By Dallas Morning News - May 28, 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency hasn't asked Texas officials to read between the lines. The EPA hasn't sent mixed signals, and it hasn't acted without warning.
For more than a year, the Obama administration has been beating the same drum, telling the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that its permitting system falls short of federal standards.
Yet some Texas leaders and regulators still seem shocked – shocked – that the EPA made good on its promise last week and stripped the state of some of its permitting powers.
In meeting after meeting, federal officials have urged the TCEQ to change its approach to regulating industrial air pollution. The Texas response to the EPA? You just don't understand.
A key sticking point for federal officials has been our state's "flexible permit" program, which limits emissions from an entire facility instead of requiring each unit to meet pollution standards. Environmental experts have argued that the Texas approach allows some individual units to spew more toxins than permitted by law. The EPA says that the program violates the Clean Air Act.
For their part, TCEQ officials have argued – again and again – that the flexible permits are simply misunderstood. Commission chairman Bryan Shaw and executive director Mark Vickery are saying some of the right things, touting the importance of a collaborative process and a willingness to work with the EPA.
But they've offered only words – not deeds – in this saga. And they continue to make the same argument, somehow expecting a different result.
Incredibly, Gov. Rick Perry has weighed in with what amounts to self-righteous indignation, claiming that the federal government has "put a bull's-eye on the backs of hardworking Texans." If anyone should shoulder responsibility for leaving industrial facilities in this uncomfortable position, it's Perry.
The TCEQ is populated entirely with Perry appointees, who have been told in no uncertain terms that businesses' interests are a top priority. Ultimately, though, it's businesses that could pay a price for the state's lack of rigor in enforcing environmental regulations.
So far, the EPA's takeover has been limited to the permit governing an East Corpus Christi refinery. But that's just a warning shot.
Federal officials have identified dozens of other Texas permits that violate the Clean Air Act. And if state regulators don't show compliance within the next month, the EPA could take decisive action.
TCEQ officials plan to continue talks with their federal counterparts. But the argument that "we're so misunderstood" doesn't amount to a strategy or a way forward.
State regulators could do Texas industry a favor by taking a more aggressive approach to enforcement. Otherwise, the state will be handing the reins to the EPA.
Clean Air Act violations
The EPA identified several problems with the draft operating permit for a Flint Hills Resources refinery in East Corpus Christi. The permit, written by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, violates the Clean Air Act because it:
• Improperly relies on the refinery's separate "flexible" permit, which itself does not comply with the Clean Air Act.
• Obscures key requirements by directing the reader to other documents instead of stating the requirements plainly. The Clean Air Act mandates a "clear and meaningful" statement of permit provisions so the public can monitor a facility's operations.
• Requires just three years of environmental record-keeping. The Clean Air Act requires five years.
• Fails to identify the specific equipment covered by some requirements.
• Omits information needed to determine if the refinery should have been subject to enhanced scrutiny.
SOURCE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Read more in the Dallas Morning News
Showing posts with label federal sanctions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federal sanctions. Show all posts
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Local Leaders Criticize State Clean-Air Effort
By Scott Streater, Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Thursday, 7 June 2007
Local leaders are becoming frustrated with the ongoing efforts to devise a plan to clean up ozone in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The state approved a clean-air plan last month, but federal regulators say it is flawed and may not do enough to cut pollution and bring the region into compliance with ground-level ozone standards by a 2010 deadline.
Failure to meet that deadline would subject the nine-county region to severe federal sanctions that limit economic development.
The state's plan has been roundly criticized by local leaders for not doing enough to crack down on the cement kilns in Ellis County or on the tons of pollution emitted from the millions of cars and trucks that pass through the Metroplex each day.
Local leaders want to be involved in deciding what revisions are made to the plan.
"Right now we're outside the loop," Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said. "In serious public health issues like air quality we should all be rowing in the same direction, but somebody dropped an oar."
The issue
Richard Greene, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator in Dallas, has warned that the State Implementation Plan -- which outlines exact steps the region will take to meet federal ozone standards -- is flawed and may not be approved by the EPA.
Among the problems: The state appears to have seriously underestimated the amount of pollution emitted by small compressor engines that power natural gas rigs and transmission pipelines in the region.
State regulators say the plan is fine, but they have indicated that they will make revisions to the plan where needed.
Why it's important
Ozone is a health concern. Ozone concentrations above federal health-based standards can trigger asthma attacks and worsen the conditions of those suffering from emphysema, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments.
The nine-county region -- Tarrant, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker and Rockwall counties -- faces severe federal sanctions if it fails to complete a federally approved clean-air plan, including the possible loss of tens of millions of dollars in highway funding.
What's next
The EPA will meet again with state environmental regulators, perhaps as early as this month, to try and resolve concerns that the clean-air plan won't work.
Read more
Local leaders are becoming frustrated with the ongoing efforts to devise a plan to clean up ozone in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The state approved a clean-air plan last month, but federal regulators say it is flawed and may not do enough to cut pollution and bring the region into compliance with ground-level ozone standards by a 2010 deadline.
Failure to meet that deadline would subject the nine-county region to severe federal sanctions that limit economic development.
The state's plan has been roundly criticized by local leaders for not doing enough to crack down on the cement kilns in Ellis County or on the tons of pollution emitted from the millions of cars and trucks that pass through the Metroplex each day.
Local leaders want to be involved in deciding what revisions are made to the plan.
"Right now we're outside the loop," Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said. "In serious public health issues like air quality we should all be rowing in the same direction, but somebody dropped an oar."
The issue
Richard Greene, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator in Dallas, has warned that the State Implementation Plan -- which outlines exact steps the region will take to meet federal ozone standards -- is flawed and may not be approved by the EPA.
Among the problems: The state appears to have seriously underestimated the amount of pollution emitted by small compressor engines that power natural gas rigs and transmission pipelines in the region.
State regulators say the plan is fine, but they have indicated that they will make revisions to the plan where needed.
Why it's important
Ozone is a health concern. Ozone concentrations above federal health-based standards can trigger asthma attacks and worsen the conditions of those suffering from emphysema, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments.
The nine-county region -- Tarrant, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker and Rockwall counties -- faces severe federal sanctions if it fails to complete a federally approved clean-air plan, including the possible loss of tens of millions of dollars in highway funding.
What's next
The EPA will meet again with state environmental regulators, perhaps as early as this month, to try and resolve concerns that the clean-air plan won't work.
Read more
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