Efforts to curtail Benzene in Texas
Despite an initial backlash against what they perceived to be an overstep of mayoral authority, Baytown officials and state lawmakers seem to be falling in step, at least in principle, with Houston Mayor Bill White's efforts to curtail benzene emissions from east Harris County refineries.
The ball is now rolling on a regional task force overseen by the Greater Houston Partnership and composed of scientists, environmental advocates, industry representatives and appointees by several local mayors, including Baytown mayor Stephen DonCarlos. The task force, the actual members of which are still being decided, should begin sitting down to discuss strategies within the next few months.
At the heart of the task force's mandate, at least from White's perspective, will be the voluntary reductions on benzene emissions that first sparked the outcry from officials and led to the meeting of local mayors out of which the task force eventually sprouted. Benzene, a common gasoline component and byproduct known to cause cancer over long periods of exposure in a small percentage of humans, has been red-flagged by scientists as being the toxic chemical most likely to affect people in the greater Houston-Galveston area.
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