State grant would support more city air quality planning

Editor’s note: This story has been clarified to distinguish between when the Coastal Bend Air Quality Partnership was formed and when it became a nonprofit.

A local air quality program will likely be infused with six figures in funding for its next year.

Through the city’s health department, a state grant of about $424,000 would be earmarked for air quality planning work through fiscal year 2025, according to city documents.

If approved by the City Council, records show the grant would augment roughly $700,000 in funding already set aside for the city over the past three years that is intended to measure certain air pollutants and help track what is known as “attainment” status for the area.

An area being in attainment means certain kinds of air pollutants are within federally allowed concentrations, and monitoring data is largely used by state and federal environmental agencies for regulatory purposes.

Exceeding those values can lead to tighter restrictions and steeper costs for a wide range of activities in an area – particularly those related to growth – including road construction and industrial development.

Headed by economist Jim Lee, a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi study estimated that the region losing attainment status could cost between $586 million and $1.7 billion annually.

Collecting monitoring data also has an additional value, wrote Dr. Fauzia Khan, public health director, in an email to the Caller-Times.

“Air quality data is a public health indicator,” she wrote. “Residents with respiratory conditions such as asthma rely on air quality data to make informed decisions about engaging in outdoor activities.”

Monitoring efforts can range from long-term recording of certain weather conditions – such as wind speed – and trends related to air pollutant concentrations, according to documents.

City officials have a contract in place with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi for air quality planning work. The funding would support, in part, continuing the existing contract, records show.

In recent years there has been an uptick in air quality monitoring efforts in the Nueces and San Patricio counties airshed – among those being citizen-supported monitors. The Coastal Bend Air Quality Partnership, which has existed for several decades, also formally formed as a nonprofit.

More: The Port of Corpus Christi has a new environmental policy. Here's what it means.

More: 'Run the race': Here's who will lead the new Coastal Bend Air Quality Partnership

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: State grant support more air quality planning Corpus Christi