Air quality rip-off

An ironic diversion of funds will harm, not help, life in Texas, especially our children.

Our Republican representatives in Austin keep proving themselves to be indifferent to the health and well-being of the state’s women and children, and now we find that they are also lacking in a sense of irony.

During the regular session of the Legislature, two House members, Mike Schofield, R-Katy, and Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, were successful in removing $20 million from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and allocating it to the Alternatives to Abortion (A2A) program and its “crisis pregnancy centers.” CPCs are religious-based facilities whose singular goal is to discourage women from getting an abortion, and this windfall would double the organization’s funding from the state. CPCs offer no health care services at all. Not for women. Not for children.

Here’s where the irony comes in. The American Lung Association estimates that about 570,000 Texas children suffer from asthma; about 100,000 in Harris County alone. It is the single most prevalent cause of childhood disability in the U.S., and air pollution, especially ozone, is a significant trigger for asthma. Texas, with its refineries, power plants, industrial parks, crowded freeways and gas and oil fields, produces far more ozone-causing pollutants than any other state. Houston ranks 12th among the 25 largest American cities in having the worst ozone pollution.

The $20 million was diverted from a program focused on improving air quality in major cities, including Houston. So with their supposed “pro-life” switcheroo, House Republicans took money that protects the health of children and gave it to a program that has no concern with children after they are born.

Supporters defended the reallocation of funds by claiming that TCEQ has too much money already, which is a hard position to support given the state’s dismal air quality. As the Chronicle’s Mark Collette reported last month, TCEQ has a less than stellar record in policing industrial polluters. Between 2011 and 2016, it let companies off the hook in 97 percent of cases of illegal pollutant releases. The result? Companies have zero incentive to improve or maintain their equipment and Texas will remain No. 1 in ozone.

But the program that lost funding was one of the agency’s more successful efforts. It was aimed at cutting vehicle emissions, which account for 40 percent of ozone, by helping companies that operate large truck fleets upgrade or even replace their trucks to cut emissions. Improved emissions standards for vehicles are partly responsible for the small improvements in Houston’s air quality over the past few years.

Meanwhile, there is no evidence that the A2A program accomplished anything with the $18.3 million allocated to it for 2016-17 budget cycle. In fact, no one seems to know how the money is being spent: no audit, no oversight to ensure the facilities are safe and the information disseminated medically accurate, apparently no established metrics by which to measure its success at all.

The final budget hammered out in conference with the Senate included $18.3 million for A2A, with the $20 million held as a contingency to be available when the $18.3 million is spent. We believe this isn’t good enough. The only contingency should be directed at TCEQ to ensure it vigorously enforces the air quality laws. That would be a genuinely “pro-life” move. No irony intended.

The American Lung Association estimates that about 570,000 Texas children suffer from asthma; about 100,000 in Harris County alone.