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Posts Tagged ‘clean air act’

Texas Roll Beyond Coal Tour Headed Your Way

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 20, 2009 |

imagesThis week Public Citizen Texas and the Sierra Club are launching a statewide media tour of Texas coal plants.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently rejected key aspects of the air permitting plan of Texas’ regulatory agency — the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and called for proper enforcement of the Clean Air Act in Texas.

That’s why we’re launching a TEXAS STATE-WIDE COAL PLANT TOUR to visit communities that have been negatively impacted by the TCEQ’s failure to enforce the law and control pollution.  We’ll be collecting postcards from citizens at the tour stops across Texas to deliver the messages to the EPA in support of the EPA’s recent announcement — and will have an action center here on the blog so that you can get involved as well.

If you live in Waco, Dallas, Abilene, College Station, Corpus Christi, Bay City, or Houston, keep an eye out for our clean energy trailer!  You’ll find us in the following locations at these times:

Week One Tour Stops

Monday, Sept. 21, WACO, 10:00 am, Heritage Park, 3rd Street & Austin Avenue

Tuesday, Sept. 22 , DALLAS, 10:00 am, The 500 Block of Reunion Blvd East, across the street from the Dallas Morning News (32.774975,-96.807328 on google maps)

Wednesday, Sept. 23, ABILENE, 10:00 am, Lake Fort Phantom Hill, Sweetwater, Texas

Week Two Tour Stops

Monday, Sept. 28, COLLEGE STATION, 10:00 am, Location TBA

Tuesday, Sept. 29, CORPUS CHRISTI, 10:00 am, Location TBA

Tuesday, Sept. 29, BAY CITY, 4:00 pm, Steps of the Court House (1700 7th Street)

Wednesday, Sept. 30, HOUSTON, 10:00 am, Tranquility Park, 515 Rusk, across from the federal courthouse

To learn more about proposed and existing coal plants in Texas and the negative impacts that they bring to our state, check out The Threat from Coal is Far From Over.

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EPA Calls for Proper Enforcement of Clean Air Act in Texas

Posted in Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 8, 2009 |

Environmental Groups welcome EPA’s proposed rejection of key elements of TCEQ’s air permitting plan and call for proper enforcement of Clean Air Act protections in Texas

(Austin)  — Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and the Galveston/Houston Association for Smog Prevent (GHASP) welcomed the EPA proposal today to disapprove key aspects of the Texas clean-air permitting program that “do not meet federal Clean Air Act requirements” followed by other states.

Texas environmental community leaders commented on the proposed decision –

Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith, Director of the Texas office of Public Citizen –

It’s refreshing to see an agency that actually believes in enforcing our clean air laws.  We’ve gotten too comfortable with allowing substandard permits through TCEQ, and our air quality and our quality of life have suffered the consequences.  We must put the public’s interest above the special interests of the polluters if we are to pass on a better Texas than we found to our children and grandchildren.

Ken Kramer, Director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club –

The Sierra Club welcomes today’s action by EPA to disapprove portions of the State of Texas air pollution control program. Our concerns have fallen on deaf ears for years, but the new Administration at EPA is taking action once again to enforce the nation’s environmental protection laws.  We now need EPA to take swift action to ensure that every permit issued in Texas complies with the Clean Air Act’s health based protections.

Matthew Tejada, Executive Director of GHASP, Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention

This means two things to GHASP and for everyone in the Houston region: first it means that President Obama and Administrator Lisa Jackson have solidly put the EPA back where it is supposed to be – aggressively protecting the human and environmental health of this country.  Second, and possibly most important for us in Houston, it means that the government has finally jammed a crowbar into the most opaque and ineffective air permitting program in the country in order to shed a little bit of light – and hopefully let in a little bit of clean air.

The EPA will post notice for comments in the Federal Registry and the public will have sixty days to comment.

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Texas Attorney General Files Injuction Against BP for Clean Air Act Violations

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 5, 2009 |

Yesterday the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed an official injunction against BP Products’s Texas City Refinery for “violating state health, safety and environmental protection laws, including the Texas Clean Air Act, the Texas Water Code, and the Texas Health & Safety Code.”  The refinery was cited for 46 separate emissions of unlawful pollutants, a violation of the Clean Air Act.  Among these was the emisssion responsible for the March 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 170.

Between 2000 and 2007, the TCEQ filed 15 enforcement orders to get BP to clean up its act.   But it doesn’t look like the authority of the TCEQ was enough to stop the refinery from emitting hundreds of thousands of pounds of unauthorized pollutant emissions, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

According to the Attorney General’s press release,

Under Texas law, BP was required to report unlawful emissions to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and take corrective action to prevent future emissions. However, BP not only failed to report emissions to environmental regulators within the legally mandated deadlines–but also did not take the necessary measures to prevent additional unlawful emissions in a timely manner.

The injunction requires BP to implement all necessary measures to eliminate future unlawful emissions, which includes installing additional air quality monitors to ensure future compliance. The state is also seeking civil penalties, fines and attorneys’ fees.

It’s really good to see the government stepping in to enforce clean air laws.  Kudos to Abbott for stepping in to keep Texans safe and our air clean.

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EPA’s Declaration that Greenhouse Gas Emissions Endanger Public is Long Overdue

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2009 |

shockingNEWSFLASH!  Carbon Dioxide emissions may represent a threat to public health or welfare.

Shocking, I know.  But what is old news to the rest of us, released in the form of a proposed endangerment finding by the EPA, is actually a really big deal.  Environmentalists and concerned citizens alike have been waiting years for this announcement.  In 2007, as a result of the landmark Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA, the court ordered the EPA administrator to determine if greenhouse gas emissions could “cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”  The Bush Administration delayed reacting to this order, but Friday EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed a proposed endangerment finding which identified six global warming gasses that pose a threat to human health.

The finding will now enter a 60-day comment period, and have no immediate regulatory effect, but could give the EPA power to regulate CO2 under the Clean Air Act.

According to the EPA’s official statement,

Before taking any steps to reduce greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, EPA would conduct an appropriate process and consider stakeholder input. Notwithstanding this required regulatory process, both President Obama and Administrator Jackson have repeatedly indicated their preference for comprehensive legislation to address this issue and create the framework for a clean energy economy.

After years of global warming being the elephant in the room that the government would not address, the EPA’s proposed finding finally gives the agency the ability to take action on climate change — though as stated, everyone would rather Congress take care of business.  Hopefully, this finding will light a fire under cap-and-trade negotiations.

Its kind of like when my mother used threaten that she’d clean my room herself if I didn’t get cracking — which I knew meant she would just come in with a trash bag and clear everything out.  The EPA could straight up regulate carbon dioxide — but few people would really be happy with the result, most environmentalists included.  By creating new policy, Congress is simply better equipped to deal with our greenhouse gas emissions than the EPA.

So sorry Congress — no more reading the comics you found with the dust bunnies under the bed.  Go clean up, or Mom’s going to start vacuuming.

But don’t take my word for it.  Andy Wilson (Citizen Andy, if you will), Global Warming Program Director here at the Texas Office, wrote a statement on how this finding relates to the big picture, and Texas specifically.  Check it out!

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Stop the Dirty Dozen: Tell the Texas Legislature, Don’t Create Another Generation of Grandfathered Coal Plants

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2009 |

If you live in the Waco, Sweetwater, Corpus Christi, or Victoria area, you may have seen this op-ed run in your local newspaper under a variety of titles such as “Stop the Dirty Dozen”, “New generation of grandfathered polluters?”, and “Don’t create another generation of grandfathered power plants.” If not, you should give it a read.

smitty-mug2In the early 1970s, when it looked like the passage of the federal Clean Air Act was inevitable, power companies in Texas went on a building boom to construct 12 dirty, old-technology power plants before legislation went into effect. It was more than 30 years before the Texas Legislature addressed pollution from these “grandfathered” plants. Today, just as Congress and the Obama administration are poised to pass a series of tougher air pollution laws and cap global warming gasses, a dozen applications for additional coal fired power plants in Texas have been permitted or are pending. If built, this dirty dozen of coal plants would add an astounding 77 million tons a year of global warming gases to our already overheated air, 55,000 tons of acid rain forming gases, 29,000 tons of ozone forming chemicals and 3,800 lbs of brain damaging mercury. Your call to your state senator this week can help stop another generation of coal plants from being built.

Two years ago, 19 new coal plants were proposed for the state of Texas. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief when TXU withdrew applications for eight of those plants. But other companies are still building their proposed plants, and the cumulative impacts will make it harder to breathe in the DFW, Houston, Tyler- Longview, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Victoria and Corpus Christi areas. Seven of the plants have already been permitted, but five more are still in the permitting stages and can be more easily stopped.

Sen. Kip Averitt took a strong stand on this issue by adding a provision in his aggressive air qualtity bill, SB 16, to require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to look at the cumulative impacts of any proposed new plant along with any others that have already been permitted or are being proposed. This amendment would have gone a long way to protect our air and climate.

Unfortunately the electric companies out-lobbied him and took a red pen to that provision of the bill. What’s left is too little and too late. (more…)

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Good Bills Being Heard in House Environmental Reg

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2009 |

In addition to Lon Burnam’s HB 3423, there are five other good bills that will be heard in the House Environmental Regulation Committee this Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 10:30 am or upon adjournment of the House in the Capital extension – Hearing room E1.014. We are incouraging everyone who has a few minutes to stop by the committee room and put in cards supporting these six bills. The five bill numbers are listed below, followed by a brief description of the bill and why your support is important. Please send this message along to anyone else you think might be interested!

HB 1450, Rep. Rodriguez. Relating to the disposal and reuse of coal combustion waste.  HB 1450 establishes the disposal and reuse of coal combustion waste as a class I industrial waste and prohibits use as mine backfill. In addition, it requires groundwater and soil monitoring that must be made publically available.   We’ve been over this one before. Texas tops the list of states at risk from toxic coal ash waste, remember?  No bueno.

HB 557, Rep. Hernandez. Relating to the establishment of an air pollutant watch list and associated reports for the purpose of controlling the emissions of air contaminants under the Texas Clean Air Act.  HB 557 establishes an air pollutant watch list and associated reports for the purpose of controlling the emissions of air contaminants under the Texas Clean Air Act to protect against adverse effects related to :

(1) acid deposition;
(2) stratospheric changes, including depletion of ozone; [and]
(3) climatic changes, including global warming; and

(4) air pollution.

HB 769, Rep. Hernandez. Relating to standards for measuring the emission of air contaminants under the Texas Clean Air Act.  HB 769 requires TCEQ to set standards for measuring the emission of air contaminants under the Texas Clean Air Act that takes into consideration acute and chronic health effects on a person resulting from exposure to an air contaminant; the lifetime exposure of a person to the highest concentration of the air contaminant from an emission source; and does not increase the risk of cancer in a person exposed to the air contaminant by greater than one chance in 100,000.

HB 3428, Rep. Hernandez. Relating to measuring, monitoring, and reporting emissions.  HB 3428 requires TCEQ to establish and maintain an air pollutant watch list available online to the public.

HB 3422, Rep. Burnam. Relating to the establishment of a program for the collection, transportation, recycling, and disposal of mercury-containing lights.  HB 3422 establishes a program to safely dispose of and recycle mercury containing lights. It requires manufacturers to provide collection bins, to collect the bulbs and cover the costs of shipping to an appropriate facility. Mercury containing lightbulbs would have to be removed before buildings are demolished. The bill also has an important educational component.

You can register comment on all of these good bills in one fell swoop by visiting the House Environmental Regulation Committee hearing in E1.014 this morning.  Committee hearings are open to the public, and you can put your official stance on the record by just dropping a card.  If you can’t visit the Capitol today, why not give one of the fine legislators on this committee a call?

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NRG Coal Plant Hearing Protest

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2009 |

nrgprotest10Last Friday two administrative law judges refused to hear testimony on the impact of carbon dioxide emissions during the permitting process for the NRG Limestone coal-fired power plant. The contested case hearing for NRG’s air quality permit application will be going on all week long, but testimony on the proposed plant’s contribution to global warming will not be allowed.  The judges decided that the TCEQ has adopted clear policies that they would not consider testimony on the issue, even though the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 (EPA vs Massachusetts) that the EPA had the authority to regulate CO2 as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. If built, the plant will emit 7.4 million tons of carbon dioxide every year.

NRG has acknowledged that climate change is a serious environmental issue, and has agreed to offset a portion of its greenhouse gas emissions from the proposed new plant. Yet, lawyers for the company maneuvered to strike all references to CO2 or climate change from the week-long hearing.

nrgprotest4In protest, local environmentalists gathered for an 8:30 a.m. protest Monday Feb 22 outside the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Groups supporting the protest included: Public Citizen, SEED Coalition, Environment Texas, Clean Water Action, Re- Energize Texas, and the Texas Climate Emergency Campaign.

Some of the protest’s participants made the following comments in a press release: (more…)

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