A newly formed group, the Healthy Port Communities Coalition, wants the Port of Houston to take the lead in reducing diesel pollution from trucks, trains, ships and other transport-related equipment. The exhaust from heavy engines is linked to asthma attacks, increased respiratory infections, hospitalizations and school absences. Dr. Lance Hallberg, with UTMB’s Environmental Exposure Facility said, “It brings the community's concerns out into the open, and everybody can start looking at them. It gives us a starting place.” Any true research, he says, must begin by designating control groups from areas of Houston outside the influence of the Ship Channel, a kind of study Hallberg has been involved in previously.