I hope something comes out of this...driving 55 on the beltway is going to be tough. Perry waves caution flag on 55 mph limit Governor asks pollution officials to look for alternative measures By RAD SALLEE Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle What goes up may soon be coming down. One week before the Texas Department of Transportation is scheduled to install new 55 mph speed limit signs on major freeways in the Houston area, Gov. Rick Perry signed a letter Monday asking state pollution control and highway officials to look for alternative measures. The so-called environmental speed limit is one component of the state's plan to reduce ozone pollution in the eight-county Houston region to meet U.S. Clean Air Act limits by 2007. But opponents, and even some environmentalists, say the reduced speed limit -- which does not apply to federally regulated long-haul trucks and other mobile sources of pollution -- is likely to be ineffective in curing the area's severe smog problem. Ground level ozone is a major component of smog, and nitrogen oxides (NOX), which the speed limit is intended to reduce, contributes to ozone formation. One official skeptical of the measure's effectiveness is Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, who in a recent letter sought Perry's assistance "to halt the implementation of the 55 mph environmental speed limit." In response, Perry's letter says he has offered the state's top pollution control official, Jeff Saitas, "my help in promoting environmentally sound alternate strategies to reduce air pollution while returning to the higher speed limit in the Houston/Galveston area." Saitas is executive director of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, which enforces air quality regulations in Texas. However, Perry's letter also said he will "not do anything to jeopardize our good standing with regard to the Clean Air Act" or state plans to comply with it. Meanwhile, Fort Bend and Brazoria county officials asked an Austin judge Friday to block the signs from going up in their counties. Harris County Attorney Mike Stafford said he will not join in that lawsuit. However, he and Eckels have said that if new research fails to justify the reduced speed limit, and the signs stay up anyway, they are prepared to sue. Even if the signs do come down, they could go up again, depending on the response from judges and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That could send taxpaying motorists digging into their pockets to pay for the change-out again, and scratching their heads in confusion. Under the area clean air plan, the reduced speed limit is to be in force by May 1 throughout Harris, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Montgomery, Liberty, Chambers and Waller counties. It takes effect on a stretch of road as soon as the signs go up. State District Judge Margaret Cooper in Austin scheduled a hearing for Monday on a request by Brazoria and Fort Bend counties for a temporary restraining order against further sign installation. The counties' lawyer, Robert "Robin" Morse III of Houston, contends the suburban counties add little to the area's smog problem and that the decision to reduce the speed limit did not follow procedures set out in state law. In preparation for the court date, the transportation department's Houston district office is scrambling to figure the cost of the sign change. Carlos Lopez, the department's director of traffic operations, earlier estimated that cost at $1 million. The Houston area has more than 4,000 speed limit signs on 1,677 miles of state-maintained highway. Some of the changes can be effected by placing new numeral stickers on existing signs, said transportation department spokeswoman Gaby Garcia. But the cost in public bewilderment, if nothing else, would be significant. Meanwhile, local transportation department spokeswoman Janelle Gbur said that unless installation is halted, the signs will be up on all state highways and farm-to-market roads throughout the district by Friday. "There are seven back roads left," she said. And next Monday, Gbur said, crews will begin changing the signs on area freeways. "We have been given no authority to stop," Gbur said. TNRCC spokesman Andy Saenz said Monday -- before the governor's letter was signed -- that the agency has no plans to lift the 55 mph limit without an alternative measure to put in its place. Eckels and other critics of the speed limit note that it is based, in part, on air quality models that suggest it would accomplish less than 2 percent of the needed reductions in NOX. Eckels contends new data from a later air quality model called Mobile 6, also approved by the EPA, and from an ongoing study of the area's smog problem called Texas Air Quality 2000, indicate the actual reduction would be far less. Eckels says TNRCC officials share his skepticism about the speed limit's effectiveness and are considering the county's arguments. That's one reason, Stafford said, why "we don't feel now is the time to take the legal action Fort Bend County and Brazoria County are taking." "They say they're running into roadblocks. We are not running into roadblocks. We have reason to believe this can be worked out." Based on recent conversations with TNRCC officials, Stafford said, he believes that "they recognize the validity of our arguments, at least to the extent that we need to test them." Eckels said he supports most aspects of TNRCC's air quality plan and hopes new data will show by June whether the speed limit reduction will work. Regardless of what speed motorists will finally follow, the overall air quality plan will remain under attack from other directions. A Houston business group has sued, contending the required 90 percent reduction in NOX emissions from industry is too stringent. Environmentalists also have sued, saying the plan will fail to achieve needed reductions by the 2007 deadline.
