Environment
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“Whether biking the District or walking around the growing number of green spaces in Houston, I am regularly reminded that we must seek sensible solutions to environmental issues. We benefit when we have clean air. This quality of life issue offers businesses the opportunity to more easily recruit workers to our area.” – State Rep. Ellen Cohen
Protecting our environment is key to securing and improving our quality of life. Houston faces unique challenges caused by both transportation and the density of industry. We must pass common sense standards to reduce the dangerous chemical concentrations found in Houston’s air.
Economic growth and an environmental conscience are not on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Efficiency and conservation can ultimately reduce costs and the demand for resources. Cleaner air and green space will attract the workforce needed to supply the growing demands of the Texas Medical Center, local universities, and cutting edge business development.
A glance at Rep. Cohen’s record on the issue of the environment:
- Jointly authored a bill addressing the regulation of fuel quality
- Voted for efforts to recycle computers and other electronic equipment
- Coauthored a bill to extend incentives for clean coal projects that capture carbon dioxide
- Voted for the Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance, Retrofit and Accelerated Retirement Program (LIRAP) and the Texas Emission Reduction Plan (TERP)
- In 2007, Texas ranked second in the amount of hazardous waste generated.
- The Houston area has the densest network of air monitoring stations in the country with 45 different locations measuring ozone and other air pollutants and eight fixed-base auto-gas chromatograph stations in the Ship Channel area capable of measuring trace levels of several air toxics in the ambient air.
- Each Texan generates about seven pounds of garbage every day. We dispose of enough trash every two weeks to fill the Astrodome.
- If Texans recycled and composted all recyclable and compostable materials, we could divert almost 90%, or over 26 million tons a year, of all municipal solid waste from Texas landfills.
