EPA Messes With Texas.
From K.B. Battaglini, GT Houston.
The EPA, alleging that Texas' 16-year-old pollution permitting program does not comply with the Federal Clean Air Act, has issued a Final Rule "disapproving revisions to the SIP...that relate to the State's Flexible Permits Program." The program, which permits companies to com
bine emissions from multiple sources under a single facility cap instead of imposing specific emissions limits for each individual polluting source, supposedly damages "public health and the environment by allowing companies to avoid clean air requirements." The disapproval of the flexible permits program affects the existing permits of 125 or more industrial facilities in Texas. In turn, Texas has sued the EPA, asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to review the EPA's action.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state regulatory authority, says its program not only complies with the Clean Air Act, but that it also has contributed to improved air quality in Texas. On June 16, the TCEQ had submitted proposed revisions to its flexible permitting program in an attempt to work with the federal government. According to TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw, the proposed revisions were not considered by the EPA in issuing the Final Rule. Texas Governor Rick Perry blasted the action, calling it "irresponsible and heavy-handed." Perry, believing that the EPA is blinded by an activist agenda, vowed to continue to fight "this federal takeover of a successful state program."
