EPA overturns 16-year-old Texas permit program

[sonias]

AAS 6/30/10
EPA overturns 16-year-old Texas permit program

HOUSTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday officially overturned a 16-year-old Texas air permitting program it says violates the Clean Air Act, leaving some of the country's largest refineries in a state of limbo.

The move comes after years of backdoor bickering, negotiations and public arguments between the EPA and Texas. The argument recently escalated from a battle over environmental issues into a heated political dispute over states' rights.

(snip)
The EPA's decision, announced in a statement, will force some 140 refineries and petrochemical plants to invest millions of dollars to get new permits. Many of the plants may also have to invest in updates to comply with federal regulations.

The decision did not come as a surprise to Texas or the industries. EPA regional director Al Armendariz has said for months he would disapprove the permits if Texas did not comply with the Clean Air Act.

The EPA's move on Wednesday addresses Texas' so-called flexible permits, which set a general limit on how much air pollutants an entire facility can release. The federal Clean Air Act requires state-issued permits to set limits on each of the dozens of individual production units inside a plant. The EPA says Texas' system masks pollution and makes it impossible to regulate emissions and protect public health.

:bounce::woohoo: For clean air and water in Texas!

Although Rick Perry is going to drag us through the courts before he gets Texas to comply. :mad:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

1. Our air quality has went to hell in the past 10-years

I'm thrilled to see this and I hope it's implemented ASAP! :woohoo:

Thanks for sharing!

[tbyg52]

7. As did just about everything else. nt

[sonias]

9. You mean lawsuits?

You're right. There is no single progress in the last 3 decades, that I can think of that didn't come as a result of a lawsuit. So sad. :(

[sonias]

2. EPA rejects air permits at 122 facilities in Texas

Houston Chronicle 6/30/10
EPA rejects air permits at 122 facilities in Texas

AUSTIN — The Environmental Protection Agency today rejected the flexible air permits of 122 facilities in Texas, leaving them without legal operating permits, said Regional Administrator Al Armendariz.

In the Houston area, the facilities include the Exxon Mobil Baytown facility, the Shell Oil Deer Park refinery, the Chevron Phillips Pasadena plastics complex, the BP Texas City refinery and the Valero Texas City refinery.

Armendariz said none of the facilities will be required to shut down while obtaining a new operating permit.

(snip)
The flexible permit system was adopted in 1995 to allow facilities greater latitude in controlling air emissions as a facility. One portion of a facility could pollute more than another so long as the overall emissions from the plant did not violate federal air standards.

The EPA began action to revoke the flexible permit system in 2007 under former President George Bush. An industry lawsuit against the EPA set today as a deadline for EPA to declare whether the state system was legal. Armendariz chose to say it is not.

Perry has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century!

[sonias]

3. EPA takes over TCEQ air quality permitting

Texas Tribune 6/30/10
EPA takes over TCEQ air quality permitting

The Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t think Texas is doing enough to keep its air clean, so today the agency is expected to tell the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that the feds will take over air quality permitting for about 39 plants. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.

Audio story at link above.

:kick:

[sonias]

4. EPA Disapproves Texas Flexible Air Permit Program

EPA Region 6 Press Release 6/30/10
EPA Disapproves Texas Flexible Air Permit Program
The Environmental Protection Agency disapproved the Texas Flexible Permit Program that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had submitted for inclusion in its federally approved State Implementation Plan. “Today’s action improves our ability to provide citizens of Texas with clean air by requiring companies to set individual pollution limits and will assure that all air emitting sources are properly permitted under the Clean Air Act,” said Al Armendariz, Regional Administrator. The Environmental Protection Agency intends to continue working with the state and interested parties as air quality permits are transitioned in a gradual and structured manner to be consistent with state and federal law.

:toast: to Al Armendariz our Region 6 Administrator, who by the way is a Texan!

[onestepforward]

11. I knew Armendariz would do a good job!

Stay strong, Al!
:toast:

[onestepforward]

12. A little information about Al Armendariz

I had forgotten just how cool this guy is:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=180&topic_id=62657&mesg_id=62664

[northoftheborder]

5. Yea..... for Texas health.....

Yes, Perry and others in Texas who hold inordinate power over the whole state apparatus will fight it to the death.... but maybe EPA will win in the end. Maybe we'll get Bill White in the governor's chair in November, which would help.

[white cloud]

6. Wonderful job with the stories

Ya for the EPA for there "Act of God"

[sonias]

8. Why doesn't Perry see this an "Act of God"?

I'll take it as an invisible hand in correcting the "Act of Satan" bush and perry forced down the air breathers and water drinkers in Texas. :evilgrin:

[sonias]

10. We need Bill White - ASAP

Just like bush left this whole country in the ditch, Perry has done the same with Texas. It's going to take decades to clean up the mess they left.

:kick: the whole lot of Rs out!

[white cloud]

13. It getting old

Cleaning the mess the republican leave . Spend spend spend on the worker taxes.

[sonias]

14. Environmental Regulators Split, and Politicians Pounce

Texas Tribune 7/1/10
Environmental Regulators Split, and Politicians Pounce

The battle over Texas' environmental regulations came to a head Wednesday as the Environmental Protection Agency shot down the state's air-pollution permitting regime for large plants. It's the latest episode in a larger cultural and political fracas pitting Texas against Washington — and business against government — that continues to take center stage in the race for governor.

(snip)
Democratic gubernatorial challenger Bill White, meanwhile, faces the awkward task of casting the EPA dustup as a Perry failure while not appearing too cozy with the Obama administration — from which he already has taken pains to distance himself. A former official at the federal Department of Energy, White said the EPA decision highlights long-standing deficiencies in Texas, along with Perry's habit of spending more time bashing Washington than working for Texas. "Instead of solving a problem that he was alerted to by the Bush administration, Perry created a confrontation with the EPA in order to write new chapter in his book about the federal government," White said in a statement. "His failure is bad for Texas businesses. I guarantee that as governor, I'll bring permitting authority back to Texas where it belongs."

(snip)
"Texas is operating on a completely different plane," Tejada said. "They take the federal requirements, and they bend them at every end. So they don't break, but they sure don't resemble the federal requirements anymore."

Under the state's flexible permitting system, administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, plants must meet an overall cap on emissions but can choose the most expeditious manner to do so. Texas has had flexible permitting in place since the mid-1990s, and environmentalists have been fighting the system ever since. The EPA's permitting requirements, which are carried out by individual state agencies like the TCEQ, are more precise, specifying limits for the units within each facility. This is important, environmentalists say, to ensure that pollutants aren't too concentrated in one area of the plant, which could endanger people in nearby developments.

:kick:

[onestepforward]

15. Perry: Texas could team up with other states to fight EPA

http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2010/07/perry_texas_cou.html

Gov. Rick Perry suggested Texas could team up with other states in its effort to fight the EPA's rejection of key elements of the state's air permitting program.

Another lawsuit may not be needed after the EPA disapproved flexible permits, since Texas already had filed a case after the federal agency rejected another rule, Perry said.

But he said he'd consult with Attorney General Greg Abbott to see if there are "further efforts that we need to be making -- if we need to be joining with other states, because my inclination here is that if they do this to Texas, then Louisiana is next, then Mississippi is next, then California is next."

"I can't believe that those state governors and those state legislators want to just throw up their hands and say, 'Listen Washington, y'all come run our states. We think you all can do a better job of running our states than we can,'" Perry said.

EPA has said the action is necessary because Texas isn't in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

[sonias]

16. "Listen Washington, y'all come run our states."

Well in the case of environmental regulation - I welcome the EPA because Perry and the TCEQ are a joke regarding any kind of meaningful regulation and oversight. In fact the TCEQ is nothing more than a captured agency that actually works for polluters against the interests of the citizens of Texas.

Pollution permits are up for sale in Texas and Perry's crew at the TCEQ sells them pretty cheap. And Perry gets the polluting industry support in the form of campaign contributions. It's a win-win for Perry's polluters. But it's killing Texans slowly with increased heath care costs.

This is just another failed leadership example in Perry's long history of failure. :grr:

[justabob]

17. this will probably help

Refinery blast in Texas City before the oil fountain started.... been spewing toxins for weeks before BP notified anyone.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4452806

[sonias]

18. I read that article earlier today

It's a disaster waiting to happen again. The OSHA fine is being appealed by BP and not much has changed at the Texas City plant. What the hell are the Feds waiting for? This should be the absolutely first plant that EPA and OSHA bring inspectors to. And shut it down until they make it safe.

I know it's hard for people to be without jobs and I'm not saying that should be discounted. But if you are scared to go to work each day because the place you work in is not safe and you fear for your life, what kind of life is that?

We can do better than this - and force BP to clean up its act. It's not like they don't have the money - it's the will they lack. So force them to do it - period!

[justabob]

19. we absolutely can do better - must do better

I know what you mean about the jobs, i sure don't want people to suffer that way either, but this crap has to stop. Too many people in too many places are being harmed too many ways for this to be acceptable.