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Austin American-Statesman, May 26, 2010 By Asher Price

State, federal officials blame one another for air quality impasse

Neither federal nor state officials showed signs of backing down a day after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is likely to take over parts of the state's permitting program. The scuffle has ramifications for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and for the coming political season as officials trade barbs over blame.

The EPA could take over the entire job of regulating air quality in Texas if the state keeps violating the Clean Air Act — intensifying a dispute over regulating pollution from the largest U.S. refineries and petrochemical plants. The agency is studying how to federalize what has always been a state job and is hiring eight permitting engineers and attorneys — partly to deal with Texas, EPA regional chief Al Armendariz said Wednesday.

"Do we also think the deficiencies are serious enough to go that route? The answer is yes," Armendariz said. "If we have to, we will. The takeover of a state program and the federalizing of a state program is a lengthy process and doesn't happen overnight."

The comment by Armendariz came the day after he said the federal government would issue the operating permit for one refinery in Corpus Christi and planned to take over 39 other permits.

Environmental commission officials, pointing to overall improvements in Texas' air quality, fired back. "The federal government is more interested in a blatant power grab," said Bryan Shaw, chairman of the agency.

But Texas' major cities, like most big cities across the country, continue to violate clean air standards, and the EPA announcement puts the state agency in an awkward position.

Getting your duties taken over by a federal agency carries embarrassment, and the commission happens to be preparing for its own sunset review hearings at the end of the year. Under Texas' sunset law, state agencies regularly undergo legislative review to determine if and how they should continue to operate.

"With TCEQ entering the Sunset process later this year, the Legislature will have a unique opportunity to closely examine TCEQ programs and make sure that the agency's air permitting process best protects the health of all Texans, as well as the environment," state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said. "I look forward to that discussion, but I fully expect TCEQ to have corrected any outstanding issues long before then."

The dressing-down from EPA was not unexpected. In its own self-evaluation report submitted in the fall to the Sunset Advisory Commission, the agency had to respond to the question "What are your agency's biggest opportunities for improvement in the future?" Its answer: "Building Relationships and Partnerships ," especially with the EPA.

And in August, Larry Soward, in his last days as a commissioner at the state agency, told a conference of environmental attorneys that "EPA has acknowledged the threat, however veiled you may view it, of Texas being stripped of its authority to issue major air permits unless the state agrees to some changes. I have heard it said, 'Texas can step up, or EPA will step in.'\u2009"

But the agency also has deep allies in Texas government. All three commissioners were appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, and the agency's deputy executive director is a former Perry aide.

The scuffle with EPA could play into the us-versus-them narrative that Perry parlayed into a Republican primary victory over U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Throughout 2009 and early 2010, Perry hammered the EPA on smog standards and carbon dioxide policies.

The "increasingly activist EPA" is "on the verge of killing thousands of Texas jobs and derailing a program that has cleaned Texas' air," Perry said Wednesday.

Bill White, the Democratic candidate for governor, jumped on the EPA announcement.

"The permitting changes announced yesterday are yet another example of Rick Perry managing an agency into a ditch and hurting Texans along the way," campaign spokeswoman Katy Bacon said.