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hatrack

(59,442 posts)
Wed Oct 21, 2015, 12:45 AM Oct 2015

TCEQ Continues Bold Actions In The War On Clean Air

Some of our state agencies have confusing names. The Texas Railroad Commission, for instance, is the name of the entity that regulates fracking. And the agency called the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has actually kept a fairly consistent stance against environmental quality. Don't feel bad if you're confused. The commissioners leading the TCEQ, all political appointees, claim in their mission statement that they want "clean air," "clean water" and "safe management of waste." But there is a big caveat: "The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality strives to protect our state's public health and natural resources consistent with sustainable economic development." That's a polite way of saying that when they are not "consistent with sustainable economic development," the public health and the natural resources part can go to hell.

Consider the TCEQ's recent reaction when faced with new research claiming that fewer people will prematurely die if better emissions controls are installed on cement plants in Midlothian and coal plants in East Texas, two major sources of smog in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The two studies were led by Dr. Kuruvilla John, an associate dean at the University of North Texas' school of engineering, and Dr. Robert Haley, a researcher at UT Southwestern who is a former president of the Dallas County Medical Society. Though commissioned by the environmental activism group Downwinders at Risk, the research itself was conducted by actual researchers in academia, using figures, they say, that came from the TCEQ's own data and models for ozone projections.

In Monday's Dallas Morning News, the state responded to the research: "Texas officials and the owners of the power plants dismiss the study’s results as overblown or agenda-driven. ... Texas environmental regulators say that most of the region’s smog is cooked up from local emissions," like vehicles, "and that what those power plants produce doesn’t contribute much here." The research counters that going after single, large sources of smog — the cement kilns and the coal plants — will help Texas cut down on smog more cheaply and effectively.

"We do have an agenda, but in this case the study was directly from their [the state's] model, so that agenda has no way of showing up in the model itself. That's all from the state," says Downwinders at Risk's Jim Schermbeck. As it stands, North Texas has been out of compliance with the federal Clean Air Act for nearly two decades thanks to our smog. And TCEQ commissioners like newly appointed Jon Niermann, whose resume includes playing a "key role" in helping Texas sue the EPA as assistant state attorney general, seem unlikely to want to change that.

EDIT

http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/texas-agency-charged-with-protecting-environment-continues-bold-war-on-air-7700857

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TCEQ Continues Bold Actions In The War On Clean Air (Original Post) hatrack Oct 2015 OP
The Great State of Texas shadowmayor Oct 2015 #1

shadowmayor

(1,325 posts)
1. The Great State of Texas
Wed Oct 21, 2015, 02:23 AM
Oct 2015

We hatch a very special breed of stupidity wrapped in money, soaked in oil, and cloaked as Christian in this state. Just take a look at our Representatives, the list is terrifying. Among others, we give you: Gohmert, Barton, Brady, Farenthold; add our two stellar Senators Cruz and Cornyn and you've got all the makin's of a crack team of dipshits - Yeeehaw!

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