• Program Name: Air Quality Health Alert Notification (AQHA)


• Funding Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG)
  
• Sponsoring Agency: Alamo Area Council of Governments


• Program Description: The AQHA program provides advance notice of days when ozone pollution is expected to climb to unhealthy levels. AACOG receives a notification from TCEQ the afternoon before an AQHA day is predicted. AACOG forwards, by e-mail or fax, the alert notification to all businesses and organizations on the AQHA notification list. Businesses are encouraged to pass the information to employees so that they can take measures to cut emissions (such as carpooling) the following day. AACOG can provide employers with outreach materials that provide a list of emission-reduction measures for their employees. Businesses may also purchase a banner to fly on AQHA days.


• Reduction Methodology: Program promotes public awareness of the relationship between air quality and health and provides recommendations for avoiding exposure and reducing emissions.


• Benefits: Air quality improvement


• Other: Contact AACOG’s Commute Solutions Coordinator to sign up for the program and obtain outreach materials. Materials available from AACOG include the AQHA banner, EPA’s “Ozone and Your Health” brochure, “El Ozuno y Su Salud” brochure in Spanish, “Ozone–Good Up High, Bad Nearby” brochure, “Air Quality Guide for Ozone” flier, and “Smog–Who Does It Hurt?” booklet.
  

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• Program Name: Drive Clean Across Texas


• Sponsoring Agency: Jointly sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Federal Highway Administration


• Program Description: Drive Clean Across Texas is the nation’s first statewide public outreach and public education campaign designed to boost awareness and change attitudes about air pollution and to ultimately inspire changes in driving behavior that will help clean up the air in Texas. Although industrial activities contribute significantly to air pollution, cars and trucks create most of the harmful emissions, so the initial focus of the campaign is on mobile source pollution.


• Reduction Methodology: Program promotes several vehicle-related emission reduction strategies (vehicle maintenance, driving less, purchasing cleaner vehicles, and vehicle operation measures.)


• Benefits: Public awareness
  

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• Program Name: It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air


• Sponsoring Agency: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)


• Program Description: It All Adds Up is a unique public education and partnership- building initiative developed to help communities reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. The program seeks to inform the public about the connection between their transportation choices, traffic congestion and air pollution, and emphasizes simple, convenient actions people can take to improve air quality and reduce congestion.


• Reduction Methodology: Program promotes transportation related strategies to reduce pollution


• Benefits: Public awareness
  

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For more information about the program or to consult with an ACAP team member about pollution reduction programs appropriate for your business, contact:

Brenda Williams
Projects Manager–Natural Resources Department
Alamo Area Council of Governments
8700 Tesoro Drive, Suite 700
San Antonio, TX 78217
(210) 362-5246
bwilliams@aacog.com