Our weak laws and our bad air

We already knew we had bad air quality in Texas. The reason for it is simple: There's very little incentive for the polluters to clean up their act.

Texans cannot count on existing state and federal laws to protect them from risky concentrations of cancer-causing chemicals in the air, according to a report released Thursday.

With 14 "toxic hot spots" across the state, the report's authors, representing four environmental groups, called for lawmakers and regulators to establish stricter and more enforceable standards for those compounds known as hazardous air pollutants. What's more, they said, industry leaders should make pollution reduction their top priority.

"Solutions to the problem exist," said Ramon Alvarez, an Austin-based scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, one of the groups participating in the report. "But we are lacking leadership."

[...]

Texas, meanwhile, does not have its own regulatory caps for toxics. The state uses health-based guidelines during the permitting process but does not treat them as enforceable limits.

As a result, Corpus Christi and Port Neches have exceeded the state's guidelines for air toxics for a decade or more, according to the environmental groups.

"If anyone thinks the federal government or state government is cleaning up these toxic hot spots, think again," said Ilan Levin, an Austin-based attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, one of the report's authors.

To reduce ambient toxics, the environmental groups want regulators and industries to improve monitoring and want state and federal lawmakers to require the clean up of areas with unsafe levels of chemicals in the air.

They also call for industries to support "reasonable regulatory proposals" instead of fighting them with lobbying firms and trade associations.

Last year the Legislature introduced at least 15 bills relating to stricter regulations of air toxics, but none of them passed.

"It's up to the will of the Legislature," said Michael Honeycutt, the chief toxicologist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which is responsible for regulating air pollution.

I've harped on this theme before, and I'm going to harp on it again here. This situation isn't going to change until Texas' government changes. The first step in that process is ensuring a Democratic majority in the House so that Rep. Dennis "I Love Bad Air" Bonnen isn't made the Chair of the Environmental Regulations Committee again. As the Texas League of Conservation Voters noted in its 2007 Legislative Scorecard (PDF):

Fifteen separate bills were filed in the House addressing toxic air emissions, all by Democrats, but Environmental Regulations Committee Chair, Dennis Bonnen, refused to hear a single one. He also threatened to kill his own clean-air bill rather than allow a floor vote on toxic air amendments.

The problem is clear. So is the solution. Here's how you can help.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 03, 2008 to The great state of Texas