Texas Clean Air Matters: Ports

The VW funding opportunity offers a tremendous chance for Texas to implement some important clean air projects quickly, and TCEQ should not leave money on the table for pollution reductions or ignore projects that can help improve air quality when we do not have clean air every day for every Texan.

This Houston neighborhood has faced decades of environmental injustice. New technology could help it finally take action.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recently released its draft plan for the state’s $209 million share of the settlement from Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating scheme. The money is meant to help offset the additional air pollution released by Volkswagen cars after the German automaker admitted that it had used illegal software to cheat on emissions tests. This is the first in a series of posts.

Texas is set to receive $209 million as part of the legal settlement for Volkswagen’s decade-long scheme to cheat on diesel emissions tests in the United States and elsewhere. Here are three steps the state needs to take before receiving the money.

Environmental Defense Fund is working together with four local high schools on a new video contest about the value of clean air. EDF is sponsoring the contest for students at four schools in Houston’s East End – Chavez, Furr, Galena Park and Milby. Students at those schools can submit short videos about the health effects […]

The classic “chicken or the egg dilemma” is often used to talk about cause and effect. Although this question is usually posed as a philosophical examination of some obscure topic, we now have a clear case for true causality: port clean truck programs result in cleaner trucks at ports. Last week, the Port of New Orleans […]

Everything is bigger in Texas, they say. Now, with the expansion of the Panama Canal this summer, we may start to see bigger ships in some Texas ports, too. These bigger ships would represent more business for Texas, but there could be a downside. Since these ships have huge engines that emit dangerous pollutants, we […]

(This post was written by Grace Tee Lewis, EDF’s Kravis Postdoctoral Science Fellow) August in Texas is not for the weak of heart or lung. As temperatures rise, so do levels of air pollutants such as ground-level ozone – better known as smog. For those with asthma, being outside on high ozone days can lead […]

For ports that commit to reduce emissions and improve air quality, figuring out the best way forward can be challenging – the sheer volume of information on the subject may be overwhelming if you don’t know where to get started. Fortunately, research facilitated by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) can help ports and terminals get […]

By: Christina Wolfe, manager, air quality, port and freight facilities, and Kate Zerrenner, manager, energy-water initiatives An oxymoron is “a combination of words that have opposite or very different meanings,” according to Merriam-Webster (a commonly given example is “jumbo shrimp”). Ports – with an immense amount of traffic and heavy cargo coming and going – have […]

This post first appeared on the EDF Climate Corps Blog. This summer I had the opportunity to work with Port Freeport, a deep-water seaport in Freeport, Texas, on developing a new supply chain strategy from scratch. Currently, empty containers are trucked from Houston to Freeport for loading. Then, the filled containers are driven back to […]

Growth at the Port of Houston Authority (PHA) is staggering – an estimated 8,500 ships will visit the Houston Ship Channel this year and cargo traffic at the port has increased by over 20 percent compared to last year. That’s after a record-breaking year in 2014. Many worry about how much pollution the additional traffic […]

By Amelia Pellegrin, Port of New Orleans Environmental Services Manager The Port of New Orleans is working to shift the discussion from ports as sources of pollution, to ports as generators of solutions that engage not just the maritime industry and freight stakeholders, but the communities we border and the workers that make their living […]

By Christina Wolfe

Source: flickr.com/photos/truckpr

Calling all heavy-duty truck owners who work at the Port of Houston! Cold, hard cash is available for the purchase of new trucks that are more fuel-efficient and cleaner-burning, providing up to 80 percent of the cost of a new truck.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) will be hosting a Drayage Truck Event at the Port of Houston on Saturday, November 1, from 10:00am to 1:30pm, to share information about available grants and loans in order to help owners replace older, dirtier vehicles with new, cleaner ones (see how others have taken advantage of these opportunities in the past).

Why is funding like this available to help someone pay for a new truck? By replacing an older truck with a new one, we all benefit from improved air quality. These benefits include:

• better health, since cleaner air reduces the onset of asthma and cancer and helps avoid the loss of work and schooldays, and
• economic advancement, as these programs help the state and city progress towards meeting critical air quality standards.

What’s more, this money is well spent. These types of programs are a very cost-effective way to reduce air pollution in areas like Houston, where the impacts from heavy-duty vehicles and equipment are quite significant.

EDF partnered with HGAC and the Port of Houston in the past on emissions reduction initiatives to much success. For instance, EDF helped with the original Houston Drayage Loan Program which has cleaned up more than 200 of the 3,000+ drayage trucks operating at the Port of Houston.

However, much work remains to ensure the air in the 6th most ozone-polluted city in the country is safe to breathe. The upcoming Drayage Truck event is an excellent opportunity to buy a new truck at a deep discount and help Houston get closer to taking a deep (collective) breath of healthy air.

By Elena Craft, PhD

Source: flickr/photos/romancing_the_road/

This week, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) hosted the Energy and Environment Seminar in Chicago, an important event for environmental advocacy efforts with ports across the country. And Houston will take center stage in the ports world this November when the city hosts the AAPA annual meeting in conjunction with the Houston Ship Channel’s 100th anniversary.

EDF participated in this important seminar and discussed how ports can engage effectively with environmental groups to address environmental concerns. Our presentation focused on the “value add” that environmental organizations can provide to ports, specifically in three key areas:

• research
• grants & technology advancement
• policy development

Some of the panels at this seminar included:

• Energy Technology Deployment
• Sustainable Design Guidelines
• Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
• Emerging Technologies and Strategies for Emission Reductions
• Environmental Benefits of Transportation Planning & Future Freight Policy
• Moving Forward with Local Support: The Importance of Engaging Successfully with Local Environmental Groups
• Environment Performance Metrics for Ports
• Energy Project Financing

In the past several years, EDF has filled several data gaps in air quality research in the transportation sector. We have published peer-reviewed reports on the air quality impact of the Panama Canal expansion and examined the effectiveness of voluntary clean truck programs. We’ve also helped to bring resources to the Houston area and advocated for policies that drive air pollution reductions from the transportation sector, including adoption of the Emission Control Area (ECA) as well as the upcoming phase II heavy duty diesel rules expected in March of 2015.

In addition, EDF has been working to increase communication regarding Houston port issues with environmental justice groups. In May 2014, EDF joined Houston area environmental justice leaders in an important event to share best practices, highlight critical issues, and expand the network of environmental advocates. Specifically, this workshop helped increase the sharing of information with regard to ongoing efforts with the Port of Houston Authority.

Seminars and workshops like these help build a knowledge base and a network for reducing emissions and protecting public health in and near ports. Looking to the future, EDF anticipates that ports and environmental groups will have to work more collaboratively to address key environmental issues, and we are ready to find the solutions that work.