madam chairman , today are considering the interior appropriations bill , which provides federal funding for our national parks , as well as the environmental protection agency . 
i agree with the assessment of our ranking member , mr. obey , that this subcommittee has done good work with a difficult allocation . 
i would have preferred more resources devoted to important environmental , land management , and land conservation programs . 
as this bill moves forward , i hope to work with the subcommittee to provide epa funding for a much-needed study on air toxics in east harris county , which lies in the district i represent . 
the houston chronicle recently completed a five-part series titled `` in harm 's way '' that investigated air toxics in these `` fence-line '' communities near industrial facilities . 
in particular , the series noted that the texas commission on environmental quality found that folks residing in some of houston 's east end neighborhoods experience higher levels of potentially carcinogenic compounds than other areas . 
for many years , residents have had concerns and questions about the quality of the air in houston 's east end , the potential relationship to local industry , and the potential health effects on families . 
while it came to few conclusions about health impacts of air toxics in houston , the chronicle series raised an alarm and confirmed that there is a pressing need for a comprehensive air toxics risk assessment to properly identify any adverse health effects and their possible relationship to local industry . 
with support from the epa , the city of houston plans to utilize methods from the epa 's national urban toxics program , which has proven successful in other cities with air quality issues . 
the city of houston , partnering with the university of texas school of public health , is already working to characterize the science and weigh the evidence on health effects . 
federal funding would broaden the scope of these efforts to ensure that we can include the full range of risk assessment activities in our efforts to improve the air in houston . 
the folks in fence-line communities are often the workers who produce many of the essential energy and petrochemical products we all use everyday , and they deserve accurate information about their environment . 
i look forward to working with the epa on this effort and hope that the appropriations committee will see it fit to include this critical funding during conference negotiations on this legislation . 
