Last Tuesday, when the Texas House of Representatives took up the TCEQ Sunset bill, our state representatives had the opportunity to show us where they stand. This legislation, which will “continue” TCEQ for the next twelve years, has been in development for nearly two years. Thousands of people participated in the TCEQ review and recommendation process with the goal of identifying ways to make the agency more effective and efficient. The floor debate was our representatives’ chance to make TCEQ a more effective protector of our health and our environment.

Instead, they decided to make the bill considerably worse.

As Ken Kramer, executive director of the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter, put it, the House of Representatives took a balanced piece of legislation “that reflected the recommendations of the Texas Sunset Commission after a thorough and careful review of the state’s major environmental regulatory agency” and “have given polluters the best present they could have asked for to celebrate Earth Day.”

Without question, one amendment adopted by the House would have a profound impact on Texans’ ability to protect their health and their property. Rep. Warren Chisum offered an amendment to change the contested case hearing process. The proposed changes will mean that thousands of Texas property owners will now find participating in the permitting process even more burdensome and expensive.

Rep. Rafael Anchia, a member of the Sunset Advisory Commission, asked his colleagues to oppose the amendment, explaining that it was completely outside the realm of issues discussed and recommended by the commission. He not only opposed the amendment during the floor debate on Tuesday—Rep. Anchia took the step of offering a counter amendment the following day, on third reading, to strip the contested case hearing amendment from the bill. The video above is from that debate. It explains the changes this amendment would put in place clearly.

ACT remains committed to making TCEQ a stronger and more effective environmental protector and regulator. Our partner and affiliate organizations are working to improve the TCEQ Sunset bill in the Senate. Texans depend on TCEQ to keep the air they breathe clean, the water they drink safe and the land they love preserved for generations to come.

We will fight these efforts to weaken TCEQ. Call your State Senator in Austin now and ask her or him to prevent any debate on the TCEQ Sunset Bill until the crippling House amendments are removed. The people of Texas want a clean bill that does not weaken our state’s environmental regulatory agency.

If you’re not sure who represents you, you can find out here. A list of Senate phone numbers is available here.

ACT supports HB 3328, Chairman Keffer’s hydraulic fracturing fluid disclosure bill, and calls on House Energy Resources to pass it out of committee.  This bill would take a much-needed first step in making information about the chemicals used in fracking fluid public. Currently, the gas drilling industry is not required to register the chemicals used in fracking operations.  This bill would change that.  Interestingly,  Halliburton was nearly alone last week in its opposition at the committee meeting.  A bipartisan group of representatives has signed on as authors and co-authors this bill including Reps. Crownover (Vice Chair of Energy Resources), Burnam, Parker, Strama and Veasey. ACT agrees that increasing  transparency and protecting our health and our groundwater are in everyone’s best interest–throughout the state.  If fracking fluid is of concern to you, please thank these authors and co-authors and contact the members of House Energy Resources to let them know that you support HB 3328.

Bills of Concern

CSSB 875 Fraser
Relating to compliance with state and federal environmental permits as a defense to certain actions for nuisance or trespass.
CSSB 875 could set a dangerous precedent by providing an “affirmative defense” for industry in nuisance and trespass actions. The affirmative defense operates as a “shield” against prosecution. While the committee substitute has been rewritten to focus on greenhouse gases, the basic idea of the bill remains the same: a company could claim that “substantial compliance” with the permit, combined with a lack of enforcement action by the TCEQ (enforcement discretion), could serve as a defense against nuisance and trespass actions taken against it.
ACT opposes CSSB 875. The bill is eligible to be brought up for debate beginning on Wednesday, March 30th. ACT urges its partner and affiliate organizations, as well as Texas citizens, to contact the Texas Senate and inform them of their opposition to any motion to suspend the rules and bring up CSSB 875 for debate on the Senate floor.

Energy Efficiency:

Renewable Energy:

Clean Air:

To receive updates on the debate and votes, follow ACT on Twitter. To receive action alerts on ACT priority legislation, join our mailing list.

Today, members of the ACT Clean Air team will testify on SB 16, HB 721, HB 3590, HB 4081, HB 4083, HB 4085 and SB 1472. (There are also mercury thermostat bills recycling on the agenda that are supported by ACT organizations.)

Representative Donna Howard’s HB 721 addresses one of the more difficult challenges in the fight for clean air: keeping affected counties (areas that are designated as having poor air quality under the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan but have not yet reached non-attainment status) from going into non-attainment. Translation: cities such as Waco, Austin and San Antonio are not in the same category for air quality monitoring and measures as are Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston, but they’re on what amounts to a watch list. All three cities and surrounding counties are fighting to keep from going into non-attainment. However, the permitting process in affected areas currently does not require assessing the cumulative impact of proposed power plants on the area’s ozone level.

SB 16 has measures that will require cumulative impact analysis for any new power plants proposed to be built in non-attainment areas – an absolutely necessary tool for these areas which are at risk of losing federal highway funds as the result of non-compliance with federal clean air standards. However, what’s missing in the Texas clean air picture are better permitting rules that will help other cities keep their air quality from deteriorating.

There’s a real irony at work here: a city must have a severe air quality problem before it qualifies for the type of measures that could have kept its air quality from deteriorating in the first place. And at that point, the things it must do have become far more costly and difficult than they would have been if the factors that were contributing to the ozone problem had been addressed before reaching this critical point.

ACT strongly supports HB 721 because it would require power plant permits in affected areas to include air quality impact analysis. Additionally, HB 721 would allow public review and comment on ozone air quality impacts analysis.

(Isn’t an ounce of prevention supposed to be worth a pound of cure?)

There was some good news on the clean air front last week: several bills that will help clean Texans’ air passed out of committee and go to the House floor. Three are worth noting. HB 4581 by Representative Hochberg has the distinction of being the first bill to be passed out of committee the same week it was heard. HB 4581 would require TCEQ to use “advanced technology” to monitor emissions. ACT strongly supports this bill.

Additionally, two bills out of the House Committee on Public Education will protect the health of Texas school children. Representative Patrick’s HB 4208 is the school bus idling bill. (You may remember that an identical bill was sent to Governor Perry in 2007. You may also remember that the governor vetoed this bill.) HB 4208 is such a common sense bill that it’s almost impossible to believe that it actually requires legislation: school districts would implement no-idling policies that will both clean the air around schools and save districts money.

The other bill – HB 1839 – is also by Representative Donna Howard (who, along with Representatives Burnam and Farrar, is quickly becoming one of the 2009 clean air champions in the House). This bill would require school districts to develop school siting plans that include assessing environmental factors. The Texas Association of School Boards has worked on this bill, making sure it is not burdensome for districts to implement.

It’s likely that Representative Cook, chair of Environmental Regulation, will have the committee vote of some of the 93 bills still pending in committee. Every ACT update now ends with the same warning: time is running short in the 81st Session. Check back on the ACT website (or follow ACT on Twitter) to stay up to date on the progress of clean air legislation.

Here are three of the renewable energy bills ACT supports:

SB 545 – Senator Fraser: relating to the creation of a distributed solar generation incentive program.
This bill creates a five-year incentive program, administered by electric utilities, for commercial and residential customers to increase the amount of distributed solar generation installed.  The incentive program would be funded by a nominal monthly fee on residential, commercial and industrial customers. The program would generate an estimated $50 million per year and lead to ap-
proximately 70 MWs of on-site renewables by 2015.

HB278 – Representative Anchia: relating to energy demand and incentives for distributed renewable generation.
This bill creates incentive programs, administered by electric utilities, for commercial customers, residential customers, and homebuilders to build on-site solar and geothermal generation. It also sets the goal of an additional 2,000 MWs of generating capacity from distributed renewable energy sources to be installed by the state by 2020, and at least 1,000 MWs by 2015.

SB 541 – Senator Watson: relating to incentives for Texas renewable energy jobs and manufacturing.
Seeks to create renewable energy manufacturing jobs in Texas by giving extra credit for electricity produced by equipment that is made in Texas.  The bill increases the goal for renewable energy and seeks to expand on Texas’ success with wind power, by setting a 3,000 megawatt goal for non- wind renewable generation in Texas

It’s a big week coming up. Wednesday’s Earth Day. The Senate’s going to vote on SB 545. Time to go solar, Texas!

Tomorrow, House State Affairs will hear Rep. Turner’s bill regarding the use of the State Benefit Fund (HB 1182). To learn more about the role of the System Benefit Fund in helping to achieve greater energy efficiency among low income homeowners and renters (thus lowering their electricity bills), please see the Additionally, the House Carbon Management Caucus, chaired by Rep. Chisum, meets at 2:00 pm Tuesday. ACT will be in attendance and will report on the bills discussed during the meeting. (Please note that while the original plan of this meeting was to hear from members from members in both houses who’ve filed carbon management legislation, Tuesday’s meeting of the Committee of the Whole in the Senate will likely prevent senators from attending.)

Wednesday, the House Committees on House Energy Resources and Environmental Regulation will meet jointly to hear invited testimony on carbon issues. Several 2009 ACT issue team members will testify. ACT will post a report on this joint meeting on Wednesday evening, as well as link to video of the meeting. Clearly, these two committees oversee the majority of legislation that will affect the Texas environment. Throughout the session, ACT will report on these two committees.

Thursday, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources is scheduled to hear testimony on Senator Watson’s bill “Relating to ‘no regrets’ greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategies” (SB 184). This bill is among several that address climate change. Later this week, ACT’s climate change and coal issue pages will link to all legislation in these areas filed.

Finally, Friday is the filing deadline for bills. Once all the bills for the session have been filed, ACT will begin providing updates weekly updates on bills that address ACT 2009 legislative recommendations. Lists of bills ACT is tracking will be linked from each issue page. Additionally, the Get ACTive section will include specific recommendations for how to advocate for specific issues such as jumpstarting the solar energy industry in Texas, promoting energy efficiency as an “alternative energy resource,” electronic waste recycling, and increased environmental integration in the sunset legislation for the Texas Department of Transportation.