Apparently, if you want the TCEQ to do its job, you need to file a lawsuit against them to make them do it. Which is what Public Citizen did on Tuesday, with a request to stop the permitting of coal-fired power plants in the meantime.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issues air pollution permits that set limits on toxic releases, but the agency says there is no need to regulate carbon dioxide. Texas emits more greenhouse gases, made up mostly of CO2 emissions, than any other state.
The lawsuit by Public Citizen — which describes itself as a consumer advocacy organization — calls for greenhouse gas limits to be imposed as part of the permitting process, based on a 2007 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that classified carbon dioxide as an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
“The time has come for the TCEQ to take its head out of the sand and begin the process to regulate CO2 emission from Texas sources,” Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas office, said in a statement announcing the suit.
Bryan Shaw, the chairman of the TCEQ, said it would not make sense for the state to regulate CO2.
“The science on global warming is far from settled,” he said in a statement. “Neither Congress nor the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) have been able to promulgate final rules on greenhouse gas regulation. What is certain is that if done incorrectly, CO2 regulations will impose great costs on Texas without any guarantee of a measurable environmental benefit. Reducing CO2 in Texas will do nothing to lower CO2 globally, but will have the effect of sending U.S. jobs to China and India.”
Shaw’s words are the environmental equivalent of saying that there’s a “controversy” over evolution. The argument isn’t over whether or not it’s happening, it’s over how fast it’s happening and how much time we have to do something about it before we’re well and truly screwed. Sadly, this is par for the course with a Rick Perry appointee. You can read Public Citizen’s statement on the lawsuit here, and the lawsuit itself here (both PDFs).