cleaning up the Texas environmental agency

Help Improve Our State Environmental Agency...for the Next Ten Years

This year presents Texans with a once-in-a-decade opportunity to improve the way our state environmental agency carries out its mission to protect our health and natural resources. Currently, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is under review by the Sunset Advisory Commission (which is largely Texas lawmakers), who will recommend improvements to the Legislature. State lawmakers must pass a bill to reauthorize the TCEQ and this “Sunset” legislation will shape the way TCEQ operates for the next ten-plus years. With your grassroots support, we can change TCEQ for the better.

Write a letter to your state lawmakers: Download and mail your letter here

Which Texas do you envision?

Texans expect our environmental agency to protect our health. Right now, TCEQ often falls short of these expectations due to lax enforcement of existing clean air and water laws. The sunset review process offers all concerned Texans a chance to advocate for much-needed reforms at TCEQ.

As the coalition of Texas environmental and public interest groups dedicated to improving TCEQ, we have big plans for the Sunset Review...and we need your help. Your voice and your story are crucial. Together, we’ll show that Texans across our state are ready to make pollution a thing of the past.

why it's time to improve TCEQ

Air
The U.S. EPA has declared TCEQ’s air pollution permit system violates the federal Clean Air Act and fails to allow significant public participation.

Water
TCEQ is proposing new rules that would increase the amount of E. coli bacteria allowed in Texas waterways before they are considered polluted.

Waste
Texas has some of the weakest landfill laws in the country, and TCEQ often fails to enforce the environmental rules we do have to protect people living near poorly-run landfills or other problem waste facilities. In addition, TCEQ has no state-wide public education campaigns to promote recycling, and doesn't even track our overall recycling rate in Texas.

Justice
TCEQ’s enforcement of pollution violations is so weak that, in many cases, paying the penalty costs less than actually cleaning up the problem. In other words, in Texas it often pays to pollute.

You can learn more about our state environmental agency and the Sunset Review process here!