Please help me formulate a reply-"air study released"-from my local paper

My friends at Downwinders At Risk have reported just the opposite:

http://downwindersatriskarticles.blogspot.com/
http://downwindersatrisk.org/_blog/News_Plume/post/The_Ft_Worth_Weekly_looks_back_at_20_years_of_fighting_cement_plants_in_Midlothian_/
http://downwindersatrisk.org/txi-landfill.html
http://www.cementchina.net/news/shownews.asp?id=7516

http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2010/10/04/news/doc4ca820569e61d583731101.txt

Air study released
From STAFF REPORTS
Published: Sunday, October 3, 2010 1:35 AM CDT
MIDLOTHIAN – The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has completed a study of air quality in Midlothian and concluded that concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and toxic metals from area industry do not threaten the public’s health and safety, according to city officials.

TCEQ meeting Tuesday

The TCEQ will host an informational meeting from 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5, at the Midlothian Conference Center to answer questions regarding the study and the findings. Both city staff and TCEQ representatives will be present at the come and go meeting.

“The results of this study should be reassuring to everyone. All toxic compounds tested for measured well within the state’s established levels for safe exposure,” Mayor Boyce Whatley said.

TCEQ launched the yearlong program of extensive monitoring in fall 2008. Ambient air samples were taken from eight sites. Four sampling locations were fixed and four were rotating. Sites were selected on the basis of their downwind location from industry as well as their proximity to schools and parks. The study measured 22 different toxic metals and 13 volatile organic compounds.

“Midlothian’s air quality has been tested multiple times over the past 25 or so years,” Whatley said. “Repeatedly, these studies have shown that our air is safe. The positive findings of this study are especially welcome because this was one of the most technically involved of the studies completed to date.”

City officials maintained a strong interest in the study, said Don Hastings, city manager.

“Public safety is mission critical,” Hastings said. “With TCEQ’s encouragement, we asked Midlothian residents to form a focus group to offer input into the study’s design and methodology. The group emphasized the need to test air quality near local schools and parks, and the importance of filling in data gaps, such as chromium VI.”

The collection and analysis of air samples was conducted by the URS Corporation under a contract with TCEQ. For each sampling quarter, 24-hour samples were collected for five consecutive days at five different sampling locations. One sampling day each quarter coincided with the routine sampling at the existing TCEQ Community Air Monitoring Station (known as CAMS 52) that for years has been positioned downwind from two Midlothian industries. The new sampling results corroborated the historical sampling results, Hastings said.

Impetus for the current study came from a 2007 health study review conducted by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Hastings said the TDSHS study, which did not involve the collection and analysis of new air samples, was a scientific review of past toxicology and epidemiology studies to determine whether existing information about Midlothian’s air quality indicated any public safety concerns. Even though the health-related findings of the TDSHS study were largely positive, the study’s conclusion was “indeterminate” because no historical data existed for chromium VI, according to Hastings.

A key objective of the current TCEQ study was to measure ambient concentration levels of chromium VI. According to city officials, the TCEQ study found chromium VI levels at all sampling sites to fall within safe levels.

Prior to the study, one cement plant idled two operating wet kilns indefinitely due to the economic downturn. To address concerns that the study would not capture the same level of pollutants emitted previously, all relevant historical data from monitoring as far back as 2001 was factored into the study, which revealed that today’s data is consistent with the older data, Hastings said.

Additional information about the study can be obtained on the TCEQ website at http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/tox/research/midlothian.html. Those interested may also contact the city of Midlothian at 972-775-7195 or visit www.midlothian.tx.us.

what is the national resource for this?

FYI Joe Barton is the representative of this area...Smokey Joe... which is why I have to be accurate to a fault.

I think you should make up T-shirts, bumper stickers, billboards and buttons and never stop until you get a Progressive Democrat in that seat.