Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘EPA’

To Beef or Not to Beef: The Cattle Industry is Trampling All Over Our Environment

Posted in Climate Change, Global Warming, Transportation, tagged , , , , , on February 21, 2011 |

The next time you bite into that double quarter-pounder with cheese, you may want to think twice about it.  Literally though, once for your health and once for Mother Nature dearest.

The livestock and agricultural industry is the single largest producer of methane, one of the biggest contributors to global warming.  In fact, 100 million tons of methane is produced each year by the animal agricultural business alone.

About 85% of the people I’ve talked to, had no idea that eating meat had such a big impact on the environment.  It’s understandable that the general public cannot cease use of all fossil fuels, electricity, and gas-guzzling SUVs, but altering your diet toward a more plant-based focus is both one of the easiest things to do to decrease your carbon footprint, as well as quickest.  You may not be in a position to trade in your car for the latest electric vehicle, but you can be aware of the choices you make at the grocery store. (more…)

Read Full Post »

PLEASE MAKE ONE CALL THIS MORNING FOR HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , on February 17, 2011 |

We are truly in danger of losing the coal ash fight because of two anti-coal ash amendments tacked onto the House budget legislation.  We anticipate that the first amendment (No. 10) will be on the floor THIS AFTERNOON.

These two amendments, Amendment 10 offered by Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Amendment 217 offered by David McKinley (R-WV), would prevent EPA from regulating coal ash as a hazardous waste by explicitly preventing the funding of a subtitle C rule.  If passed, the amendments, which are nearly identical, would require EPA to regulate coal ash as a nonhazardous waste under subtitle D.  EPA’s only option would be to issue guidelines for states that not mandatory and that are unenforceable by EPA.  The amendments would maintain the status quo of lax (or absent) state oversight of coal ash dumping and would guarantee that polluters will have the legal right to continue to dump coal ash in unlined pits and ponds. 

Earthjustice is asking you to call your representative in Congress TODAY and ASK THEM TO VOTE NO ON AMENDMENTS 10  AND  217. 

Your calls will make a difference.  Even if we lose in the House, if the margin is not great, we may be able to defeat the amendment in the Senate.

Calling is simple: Locate the telephone number of your member of Congress by using the link below – just insert your zip code.  http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

THANK YOU for your help at this critical time.

Read Full Post »

Where’s the Outrage? TCEQ Approves Las Brisas Pollution Permit

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Energy, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2011 |

Chairman Bryan Shaw, Ph.D.

Commissioner Buddy Garcia

In a completely un-shocking and saddening display of administrative arrogance, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) commissioners Bryan Shaw and Buddy Garcia granted an air permit for the proposed Las Brisas coal plant. Commissioner Carlos Rubinstein abstained from voting due to being briefed on the permit when he previously served as deputy executive director.

The two commissioners who voted to approve the permit did so despite the fact that this permit has been recommended against twice by the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) judges who presided over the contested case hearing and deliberated for months on the specifics.

Again today at the TCEQ hearing both judges recommended against issuance of the permit, and the TCEQ’s own Office of Public Interest Council also recommended denial of the permit.

In addition there were lawyers speaking for the thousands of members of the Clean Economy Coalition (based in Corpus Christi where the Las Brisas plant is proposed), Sierra Club, and EDF, all of whom are against issuance of this permit.  But after only 45 minutes of testimony during the public hearing, TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw recommended granting the permit application stating that he didn’t  believe the merits of the facts before the commission would require or warrant (the state agency to remand it), based on his understanding of the rules in place.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxM-LmeAuJM]

Earlier this week, the EPA had asked the Texas commission to not issue the permit until the two agencies could work together to resolve various issues, stating that they were concerned about a lack of consultation with them and that the plant could violate federal clean air standards.  They further wrote that they had “strong concerns about the public health and environmental impacts” the plant would pose.

Commissioner Shaw said the EPA’s letter could not be considered because it was not part of the official record of Wednesday’s proceeding so it had no impact on their decision.

This permit is illegal, and the TCEQ commissioners have broken both federal (Clean Air Act) law as well as Texas law in granting it. The EPA also now requires greenhouse gas permitting for any new facilities permitted after January 1, 2011 – but the TCEQ commissioners wouldn’t consider any comments regarding this important factor. Still, Las Brisas will need to acquire such a permit from the EPA before they can begin construction, much less operation, of their proposed coal plant.

The facts in this case are clear. The permit does not meet the minimum standards necessary to protect human health and the environment, and the people who have actually investigated the particulars of this case have consistently and continually recommended against this permit.

Nevertheless, those who have the power to make the decision (the TCEQ commissioners) continue, as they have in the other coal plant cases, to ignore the concerns of the public, the medical communities, environmental groups, and even their own staff.  Instead they make these permitting decisions based on politics and act as a rubber stamp for pollution.

TCEQ is up for “sunset” review at the Texas legislature this year.  When asked at the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission hearing if the TCEQ had the authority to deny a permit, they answered yes, but given the history of new coal plant permits approved over the past decade, one would be hard pressed to determine what, if any, criteria would cause the state agency to exercise their authority.

In the months leading up to this decision, citizens from around the state have been letting the Sunset Commission know that they believed the TCEQ was broken, and they believe the agency that is supposed to protect our health and environment does the opposite.

The CEC and other people closely affected by this plant are outraged at this decision, but the whole state of Texas needs to be.

Although Las Brisas is the worst of the most recent coal plant permits to be issued by TCEQ there have been other, deficient coal plant permits granted within the last few months throughout Texas near Bay City, Sweetwater, and Victoria.

Please call your Texas legislator and ask them to ensure that TCEQ Commissioners will have to follow the decisions of the administrative judges who rule on these cases, instead of simply ignoring their concerns and the concerns of the public.

Related Articles

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We arePublic Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

TCEQ Sunset Town Halls – Victoria

Posted in Air Quality, Energy, Global Warming, Good Government, Sunset, TCEQ, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 23, 2010 |

Texans living around the Victoria region attended a town hall in September to express their concerns about the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on a number of different issues, including the proposed White Stallion coal plant in Bay City. On the panel were Sunset Commission Chairman Sen. Glenn Hegar, former TCEQ commissioner Larry Soward, the regional administrator of TCEQ for that area, and a lawyer with Blackburn & Carter who often take on environmental cases.

[vimeo=17100424]

This town hall was one of a series of events held to provide the people of Texas a way in which to voice their concerns to TCEQ. The official Sunset Commission hearing on TCEQ is scheduled for December 15th in Austin. For more video footage of these town halls check our archives and stay tuned to TexasVOX. For more information on the ongoing Sunset review of TCEQ check out Alliance for a Clean Texas.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We arePublic Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

Study finds Texas coal plants foul neighboring states’ air

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, tagged , , , , on November 18, 2010 |

Image by davipt via Flickr

Coal fired power plant

Coal-fired power plants in Texas are responsible for dozens of bad air days in neighboring states each year, according to a new analysis released by the Sierra Club.  The report attributes as many as 64 days of harmful levels of smog in Oklahoma to Texas’ coal plants. It also ties the plants to as many as 20 days of unhealthy air in Arkansas and up to 16 in Louisiana.

The report supports earlier concerns raised by Oklahoma officials about the potential impacts on their state from the nearly 30 coal-fired plants either operating, permitted or proposed in Texas.

The attorney general for Oklahoma asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency in May to require Texas to show that the new plants will not foul the state’s air before issuing permits for construction. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Federally enforceable protections from toxic coal ash are within reach

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, tagged , , , on November 9, 2010 |

PLEASE HELP  GENERATE 200,000 COMMENTS BY NOVEMBER 19th


If you have not already sent your comment to the EPA. simply send it using the links below.  We can win this!

If you have been affected by coal ash contamination and have a personal or family story to tell, click here.

If you do not have your own story to tell, please click here.

Read Full Post »

Victoria follows EPA Greenhouse Gas rules even if Texas does not

Posted in Air Quality, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , on November 2, 2010 |

In today’s Victoria Advocate, Victoria Environmental Programs Coordinator Marie Lester said that they will be in compliance with the EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Texas last holdout on issuing greenhouse gas permits

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Energy, Global Warming, natural gas, Renewables, TCEQ, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 29, 2010 |

With states scrambling to align their own rules with U.S. EPA‘s new regulations, which are set to take effect on Jan. 2, 2011 and require regulators to start issuing Clean Air Act permits next year for large stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions, Texas is now the lone holdout, according to an analysis  by the  National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA). Click here to see a copy of the analysis. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Al Armendariz testifies in front of House Environmental Regulation Committee

Posted in Air Quality, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , on September 30, 2010 |

Dr. Al Armendariz, a former SMU professor, made his first appearance before a state legislative committee in his new role as Regional 6 Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Most of the House Environmental Regulation Committee hearing was taken up with Armendariz’s testimony with the bulk of the discussion about EPA’s decision earlier this year to disallow the state’s controversial flexible permit program that allows some facilities to obtain air permits based on overall emissions instead of having to get permits for each emission source.

The ruling on the program, which is unique to Texas and has been in place since the middle 1990s, sparked a firestorm of criticism from top state leaders followed by a flurry of court action from the state and industry groups seeking its nullification.

The committee’s GOP members (5 Repulicans/4 Democrats) did nearly all the questioning with Armendariz trying to shoot down what he called common misperceptions over the implication of the ruling.  Some of those misperceptions  included:

  • that the 130-plus flexible permit holders would be on the hook for millions of dollars in plant renovations
  • that federal regulators would use the de-flex process as a fishing license to comb through companies’ records in search of minor violations, and
  • that companies that came forward to voluntarily de-flex would open themselves up for civil litigation from activist groups.

Armendariz tried to reassure skeptical Republican lawmakers that his agency is not on a witch hunt and reminded the committee that the warnings about Texas’ flexible permit plan were first sounded in 2007, when Texan George W. Bush was in the White House and one of former President Bush’s local allies, former Arlington Mayor Richard Greene, was the EPA regional administrator who warned all flexible permit holders at the time that changes to the program were coming.

Armendariz was followed by TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw, a Perry appointee who stoutly defended the flexible permit program as being both legal under the Clean Air Act and effective in reducing pollution and ozone levels in Texas.

It is unlikely the testimony given today changed the hearts and minds of any of  the committee members. and so the show goes on.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

Report Shows Dangers of Coal Ash Waste Sites Throughout the US

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 27, 2010 |

In Winter of 2008 a coal ash slurry pond in Tennessee broke its damn, contaminating miles of downstream waterways and people’s homes with deadly carcinogens and other toxic substances. At the time it was called the worst environmental disaster since the Exxon Valdez and brought  a wake up call to the EPA that this waste product was entirely under-regulated. EPA now stands poised to set new regulations on coal ash waste, but the coal industry is lobbying strenuously against it, advocating for a much weaker standard that will do little to change the status quo.

The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) has just released a report called In Harm’s Way which takes a look at groundwater contamination surrounding coal ash waste sites throughout the country. The report showed that contaminants at 39 coal-waste sites across 21 states have leached into the groundwater. Many coal ash sites did not have enough data available to show any meaningful results, particularly here in Texas, but the Fayette coal plant (which Austin is a partial owner in) showed considerable contamination beneath their site. Adam Engelman, Environmental Analyst with EIP, stated that:

At every one of the coal ash dump sites equipped with groundwater monitoring wells — concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic or lead exceed federal health-based standards for drinking water, with concentrations at LCRA’s Fayette Power Project reaching as high as 4 times the state standard for selenium and twice the state standard for arsenic.

The report shows that coal ash itself is a disaster simply by existing, regardless of catastrophic events like what happened in Tennessee almost two years ago. EPA must not give into industry lobbyists and pass weak regulations that will fail public health and the environment. Visit Sierra Club’s Coal Ash website for information on an EPA hearing near you, and to sign up to speak at the hearings. If you cannot make the hearings you can also submit online comments here – be sure to ask EPA to adopt the strictest regulations possible.

In order to make a profit, coal companies rely on making the public pay for the damage they cause. We should no longer have to bear the cost of their mistakes and irresponsibility.

You can see the EIP report here and you can see the press conference that was held Thursday in Austin here:

Press Conference, Sponsored by Berman, Leo – Sierra Club on Coal Combustion Waste

or by going to the Texas House of Representatives video archive and clicking on the link dated 8/26/10 with the same title.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

Could Texas’ Continued Defiance of EPA on Regulation of Greenhouse Gases Be Costly Posturing?

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2010 |

A lot of hot airPublic Citizen Calls For A Moratorium On Permitting All New Sources
Of Greenhouse Gases Until Texas Gets Plan In Place

EPA issued proposed rules today that will require Texas to modify its state implementation plan to cover Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG).  If Texas does not, then EPA is proposing a federal implementation plan (FIP) that would apply in any state that is unable or unwilling to submit a plan to permit greenhouse gasses.

We are calling on Texas to put a moratorium on permitting of any new sources of greenhouse gas emissions until Texas gets its permitting plan in place and approved.  Governor Perry’s policies and the decisions of his appointees to not regulate global warming gasses will let millions of tons of hot air escape through permitting loopholes that will cost Texans billions of dollars to close. 55 million new tons of CO2 emissions will have been added to Texas overheated skies by the 8 additional coal plants permitted by Perry’s appointees. Three more plants that could emit nearly 22 million tons a year are in the permitting stage, and a moratorium could stop adding hot air and higher costs to the consumer.

No more wailingThe first rule of holes is to quit digging. Rick Perry needs to drop that shovel. It’s time for the Governor to stop complaining and picking fights, and get down to the actual work of governing. It’s easy to blame others when Rome is burning: it’s another thing entirely to be throwing gasoline on the fires.

Texas leads the nation in emissions of greenhouse gasses, and could be leading the nation in economic development from efforts to reduce these emissions. Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions through efficiency programs and leading the country in the development of wind energy has provided jobs for 84,000 Texans, and cheaper, cleaner electric bills for folks when we need it most. Public Citizen calls on both candidates for Governor to quit ducking this issue and disclose their plans for reducing global warming gasses.

Perry and his appointees have known this day is coming for nearly 20 years.  The Texas legislature gave TCEQ the authority to regulate greenhouse gasses in 1991. Since then 37 other states have made plans to reduce global warming emissions, but not Texas. Since 1990, global warming emissions in Texas will have increased by 25 percent.

Perry and his appointees have blocked any attempts to even get early credit for the approximately 42 million tons of emissions reductions resulting from the renewable energy we’ve put on line, or the energy efficiency we’ve installed. This short-sightedness will cost Texans billions to make additional reductions. These are costs that could have been avoided if Perry’s appointees had acted when EPA called for early submittal of pre-existing emission reductions.

This rule would apply to new major stationary sources and major modifications at existing major stationary sources. Those sources must obtain a PSD permit outlining how they will control emissions. The new permits will require facilities to apply best available control technology, which is determined on a case by-case basis taking into account, among other factors, the cost and effectiveness of the control.

EPA intends to finalize this rulemaking action on December 1, 2010, and give states a deadline of 12 months thereafter to submit their plan.

In an earlier dispute with EPA over other issues with Texas’ permitting rules, a lobbying push by oil giants resulted in a bipartisan group of Texas legislators asking state environmental regulators to quickly solve a permit dispute with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that has left some of the nation’s largest oil refineries in operating limbo.  This letter, signed by 46 legislators, is the latest indication that while Gov. Rick Perry and his Republican supporters are ready and willing to wage war with Washington on everything from environmental regulation to education spending, some battles are wearing on the industries that have helped Texas weather the recession.

Let’s move Texas forward along with the rest of the nation in making sure our regulation of pollution ultimately benefits all Texans and harms none.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

Federal Investigation of Texas’ Radioactive Waste Dump Urged

Posted in Nuclear, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 11, 2010 |

No Radioactive WasteNRC and EPA called upon to examine radioactive waste site and licensing process, risks of groundwater contamination and potential risks to the Ogallala Aquifer, which lies beneath eight states

AUSTIN – Environmental groups today asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate the radioactive waste storage and disposal programs administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for the West Texas radioactive waste site owned by Waste Control Specialists (WCS).  The groups say the TCEQ has failed to protect public health, safety and the environment by repeatedly and brazenly abusing its legal authority and disregarding warnings of its technical staff about the site’s hazards. Further, citizens have not had adequate opportunities to participate in the licensing processes.

The groups are calling on the NRC to consider terminating or suspending the TCEQ’s authority to regulate the storage and disposal of low-level radioactive waste and radioactive byproducts in Texas. The groups also are asking the EPA to review the potential impact on the water supply and take action if necessary.

Read the full release, the request to NRC and EPA,and supporting documents online at www.TexasNuclearSafety.org. The request was filed by Public Citizen and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, along with State Representative Lon Burnam (Texas House District 90), and individuals from Andrews, Texas and Eunice, New Mexico, who live near the WCS facility in Andrews County. The matter is urgent because WCS has been pushing the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission to let it import radioactive waste from at least 36 other states.

Some of the hottest radioactive waste that exists, including nuclear reactor containment vessels and poison curtains that absorb reactor radiation, could be buried in the proposed radioactive waste dump. There is not a single radionuclide that can’t go to the so-called ‘low-level’ site, and many of them remain hazardous for literally millions of years.

Radioactive waste dumps around the country have leaked. Cleaning up contaminated groundwater is difficult and expensive. Texas taxpayers could be on the hook for clean up costs if the site and groundwater become contaminated or if there are transportation accidents.

Go to www.TexasNuclearSafety.org to learn more.

Read Full Post »

Texas sends Hot-headed letter to EPA on CO2: partisan political ploy at its worst

Posted in Global Warming, TCEQ, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 4, 2010 |

At a time when in much of the US we are facing the most significant heat waves in decades, global temperature averages have shown 2010 to be the hottest year ever in recorded history, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Climactic Data Center just released its most comprehensive report on climate change which may as well have been called “It’s Real and It’s Here: NOW!”, and droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires are causing Armageddon-like conditions around Moscow, causing even the global warming denying Russian government to capitulate to the scientific consensus…..  Even with all of that, it would seem like an odd time for the state of Texas to send a shot across the EPA’s bow, insulting them and goading them into a fight over Texas carbon emissions and the Clean Air Act.

But yet they have.

Monday August 2nd the state of Texas sent a letter to the EPA (original can be downloaded here) informing them that we would no longer be complying with the Clean Air Act, specifically provisions relating to the regulation of greenhouse gases.  This letter signed by Attorney General Greg Abbott and TCEQ Commissioner Bryan Shaw is full of bluster and short on reasoned legal arguments with any real merit.

Famous painting of Ukrainian Cossacks writing a triumphant and bawdy letter to the Turkish Sultan after the Cossacks defeated his army

What it really remind me of is one of my favorite paintings, Запорожцы пишут письмо турецкому султану or, Zaprozhe Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan by Ilya Repin.  (For comparison’s sake, I would highly recommend following that link to read the text of the Cossack’s letter– it has language saltier than anything else I’ve heard this side of South Park)  I just can’t help think of the unabashed joy that must’ve coursed through the veins of the Atty General and TCEQ Commissioner as they drafted this, using phrases like (more…)

Read Full Post »

Coal Ash EPA Hearing in Texas

Posted in Coal, Energy, Good Government, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2010 |

The EPA is holding hearings on newly proposed coal ash regulations throughout the country. One of the few places they’ve decided to hold a hearing is Dallas. Coal ash waste facilities have never been properly regulated, despite the fact that coal ash is full of toxic pollutants and carcinogens. This is due primarily to the fact that the coal lobby wants to profit off of their waste by selling it to other industries for use in manufacturing products ranging from concrete to fertilizer.

Texas has 17 coal plants, all of which produce massive amounts of toxic coal ash waste that get stored either in slurry ponds (coal ash mixed with water) or in landfills.

Check out more info and find out how you can encourage the EPA to regulate this waste properly by visiting Sierra Club’s action page.

For some background info on the coal ash waste disaster in Tennessee go here.

###

By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We arePublic Citizen Texas.

Read Full Post »

Why Jeopardize Our Health for Dirty Energy Jobs when there are Clean Energy Jobs to be had?

Posted in Coal, Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, natural gas, Renewables, solar, TCEQ, tagged , , , , , , on July 7, 2010 |

It is frustrating that our local and federal governments are strained from taking action to ameliorate our air and water quality because once they try to do so, the other side recites loss in jobs as the result– but never do they mention any public health concerns and the effect that has on the economy. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »