Today, ACT’s most recent publication–”TCEQ Air Permitting and Enforcement: Improving Texas’ Air through the Sunset Review Process”– is featured in the Texas Tribune. The paper is available for download in PDF.

From the introduction:

On its surface, Texas’ air quality is an issue so intricate in its detail and so sensitive to our fickle Texas weather as to confound even the most committed observer. Our state environmental agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), is tasked with not only understanding our state’s air but with regulating it to ensure that its quality does not pose a threat to human health or environmental integrity. This regulation entails an enormous effort that includes air monitoring, health advisories, toxicological sampling and air modeling research. The foundation of air quality regulation in Texas as it is in any other state, however, is permitting and the effective enforcement of those permits. Read the rest of this entry »

Every time the TCEQ commissioners meet, they make decisions that affect the health of thousands of Texans. They issue permits meant to keep the amount of pollutants in our air and water at relatively safe levels. They make decisions about the policies and procedures the agency will follow. And they assess and impose the penalties that are supposed to punish those who break the law and deter others from doing so.

This week, the TCEQ commissioners have two items on their agenda of particular interest to those who share ACT’s view that the TCEQ’s primary mission should be to protect public health. The first is the decision on the air permit for the Las Brisas pet coke power plant in Corpus Christi. The other is the proposed change in water standards that would allow a far greater concentration of bacteria–including E. Coli–before a stream or river is considered potentially harmful.

The Las Brisas decision is important on several levels. First, and most importantly, if the commissioners decide to grant the permit, Corpus Christi and its surrounding communities will face another major contributor to air pollution. Asthma rates in Corpus Christi are already above the state average. This permit decision also comes at a time when the TCEQ air permitting program is in the spotlight.

ACT has an additional interest in the Las Brisas permit because it’s been the subject of a contested case hearing. In March, the administrative law judges recommended that TCEQ deny the permit. On Wednesday, the TCEQ commissioners have the last word. It is within their power to grant the permit, to deny it, or to remand the case back the the State Office of Administrative Hearings for additional evidence or for a technical review. The point is, the commissioners can choose to accept the decision handed down by the body designated to evaluate these types of cases or to override that decision and grant the permit. If the commissioners were to grant the permit, they would essentially indicate that the contested case process–the public’s most important tool for influencing the permitting process–is more of a formality than an essential process that ensures that the public’s best interests are met.

The decision about bacteria standards in streams and rivers is another opportunity for the commissioners to demonstrate their commitment to public health. Some of the revisions proposed by the staff – over objections from the public – would weaken protections from bacteria pollution and undermine efforts to keep or make Texas water bodies clean enough for swimming, boating, wading, canoeing, kayaking, and other recreational activities. In the middle of another hot summer, Texans need to know that our rivers and streams are safe.

On Wednesday, the TCEQ commissioners have the chance to do the right thing and let Texans know that our health comes first. Here’s hoping that’s what they do.