GALVESTON, Texas - The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston will honor Houston Mayor Bill White on Monday, Sept. 14, with its annual HERO award acknowledging his exceptional leadership in reducing regional air pollution.
Dr. David L. Callender, UTMB president, will present the award on behalf of the Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine and the National Institute of Environmental Health Science, which funds a toxicology center at UTMB.
"Mayor White took action to reduce toxic air pollutants and to begin cleaning up the poor air quality in Houston," said Jonathan Ward, a toxicologist who directs the NIEHS Center in Environmental Toxicology at UTMB. "Gradually, the quality of the air we breathe is improving and we are all the beneficiaries."
The presentation will be at 4:30 p.m. in UTMB's Caduceus Room, following an address by Stephen Linder titled "Health Risks from Air Pollution in Houston." Linder is the interim director for the Institute for Health Policy and an associate professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.
During the past two years, Mayor White has taken action that has reduced levels of toxic pollutants butadiene and benzene. He formed a task force of regional scientists and asked them to develop a priority list of pollutants that required his urgent attention. Using data based on improved technologies for monitoring toxic air pollutants, White then negotiated a binding agreement with a facility on the Houston Ship Channel, which was a major source of butadiene. He also built a comprehensive plan for reducing benzene emissions along the channel by controlling chemical releases from specific sources such as refinery flares and tank seals.
Past HERO awards have been presented to Dina Cappiello and Carlos Rios of the Houston Chronicle for their reportage, "In Harm's Way," detailing exposures to toxic air pollutants in Houston neighborhoods and to John D. Wilson, former director of the Galveston Houston Association for Smog Prevention.