 There
was standing room only at the Bay Area Houston Economic
Partnership’s March 9 General Membership Meeting, held at the
Lakewood Yacht Club in Seabrook. The topic: The Business of
Chemistry. More
than 150 chemical, biotech and aerospace business leaders came
to support the chemical business cluster in Bay Area Houston.
“The
ABCs of Bay Area Houston are Aerospace and Aviation, Biotech and
Life Sciences, and Chemicals and Commodities,” said Bay Area
Houston Economic Partnership President Jim Reinhartsen.
“Each is interrelated, interdependent and no more
important to the region than the other.”
Speakers
included Houston Regional Monitoring Technical Contract Manager
Walt Crow and East Harris County Manufacturers Association
Chairman John Rocco.
Crow
said Houston has more than 40 air monitors, which comprises the
most extensive monitoring network in the U.S.
Houston is monitored by the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the city of Houston and Houston
Regional Monitoring (HRM).
Member companies of HRM have invested nearly $30 million
in air monitoring since 1980.
“Houston
Regional Monitoring operates nine air monitors in the region and
has an annual operating budget of $2.2 million,” said Crow.
“Using the data, our members are able to make the best
decisions about ways to effectively reduce air emissions.
Our air monitoring data conclusively demonstrates that
Houston air quality has improved dramatically over the past 16
years and compares favorably with other U.S. cities.
The Houston region has had an 80 percent reduction in the
ambient concentration of key volatile organic compounds (VOC) in
the past 16 years.”
Rocco
said while great strides have been made, EHCMA member companies
will invest between $4 and 8 billion by 2008 to make further
improvements in air quality.
“This
investment is in addition to the substantial investment made in
the 1990s,” said Rocco.
New
rules instituted by the TCEQ require significant reduction in
highly reactive VOCs, which contribute to ozone formation.
Crow said by the end of 2005, air monitors will be
installed on all flares, cooling towers and stacks that emit
highly reactive VOCs to further improve the air quality of the
region. He said HRM
provides its members with the best scientific air quality data
available.
“Using
the data,” said Crow, “our members are able to make the best
decisions about ways to effectively reduce air emissions.”
Rocco
said Houston is home to 50 percent of all U.S. chemical
manufacturing and 30 percent of U.S. petrochemical refining.
“The
East Harris County Manufacturers Association (EHCMA) members
spend $1.7 billion on pollution control annually,” said Rocco.
“Twenty three years of scientific data was not included
in a recent series of newspaper articles about the chemical
industry.”
Rocco
said member companies of EHCMA contribute $10.4 billion to the
local economy through school taxes, payroll and benefits,
locally purchased goods and services and capital improvements.
Reinhartsen
said there was a need for a grassroots advocacy coalition,
composed of individuals outside the chemical industry.
He said the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership would
take the lead and build the coalition utilizing its own
successful aerospace advocacy model.
“Citizens
for Space Exploration succeeded with elected officials in
Washington D.C., which ensured full funding for NASA and Johnson
Space Center,” said Reinhartsen.
“We succeeded in aerospace and we will use our own
model to succeed in the business of chemistry.
Reinhartsen
said Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership would allocate
$125,000 in 2005 for advocacy efforts in the chemistry and bio
business clusters.
For
more information visit www.houstonairquality.com.
|
