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HOUSTON -- The mayor of Houston is putting pressure on local petrochemical facilities to reduce the amount of benzene they release into the atmosphere. Mayor Bill White also wants the companies to come clean with how they plan to remove the cancer-causing chemical from the air.

He has a few supporters who live in the shadows of the petrochemical plants along the ship channel.

“All that stuff gets on my clothes and they say it’s no good,” said Christine Mahon as she hung clothes on a line at east Houston home. “Oh my, it just smells terrible. It just makes me nauseated at times.”

Her friend Linda Gann gets passionate about cleaning up the air.

“They (the petrochemical facilities) don't care, and it's time that someone in authority make them care, “ said Gann. “ Too bad, I'm not the mayor of Houston. Because I'd be putting the hammer down on some people.”

“The industry says it will bring down benzene emissions, so all we want to know from the biggest emitters is how much,” said White.

If they don't, White said the city could take legal action when facilities apply for state permits.

But the industry says refineries aren't the biggest problem.       

“The thing that (the) mayor didn't say is that more than 70 percent of benzene is coming from on and off-road vehicles,” said Don Empfield of the East Harris County Manufacturing Association.

Mahon isn't expecting much and said she would move away if, “I wish somebody would buy me out.”