Office of Science’s Atmospheric Science Program Influences the Texas State Implementation Plan

Summary

Research results presented at the annual NARSTO Executive Assembly Meeting, held April 29 and 30, 2002, revealed the extent to which DOE-supported research has influenced the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) for meeting air quality standards. Research results from field measurements and modeling revealed that the emission inventories for the city of Houston and surrounding areas were significantly underestimating the amount of ozone production along Houston’s shipping channels. The results clearly distinguished between the emission contributions to ozone production from industries along the channel compared with non-industrial sources, and demonstrated that attempts to control ozone production due to non-industrial emissions would have relatively little impact. This new evaluation of results has already enabled the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission to make appropriate changes in its air pollution control strategy. NARSTO agencies, including DOE, conducted the Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS 2000) in the greater Houston area.

NARSTO, formerly known as the North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone, is a public/private partnership, whose membership spans government, the utilities, industry, and academe throughout Mexico, the United States, and Canada.