The discrepancy between what is revealed and reported on from the TCEQ and then from the TexAQS II is a serious issue, and legislation must change to protect the health of Houstonians and the general well-being of all the people and places affected by air pollution.
I’ve addressed the Houston Press article, “A Quiet Hell,” a number of times, but the author, Chris Vogel, does a great job of explaining the politics behind the TCEQ and big-name refineries–in the end, the TCEQ works for and supports BP and LyondellBasell and Shell and… you get the point. It makes sense, and it’s good (albeit immoral) business: the TCEQ made 72 percent of its revenue in 2008 from its permits and licensing fees, versus just 2.7 percent from state funds (taxes, etc.). And they have a way to keep making that money.
Vogel’s after-thought article, “A Quiet Hell: Game Time,” explains more about the permit-granting process. The TCEQ hands out ten-year permits to refineries, and rarely do they deny the refinery’s request. In fact, state law mandates that a permit cannot be denied as long as the factory agrees that its emissions will not increase.
Houstonians saw this law in action earlier this year when the TCEQ renewed LyondellBasell’s permit. Requests from the City of Houston and Mayor Annise Parker for a hearing concerning the renewal were ignored simply because LyondellBasell claimed their emissions would not increase. The TCEQ did no further investigation, and on Feb. 24, 2010, LyondellBasell’s wish was granted.
LyondellBasell is set for another 10 years of polluting Houston’s air, and if this trend continues, the only negative repercussion might be a few small slap-on-the-wrist fines to allow the TCEQ to save face. An article in the Chronicle was written before Vogel’s Press piece and addresses what little action can be done: a state senator attempted to introduce a bill last spring that would have required that all fines would be equal to or more than the amount the company saved by not installing nonpolluting equipment and procedures. Obviously, the bill didn’t go over so well, but the senator had the right idea.
Since 1995, the TCEQ has issued (and still issues) what are called ‘flex permits’ to over 140 operations across Texas. Vogel explains how these work:
[Flex permits] allow facilities to have a single permit limit for an entire plant. A flexible permit acts as an umbrella, and generally does not impose specific limits for individual emissions sources. As long as the entire facility stays under an overall cap, it remains in compliance.
Flex permits were the TCEQ’s way of facing its problems and avoiding the costs involved with safe and environmentally friendly improvements to refineries stuck in their old, dirty and costly ways. Larry Soward, a former commissioner, thinks this will have to change, and he says that the TCEQ has only itself to blame:
[Flex permits] are a real dilemma for everyone. If you say that they are not consistent with federal law, however, then that means that the facilities will have to be re-permitted and face different standards and major expenditures to upgrade or change operations to reduce emissions to acceptable standards. There’s not going to be a simple, cheap resolution. But industry kind of brought this upon themselves by insisting on the flexible permit concept, and now they may have to pay the piper.
The law must change and adapt to our environmental and health concerns. The fact that the TCEQ is called a governmental agency is ridiculous, because it is fueling the industry and doesn’t plan to stop until it absolutely has to–which may be soon.
Starting last month, the TCEQ is under the scrutiny of the Sunset Review, a legislative check-and-balance organization that has the ability to abolish government agencies and commissions. Their conclusions on the TCEQ will be published at the end of their investigation (Jan. 2011), but the Sunset process encourages public participation and testimony, and this will hopefully prove to be the best way to stop the TCEQ’s trend and start focusing on breathing clean air.
