How Industry Sponsored Air Monitoring is Being Used to Drive Air Quality Improvements in the Houston Area

摘要

The Houston metropolitan area is currently non-attainment for both the 1-hour and 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ground level ozone. In 2003, the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria region routinely exceeded the 1-hour ozone standard approximately on 38 days and it exceeded the 8-hour ozone standard on 53 days. Recent studies have shown that emissions of light olefins from stationary point sources when combined with emissions of oxides of nitrogen can react to form transient high levels of ground level ozone. Houston has until 2007 to achieve attainment of the 1-hour standard for ozone and until 2010 to reach attainment for 8-hour ozone standard. Currently, an industry consortium is funding the operation of an air quality-monitoring network that consists of nine air monitoring stations. The Houston Regional Monitoring (HRM) network is equipped with state-of-the-art air monitoring sensors and is being used to gather scientific data that can be used to understand those chemical and meteorological processes that control the formation of ground level ozone. The knowledge gained from the HRM network coupled with data from other air monitors in the region is being used to help develop cost effective emission reduction strategies that will enable the area to achieve attainment of the ozone standards. Data from HRM is also being used as part of a near-real-time Environmental Monitoring and Response System (EMRS) pilot study to alert industry when elevated levels of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HRVOCs) are detected. This information is then used to investigate those plant activities that could be contributing to the observed levels of reactive VOCs in the atmosphere. It is hoped that these data can provide insights into "best management" practices that can be voluntarily implemented to reduce the emissions of ozone precursors, thereby avoiding additional regulation. This paper describes the HRM Network and how data from this industry-sponsored network is being used to further our current understanding of ozone formation in the Houston non-attainment area. The paper will describe initiatives that are currently underway to analyze the data and help craft new emission reduction strategies attain compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone in Houston.