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DMN: Houston: A paradise for polluters?


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That doesn't make sense.

I get tired of people posting things like "I am for clean air but i will not get on the Sierra Club bandwagon" or "I support public transit but it's important to keep Republicans in power" or "i am for historical preservation but I don't think we can force property owners to save buildings they deem unprofitable."

Quite frankly, you ARE NOT for clean air. That's fine. Just quit trying to make yourself feel better about it.

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Unlike Houston, cities such as Los Angeles, New Orleans and Miami have prosecutors who specialize in environmental crime. Houston needs such a prosecutor more than any other city in the country, said Eric Schaeffer of the Environmental Integrity Project.

Interesting, I hadn't any idea about this. Why the hell doesn't Houston have Prosecutors who specialize in Environmental Crime? Something tells me the Petrochemical lobby has been quite successfully in seeing to it that Houston continues to be a laissez-faire playland for their industry.

Edited by mrfootball
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That doesn't make sense.

I get tired of people posting things like "I am for clean air but i will not get on the Sierra Club bandwagon" or "I support public transit but it's important to keep Republicans in power" or "i am for historical preservation but I don't think we can force property owners to save buildings they deem unprofitable."

Quite frankly, you ARE NOT for clean air. That's fine. Just quit trying to make yourself feel better about it.

I'm sick of people from the Sierra Club describing Houston as the most polluted city in the country, when in fact we rank far behind several California cities and closely to other major cities our size (i.e. Dallas). Thank your former Democratic mayor for the perpetuation of the "Houston is dirty" stigma that still hurts to this day.

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Houston is a dump.

We have lax standards in everything, except hospitality.

Kind of disturbing that we don't have any prosecutors here specializing in Environmental crime, while other cities do. We have the largest concentration of petrochemical industry in the country. We also have some of the highest rates of cancer in the nation. Correllation?

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Ah, I see.

Shoot the messenger. Nice solution.

Fact is, we shouldn't be happy that our BAD air quality is outranked by some other city. We should WANT to have clean air.

Additionally, we do not have mountains that trap our pollutants in a basin like LA, Fresno, Bakersield, etc... so our air quality ranking alongside those cities is EXTRA frightening.

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That doesn't make sense.

I get tired of people posting things like "I am for clean air but i will not get on the Sierra Club bandwagon" or "I support public transit but it's important to keep Republicans in power" or "i am for historical preservation but I don't think we can force property owners to save buildings they deem unprofitable."

Quite frankly, you ARE NOT for clean air. That's fine. Just quit trying to make yourself feel better about it.

Quite frankly you are off your rocker. Im no fan of the sierra club or thier tactics. Do a little research on them before you go bumping your gums.

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Quite frankly you are off your rocker. Im no fan of the sierra club or thier tactics. Do a little research on them before you go bumping your gums.

So are you, or, are you not, for increased regulation, enforcement, prosecution, and punishment of polluters in the Greater Houston Area?

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Ten Most Polluted U.S. Cities (Ozone Rated Only)

1. Los Angeles (Long Beach, Calif., Riverside, Calif.)

2. Bakersfield, Calif.

3. Fresno-Madera, Calif.

4. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.

5. Merced, Calif.

6. Houston (Baytown, Huntsville, Tex.)

7. Sacramento (Arden, Calif., Arcade, Calif., Truckee, Nev.)

8. Dallas/Fort Worth

9. New York (Newark, N.J., Bridgeport, Conn.)

In particulate matter, neither Houston nor Dallas comes in the top 20. Therefore, don't be so harsh on Houston's environment. Yes, we have work to do. No, we don't compete with L.A.

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You need to clear this up. Are you barking at me because of the sierra club or pollution. I will give you my response accordinly.

1. Why you would need clarification on a straight-forward question, escapes me. The question speaks for itself. I didn't ask you about your opinions regarding the Sierra Club.

2. I don't bark. However, if I did, how could you have possibly determined that from the question I posed?

3. Now, will you give me your response?

Edited by 713 To 214
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I agree with Heights Guy on this one.

1) Environmental standards should be improved with regards to Houston. Whether or not the Sierra Club is behind this latest article is unimportant. This has been documented by the EPA itself in the past. I realize that we have politicians who like to skate the fine line of holding people accountable and pissing off potential corportate figures who could potentially take ther x amount of dollars and run off, but you have to be willing to sacrifice a certain amount of SOMETHING in order to improve your living areas.

2) The Sierra Club, like many special interest groups, is not above using rhetoric or perhaps exaggerating certain "situations" in order to push its agenda across. I don't begrudge them that. However, I do think that when they fall in line with a misconstrued notion, it's detrimental to the overall cause, because that focus is nearly wasted on something that's not as troubling as the bigger issue (the bigger issue is the particulate matter that's extremely heavy in industrial midwestern cities such as Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh as well as California, but I digress).

3. But I agree with Kinkaid in that just because statistically (or realistically) there are numerous U.S. cities that have more pressing enviromental concerns than does Houston, that's no reason to not call for better standards for Houston when raising them would make sense and yield better results both long term and short term. The latter is basically a failure of area government, IMO. That needs to change over time.

4. But also let's not forget that prior to 1970, environmental standards in Houston were almost non-existent (heck, they were lacking in most U.S. cities). There has been some improvement but I feel like some of that has waned a bit over the last 10 to 15 years, regardless of presidential adminstration. Again, this may more be a failure of state government. I'm not sure.

5) I hope this doesn't turn away from being a potentially compelling discussion into the typical political party rhetoric that retards any meaningful discussion of the issues. I'm not political and hate politically-based discussions.

6) The Cowboys suck! :)

Edited by The Great Hizzy!
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6) The Cowboys suck! :)

Finally. Some rational thinking on this thread. >:)

"...It puts the Fu*&!ing lotion in the basket. It does this whenever it's told."

-Benjamin Rasbel (a former patient of mine.)

Edited by 2112
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