 presidential campaign, however, that political leaders began calling for a coordinated, national approach to air pollution. At that time, new concerns were being raised about urban "smog." While smog is a haze made up of thousands of different compounds, ozone is its best-known constituent. Smog and other air pollutants are particularly damaging when "trapped" at ground level, which may happen during a temperature inversion, a meteorological phenomenon in which a warm layer of air lies under a cooler, denser layer. The results can be deadly; in 1948, a temperature inversion over the Pennsylvania town of Donora resulted in the deaths of 20 people and hospitalized hundreds when sulfur, ozone, and air particulates were trapped at ground level.^*

In the wake of the Donora incident, Congress passed a series of bills to study and research and finally regulate the problem of air pollution, culminating in the 1990 Federal Clean Air Act. Under the FCAA, the U.S. Congress and the Texas Legislature have enacted a series of standards and earmarked resources to improve air quality, and federal and state and in some cases local agencies have passed and enforced regulations. In addition, state, federal and local entities have developed an extensive air monitoring network to measure air pollution, although there is a constant demand for more and better air-quality monitoring. Recently, under the Bush administration, several new legislative and administrative changes have been proposed or are being implemented, including new Clean Diesel standards and the Clear Skies program. The second of these has been controversial, as it weakens a key provision of the 1990 Clean Air Act.

POTENTIAL ADVERSE HUMAN HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF THE TOP TOXIC RELEASE INVENTORY CHEMICALS RELEASED TO THE AIR IN TEXAS IN 2001 CHEMICAL TOTAL lbs. RELEASED, 2001 POTENTIAL ADVERSE EFFECTS Ethylene   13,833,993 Chronic Toxicity Hydrochloric Acid  13,287,180 Acute Toxicity, Chronic Toxicity Methanol       9,063,480 Acute Toxicity Propylene      9,014,160 Unknown N-Hexane 6,423,024 Unknown Ammonia 5,206,675 Acute Toxicity, Chronic Toxicity, Environmental Toxicity Sulfuric Acid 4,168,514 Acute Toxicity, Suspected Carcinogen Toluene      3,965,061 Developmental Toxicity, Environmental Toxicity Hydrogen Flouride 3,828,730 Acute Toxicity, Suspected Developmental Toxicity Styrene 3,652,204 Carcinogen, Heritable Genetic and Chromosomal Mutation, Chronic Toxicity, Developmental Toxicity, Environmental Toxicity Xylene 3,579,893 Chronic Toxicity, Developmental Toxicity, Reproductive Toxicity, Environmental Toxicity Methyl Ethyl Ketone 3,341,643 Chronic Toxicity, Developmental Toxicity, Reproductive Toxicity Benzene  1,951,265 Acute Toxicity, Carcinogen, Chronic Toxicity, Environmental Toxicity, Smog Formation 1,3-Butadiene 1,485,450 Carcinogen, Chronic Toxicity, Developmental Toxicity, Reproductive Toxicity, Environmental Toxicity, Smog Formation Cyclohexane  1,304,172 Environmental Toxicity Note: N-Hexane was added as a reportable chemical in 1995 and is believed to affect the neurological system. Source: Total pounds released from Environmental Protection Agency, 2001 Toxics Release Inventory Database, 2003, Query run on TRIEXPLORER; human health and environmental effects based on Clement Associates, Inc., Support Documentation for the SARA TITLE III, Sections 313/322 Toxicity Matrix (Fairfax, Virginia: Clement Associates, Inc., August, 1988, prepared for Environmental Protection Agency.

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