Infrared spots new pollution

[lovuian]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3301779

Infrared spots new pollution
Cameras reveal Ship Channel's tanks and barges as hidden sources
By DINA CAPPIELLO
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle


Smog-forming, and possibly toxic, pollution is leaking from nearly 200 previously undocumented locations along Texas' industrial corridors, new state data show.

Using infrared technology, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality study unearthed new pollution sources, decades after efforts to clean up smog began, that may need to be controlled for Houston and other industrial areas of Texas to meet health-based standards for ground-level ozone.

The state research found 175 previously invisible leaks coming from barges, flares, storage tanks and other industrial equipment along the Houston Ship Channel and in Texas City, Beaumont and Port Arthur.

Only recently has infrared technology — the same technology that enables soldiers to see at night — been used to document pollution. However, it is unable to measure the quantity or detect the specific chemical released.

"It opens a new window in the way we do our business. We keep regulating the same people a little tighter. We never had the opportunity to see who else was out there that we were missing," said TCEQ Commissioner Ralph Marquez of the $100,000 research project, part of broader series of Texas air quality studies due to be completed in October 2006.

Previous research has shown that Ship Channel companies are underestimating the quantity of emissions, particularly a group of chemicals called volatile organic compounds, coming from their plants. Several highly reactive volatile organic compounds, combined with nitrogen oxides, form ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog.
snip...

"We knew they were in the air, but we did not know where they were coming from," said Marquez. "This accounts for all or more of the under-reported or unrecognized emissions."
more...
Well we know its there NOW if we DO something about it!!! Not Likely!!!

[AuntiBush]

1. Hang-it-Up w/* In Charge.

The only ones with great, new freedoms are the corporate polluters. Nothing like stepping back decades environmentally. You have our leader to thank for that.

[Systematic Chaos]

2. Okay, now I'm really tripping the light cynical and jaded.

I read your headline, and now the song "New Pollution" by Beck is stuck in my head. Granted, I love the song, but it's just not a propos of bad news like this.

Someone help me? :cry:

[burrowowl]

3. Is Crawford getting

polluted?

[Joebert]

4. I heard a story about this type of thing years ago...

They were testing it (or a similar one) at Los Alamos Nat'l Lab.

They took it to Mexico City, and ran it at night, all night.

They found a factory that lit up from 2-4 in the morning, pumped some really noxious shit out, then shut back down.

They were able to use lasers to figure out where it was coming from, then inspect thoroughly.

I imagine that this happens all over the world, every day. But then again, I still can't believe that somebody looked out their window one day, saw a lake or river, and said let's dump it in there!

Ack.

[BedRock]

5. We all know this is "science" and

there is no proof whatsoever. Once we have proof, then we can do something about it. Just like we are doing with Global Warming. So there is nothing to get the ol' panties in a twist about.

:sarcasm:

[TX-RAT]

6. So what exactly is it looking at?

(However, it is unable to measure the quantity or detect the specific chemical released.)

Could it just be a heat source?