What the DMN says:
For more than a year, the Obama administration has been beating the same drum, telling the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that its permitting system falls short of federal standards.
Yet some Texas leaders and regulators still seem shocked – shocked – that the EPA made good on its promise last week and stripped the state of some of its permitting powers.
In meeting after meeting, federal officials have urged the TCEQ to change its approach to regulating industrial air pollution. The Texas response to the EPA? You just don’t understand.
[…]
Incredibly, Gov. Rick Perry has weighed in with what amounts to self-righteous indignation, claiming that the federal government has “put a bull’s-eye on the backs of hardworking Texans.” If anyone should shoulder responsibility for leaving industrial facilities in this uncomfortable position, it’s Perry.
The only word I’d quibble with in the whole thing is that “Incredibly” there. “As expected” would be more accurate. As I’ve said, this whole mess, like every other mess in state government, is on Rick Perry. Self-righteous indignation and other diversionary tactics are all he’s got, because he sure doesn’t have the means or the desire to fix any of it.
On a side note, in other TCEQ news, they’re catching a lot of grief over allegations that they suppressed information on toxic emissions from natural gas facilities. They have now fessed up to their misinformation, though they still seem to be unclear on the concept of why they were wrong. Well, baby steps, I guess. A statement from State Sen. Wendy Davis on the subject is here.