Brace Yourselves!! Report Finds That TX Environmental Regulators Reluctant To Enforce Regulations!!

[hatrack]

Texas lawmakers heard from dozens of Texans on Wednesday who pleaded with them to fix the state’s environmental agency, which they said is failing to reduce pollution in their neighborhoods. At a hearing on a report evaluating the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s effectiveness, Texans as young as 9 and as old as 80 testified that the agency had not adequately responded to their environmental or health concerns.

From Hill Country river pollution to concrete batch plants in Houston to smog in urban areas, residents from across the state spent hours telling lawmakers about environmental problems in their communities and complaining that the agency isn’t doing its job regulating the industry. “We’ve been taught that pollution is not good for our health and growing brains, so I wonder why TCEQ keeps permitting plants that pollute our air and water,” said Natalie Diamond, 9, of Gunter, who testified after her mother, who advocates for clean air in their community.

EDIT

The staff found that TCEQ commissioners, at times, encouraged the industry to “self police,” deferred hard decisions to staff and flagged several transparency problems that, in the report’s assessment, have contributed to an overall public distrust of the agency. “The commissioners’ lack of visibility in and ownership of TCEQ decision making has only inspired further frustration and distrust among both the regulated community and environmental advocates,” the report said.

EDIT

But few of those recommendations appeared palatable to state lawmakers serving on the Sunset Committee, who pushed back at the report’s finding that the public didn’t trust the agency and raised concerns that adding a new meeting to the permit review process would strain an already under-resourced agency. State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, questioned the finding that the industry was unhappy with the environmental agency, and state Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, said the Sunset staff recommendations would increase the cost to do business in Texas. “We will see more bureaucracy,” Clardy said. “More regulation is going to be more expensive for individuals and companies.”

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https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/22/texas-commission-environmental-quality-sunset-hearing/

[blm]

1. Shocked.

😒