While others rush to get right with the feds, Texas essentially tells EPA- stick it. [Archive]

libertyjam

10-31-2010, 01:42 PM

In a blistering letter published earlier in the week, the head of Texas’s environmental agency and the State’s attorney general told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): ”Texas has neither the authority nor the intention of interpreting, ignoring, or amending its laws in order to compel the permitting of greenhouse gas regulations.”
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More pertinently, Shaw and Abbott sent their letter on August 2, 2010, the deadline EPA had set in its Final Tailoring Rule (p. 31582) for States to explain how they plan to apply Clean Air Act permitting programs to stationary sources of greenhouse gases. Instead, the Texas officials all but told EPA to go jump in the lake.

http://www.openmarket.org/2010/08/06/tceq-to-epa-dont-mess-with-texas/

As expected, clean-air advocates are excited by the EPA's latest move.
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/09/tceq_epa_illegal.php

Correspondence between EPA and TCEQ regarding Texas Air Permitting Program
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/permitting/air/announcements/nsr_announce_9_5_07.html

Soward, a former Perry aide, said the fundamental problem of the TCEQ is that state law set it up to favor industry. He said he often had to vote for permits he did not like because state law does not allow the agency to change a permit up for renewal without the operator’s agreement.
http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=28779

With a recent debacle about air quality not being reported correctly to the City of Fort Worth and the revolving door between TCEQ members and the energy companies they are supposed to regulate, the TCEQ is suffering from a real image problem.

This showdown will also play into the Governor's race, with Bill White on the side of environmental responsibility and Rick Perry on the side of laissez faire industry.

It's nearly high noon, and the new Sheriff is in town.
http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/lubbockleft/2010-06-07/epa-vs-tceq

TCEQ Chairman Bryan W. Shaw said in a press release that the flexible-permit program complies with federal regulations and that "air quality could actually suffer" if the program is cut. The Texas Oil & Gas Association also criticized EPA's decision.

The state's flexible air-permit program, launched 16 years ago, caps emissions of air pollutants from an entire facility, but the EPA wants to scrutinize and restrict emissions from every polluting unit of a plant. Stricter rules are expected to add costs for companies holding flex permits and limit operational flexibility.
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Jen Powis, senior regional representative for the Sierra Club, said that EPA's decision "is incredibly important" precisely because it affects almost all of the state's oil refineries, a major source of emissions. These sites can cover hundreds of acres and stricter monitoring requirements will make it easier to determine whether residents living near a plant property's border are exposed to high concentrations of toxins, she said.

To prevent disruptions at the affected facilities, the EPA said it will discuss with TCEQ and other groups how to convert the state's flexible permits into more detailed permits. EPA is asking affected facilities to participate in a voluntary compliance-audit program to speed up the process to identify emission limits and to set operating and reporting requirements.

Since October, the EPA has filed 39 objection letters to the TCEQ for flexible air permits. Just over a month ago, the agency said it would require privately held refiner Flint Hills Resources LP to apply for an EPA permit for its East Corpus Christi refinery, because the TCEQ flexible air permit it operates under violates the Clean Air Act.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339140408652292.html

Just a few stories about it from a quick search.