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LEAD-IN BY HOST SHALINI TRIPATHI: There is controversy over air pollution measurements gathered by state environmental regulators and independent watchdog organizations. Accurate data on emission levels is needed for new air quality standards being considered by the TNRCC.

STORY: The most controversial part of the new Clean Air proposal is what the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and environmental groups are calling a trade-off. Nitrogen Oxide and Volatile Organic compounds are the main constituents of smog. In the new Clean Air proposal nitrogen oxide emissions will be relaxed from a 90 percent reduction to an 80 percent reduction and reduction of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions will offset this change in emission rules. When there are rules there must be enforcement, as Denny Larson, of the SEED coalition explains:

"It's time for them to clean up their own mess and stop the finger pointing. Because talk is real cheap."

In order to enforce these new rules enforcement agencies need data on the trade off. Exactly how much of a reduction in Volatile Organic Compounds will offset the Nitrogen Oxide Reduction, no one knows. John Wilson of the Galveston Houston area smog prevention explained at a recent public hearing:

"The industry for years and years and years failed to report emissions accurately. We still don't even know today how much pollution is coming out of major facilities in the Houston area. That is something that everybody agrees on now: industry, government, environmentalists. Yet we're putting forward a plan that is called a tradeoff. Well how can you have a tradeoff ... I don't know too many people in this room that would do a tradeoff, if I told them I want $20 from you and I'm going to give you something, but you don't know what it is."

There are several ways in which industry tries to relax pollution controls and the tradeoff is just one of them. In the Houston area, industry is responsible for the release of Volatile Organic Compounds, one of the main constituents of smog. John Wilson explains that the tradeoff is just another way for industry to avoid accountability.

"And we've heard a lot of talk about how pollution is really caused by cars, or by ships coming in from other countries, or other sources, and all of those things are true. But, the fact is, that over half of the nitrogen oxides that go into the air right now come from industry. And far more than half of the VOCs, which are the other things that cause ozone, Volatile Organic Chemicals also come from industry. And these are the ones that cause the ozone in this area to be higher than any other area in the country, with the possible exception of Los Angeles."

Now industry wants the TNRCC to relax rules on smog-forming emissions and sued the TNRCC through the Business Coalition for Clean Air Appeals Group.

The BCCA-AG's lawsuit is this: The TNRCC created rules based upon inadequate data and incorrect pollution models. Any rules, they say, are arbitrary because they are not based on science and must be rejected. Jim Blackburn a local attorney explains,

"So industry is basically taking the position that the model that has been developed is erroneous. And that once the full facts are known, 80 percent, rather than 90 percent, is all the amount of control that is required. And in the process, they will save themselves a substantial amount of money."

All industrial facilities must apply for a pollution permit to release toxins such as Volatile Organic Compounds into the air. Violation of emission rules are actually violations of permits. Industries must report emissions to the TNRCC and the data is part of a pollution inventory. Eric Schaeffer, head of the Environmental Integrity Project and former head of enforcement at the EPA explains the reporting process

"Industry is responsible for reporting. Usually that information has to be reported annually. In the permits under the clean Air Act, you got to send that into the state annually. Then the state is supposed to go and obviously check to see if the numbers are right."

The BCCA-AG says that the inventory is inadequate because of insufficient data gathering. Industry has admitted that they have been underreporting emissions for years. This incomplete inventory is the reason for the lawsuit and the subsequent rule change. Jim Blackburn explains:

"Industry is sort of getting away from not reporting these emissions. The critical piece is that industry has not correctly reported their VOC emissions. So they're essentially arguing that you can't control us to 90 percent because you're using wrong data. But the reason that TNRCC has wrong data is because the industry submitted wrong data. So it seems like industry is getting to take advantage of their own errors."

In order to enforce rules, agencies must have data and reliable pollution models. This is not an easy task. Eric Schaeffer explains the difficulty of gathering accurate data and the problem of underreporting emissions:

"The volatile organic compounds from the ethylene plants, being 10-12 times greater than what they thought. How can you be that far off? Somebody's not on the case when the problem is that great. So we're talking about emissions that are 5-10 times greater than what the company is reporting. 5-10 times greater, not small differences. That's not an innocent mistake.

Clearly the debate surrounding the new clean air proposal is far from over.

David Stiles, KPFT News, Houston.

E-mail David Stiles at stiles138@yahoo.com .