| The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formally disapproved of Texas's flexible air permit plan after over a year of wrangling between the federal agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The EPA contends that the program, which has been managed by TCEQ since 1995, does not comply with the Clean Air Act. The state claims that its permitting process is effective in reducing air pollution and that the EPA's actions will unnecessarily hurt Texas' economy. The debate came to a head on May 25th, 2010 when the EPA took over control of an air quality permit for a Corpus Christi power plant and threatened to take over 39 more if the TCEQ did not change its permitting process.
At issue are Texas' controversial 'flexible permits' which allow facilities to group emissions from multiple smokestacks under one permit. In most other states, flexible permits are limited to minor emission sources, but in Texas they are given to large facilities, especially along the gulf coast. At larger facilities, a significant number of smokestacks could fall under the same permit, allowing some smokestacks to emit over the legal limit and raising concerns about the practical enforceability of emissions limits for each smokestack.
Perry isn't taking the affront to his stellar environmental record lying down. On June 14th, 2010, State Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a federal court challenge to the EPA's actions. The state is arguing that the EPA had a year from when TCEQ submitted the revised rules for the permitting program (1996) to act on them, but they did not do so until 14 years later.
"We are defending our flexible air permitting program because it works," said TCEQ Chairman Bryan W. Shaw in a press release. "EPA is not able to demonstrate how our program is less protective of the environment than the bureaucratic federal approach. EPA's philosophy of more bureaucracy by federalizing state permits will not lead to cleaner air, but will drive up energy costs and kill job creation at a time when people can least afford it."
Perry has been billing the conflict as an economic and states' rights issue more than an environmental issue, which may play well with voters, but hasn't convinced the EPA to back down so far. |
"Washington's latest attempt to intrude on the state's authority not only undermines Texas' successful clean air programs, but it will cost the state tens of thousands of jobs," Gov. Perry said in a press release. "Texas has a common-sense approach to permitting that has dramatically improved air quality while helping create jobs and grow our state economy. Yet the federal government continues to place a target on the backs of hardworking Texans, including these two additional facilities, their employees and the Texans they serve."
Perry's claim that Texas has dramatically improved air quality is a tricky one. Statements from his office contained statistics on pollution reduction due to the state's air quality programs - a 22 percent reduction in ozone since 2000 and a 46 percent decrease in nitrogen oxide (a precursor to ozone) since 2002. Politifact.com rated these claims as half-true, citing concerns about how the data was collected and difficulty attributing the cause of the reductions to state or federal programs.
"Whether the state gets the credit for those improvements is another issue. Even if TCEQ is responsible for the drop in industrial NOx emissions, federal efforts -- namely vehicle emission regulations -- also have helped lower ozone levels," wrote Politifact's Meghan Ashford-Grooms.
Despite improvements, the five largest cities in the state have all had problems meeting federal air quality standards, and regions that include El Paso, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Galveston Brazoria, Port Arthur and Beaumont are still not in compliance. In August, when federal regulations tighten, other areas, including Austin, will be in 'nonattainment' as well.
Unsurprisingly, local environmental groups are on the EPA's side, calling on citizens to sign petitions and donate in support of the EPA's efforts to keep Texas in line. The American Lung Association (ALA) doesn't think too highly of Texas's pollution reduction efforts either. 21 out of the 30 biggest counties got an F on the state's ozone report card in the 2010 ALA State of the Air report.
While Perry and his appointees are busy with their political posturing, the EPA may be able to find some common ground with businesses and state regulators affected by their actions. Two days after Abbott filed his suit against the EPA, TCEQ proposed changes to the program rules that state officials said would clarify the process and bring the program into compliance with the Clean Air Act, although the proposed changes would not go into effect until the end of the summer. The EPA has announced plans for an audit program for companies that hold the flexible permits to determine compliance with the Clean Air Act. The EPA would also offer companies protection from civil prosecution if any problems were found during the audit.
Two Administrative Law Judges have recommended that TCEQ deny an air permit for the proposed Las Brisas Energy Center, a large petroleum coke-fired power plant that the Texas Sierra Club estimates will emit more pollution than all the existing refineries in Corpus Christi combined. The three person environmental commission is set to vote on their recommendations today. Let's hope the TCEQ takes the EPA's concerns seriously, follows through with the ALJ's recommendations, and doesn't let Perry's politics and presidential ambition get in the way of the environmental progress Texas has been making in spite of him. |
