The EPA's decision to force the state to comply with federal

[white cloud]

The public spat between Gov. Rick Perry's Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the federal Environmental Protection Agency has been an irresistible sound-bite war for the media. A rogue governor pitted against an aggressive federal agency threatening a takeover perfectly fits the national storyline of states' rights conservatives versus big government liberals. Dim the lights and get the popcorn.

What this story and the last decade have in common, unfortunately, is the absence of an honest commitment to healthy air in Texas.

For the last decade, Texas' official protectors of air quality (the TCEQ) have put business interests ahead of their mission to protect human health. And now they're fighting a battle based on states' rights. The TCEQ's past performance and Perry's present rhetoric demonstrate that air quality and the impacts it has on our health and economy are simply not a priority in Texas. Period.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7062143.html

[sonias]

1. Texans can't wait - we need clean air and water

And the Feds are the only ones that can deliver us from polluter loving Perry and his crony capitalism. Perry is literally selling the right to pollute in Texas with flexible permitting.

He and bushie made Texas a third world nation when it comes to pollution rules - anything goes. Texas has always sided with business against the consumer.

Texas Observer
Texas vs. EPA
Permitted To Pollute
(snip)

"Flex" permits issued by TCEQ give polluters a pass on reducing emissions at individual sources such as smokestacks and storage tanks, instead placing a cap on entire facilities. The EPA and environmental groups say such caps are too lenient and virtually unenforceable, in part because the program is riddled with secrecy.

The Texas attorney general’s office has ruled for years that emissions data must be made public under the Clean Air Act, but often defers to TCEQ to decide what emissions data are released. TCEQ has allowed companies to decide what’s confidential. For example, the flex-permit application for Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Baytown chemical plant lists as "confidential" an analysis of health effects from storage tanks. Exxon also refused to make public details on pollution released during startup, shutdown and maintenance. In 2006, President George W. Bush’s EPA wrote to the TCEQ that withholding such data was contrary to federal and state law. "All emissions data must be made public," the letter stated.

[trungpa ricochet]

2. It's about f***ing time

We left Houston five years ago, partly because of the stink. Every night we could go outside and smell vinyl from a local plant, various other petroleum-based odors, and truck exhaust. All our kids are healthy now.

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3. Cook a Hamburger, Blow Up Your Polluted Town: TV Review

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=iTjd8IS2xBmM

When tap water burns, it’s probably time to admit there’s a problem.

Yet not everyone agrees, which is one of the more disturbing messages of “Gasland,” an HBO documentary about pollution caused by the expanding search for “clean” natural gas in the U.S.

The film, which airs tonight at 9 p.m. New York time, won a special jury prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It was made by Josh Fox, who may go down in history as the Paul Revere of fracking -- short for hydraulic fracturing, the process by which natural gas is extracted.

The story he tells is alarming, educational and sometimes funny.




http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-21/cook-a-hamburger-and-blow-up-your-polluted-fracking-town-tv.html

[sonias]

4. Reminds me of those gas explosions in North Texas a couple of weeks ago

North Texas Gas Explosion

Timely documentary.

:kick:

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5. "Texas-size oil spill right in our own backyards"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YymEw0trVZg&feature=player_embedded

This was posted last week in the video section. It explains that laws and resources are available to clean-up this mess, but without environmental law enforcement, it is meaningless.

I sent this to Jeff Weems, running for RR Commissioner, and to Bill White.

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6. GREAT VIDEO

Thanks

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7. You're welcome!

Big thanks to Joanne98 for posting it last week. I thought is was very informative and I've been spreading it around. :)

[sonias]

8. +10!

Good job getting this message out. I think this needs its own thread. I hadn't seen this video before.

One hundred counties - and that's only the ones with reports. Texas has 254 counties so that's 40% of our counties have possible polluted ground water.

Operators were dumping it carelessly and recklessly. Who the hell can be surprised? This is what voluntary compliance looks like. :grr:

Plus the polluters have Perry and Abbott in their back pockets. Perry and Abbott are Texas sized assholes.

List of 1,200 complaints that go to die at RRC. Think of it as an underground oil plume, like the video says.

Yep this is a job for Jeff to clean up at RRC.

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9. So far, there hasn't been much interest in this story.

Honestly, I just don't get it.

It is a big problem, but it can be cleaned up. I'll keep spreading this video and maybe someone will pick it up.

[sonias]

10. It's important for Texas that's for sure

And it ties into the Gasland documentary that's getting a little bit of press right now.

How about we make it a Texas thread, then we can all k&r and see if it gets a little more attention.

:kick: