Houston smog hits danger zone

06:22 PM CDT on Friday, October 1, 2004

By Janice Williamson / 11 News

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HOUSTON -- Late Friday afternoon, Houstonians could breath easier, but the city has been choking this week on record smog levels.

The ozone level hit red, or unhealthy, levels on the air quality scale during the past three days. In fact, all city air monitors exceeded unsafe levels.

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Weather conditions this week have been ideal for pollution problems. Ground-level ozone forms during conditions of little or no wind, high temperatures and clear skies.

At ground level, it's another hot and humid afternoon. The haze appears to have burned off.

Cancer survivor Mary Lou Aylesworths usually avoids bad ozone days, but supervising the setup for the annual Race For the Cure is reason to ignore a weak lung brought on by radiation.

"Little bit harder to breathe when I got to the top of the hill. I was gasping more than I do," says Aylesworth.

For the last two days, monitors in Houston have detected unhealthy levels of ozone. In fact, all 36 monitors registered levels that exceeded acceptable amounts.

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"I think it was unusual weather that made the pollution smear out so evenly across the Houston region, but what it says is we're not getting any better," says John Wilson of GHASP, the Galveston Houston Association for Smog Prevention.

Wilson says more than half of the pollution in the Houston area is generated by chemical processing plants and refineries.

Man-made sources of ground-level ozone can also contribute to the problem. Those include all vehicles on the roads, plus planes and trains.

By the end of the year, it's almost certain Houston will have the most severe ozone smog pollution in the country, for the third time in six years.

"It's definitely worse here than where I come from, but it's not worse than last week in Los Angeles," says Scott Ammons of Gulf Shores, Alabama. He was putting up tents for the upcoming race.

Los Angeles may still hold the smog title, but some argue that Houston's haze isn't far behind.