Our Task Force team prioritized mitigation strategies for our first Port Arthur site selection. Local leaders evaluated each strategy from our SETx-UFIL water and air team that addressed specific site challenges. Stakeholders, with our team, prioritized these strategies from high to low importance. This exercise stimulated many ideas, and one stakeholder wanted to extend the activity to the greater Port Arthur community.

The following is an example of a strategy card deck.

Air Quality Buffers

Property buyouts, plant buffers, conservation buffer, setbacks, buffer zones, and vegetative environmental buffers.

• Description of strategy: Air quality buffers are vegetation that is planted next to a pollutant with the intention of capturing and filtering air pollutants.
• Scale: Block or neighborhood.
• Benefits: Carbon sequestration to reduce greenhouse gases, temperature reduction through shading, and improved air quality by capturing pollutants.
• Challenges: Potential environmental justice concerns from property buyouts, which may leave homeowners near pollution sources with insufficient relocation funds. Additionally, the significant land requirement can limit feasibility in densely populated or urban areas.
• Local example: In Jefferson County, Texas, industrial facilities have created green buffers to reduce air pollution near residential areas.