The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has voided an air quality permit for a concrete-crushing facility in Rosharon after more than a year of resistance from Fort Bend County residents and their elected officials.
#Environment #FortBend #Local #News #AirPollution #ConcreteCrusher #FortBendCounty #Rosharon #Tceq
Parents of Awty International School students protested Thursday outside a Houston office for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which approved a concrete batch plant that is operating near the campus.
#Business #Education #EducationNews #EnergyEnvironment #EnvironmentalJustice #Houston #Local #News #Transportation #AwtyInternationalSchool #ConcreteBatchPlant #HoustonPollution #Tceq #TexasCommissionOnEnvironmentalQuality #Txdot
More than 100 people attended a public hearing in east Fort Bend County this week to speak out against a proposed new concrete crushing facility.
#Environment #FortBend #Local #News #ConcreteBatchPlant #FortBendCounty #Rosharon #Tceq
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26122023/state-of-denial-texas-polluters-evade-federal-law/
Well that's a fuckin' whirlwind of a story. Between this article, and the previous five in the six-part series ("State of Denial"), an (in my opinion) impenetrable case is made that TCEQ is a sham body, riddled with political and private-sector conflicts of interest that make it fundamentally unsuitable as an enforcement vehicle for federal environmental protection laws. It is a prototypical example of regulatory capture.
And the (federal) EPA's refusal to act in the face of that reality makes them complicit, if not downright duplicitous. As far as I'm concerned, the EPA is treating Texas as a Sacrifice Zone in order to allow out-of-state interests to continue accruing short-term returns, at the expense of the long-term health and well-being of Texans.
#TCEQ #texas #RegulatoryCapture #environmentalism #SacrificeZone #EnvironmentalRacism #ICN
Industrial developers describe facilities as “minor” polluters to avoid federal permitting requirements, and environmental lawyers say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lets it happen.
https://www.texasobserver.org/brazos-river-development-pollution-drifting-toward-disaster/
>What’s more, Dow-Freeport is operating with a wastewater permit that expired in 2019 but has been “administratively continued” by TCEQ, according to an agency spokesperson. That means Dow is allowed to follow outdated rules while a TCEQ review of the facility’s new draft permit drags on.
>
>“It is concerning that this is coming up on five years, which is, frankly, the length of time a new permit would have been,” said Josh Kratka, a senior staff attorney at the National Environmental Law Center. While Kratka doesn’t know what’s transpiring between Dow and TCEQ specifically, he explained that many companies try to convince regulators that they can’t reasonably comply with pollution limits in order to delay enforcement. “Rather than really crack down, enforcing a solution quickly, the regulators just give them more time,” he said.
This article was written in 2023. So far as I can tell, the permit in question, WQ0000007000, was originally granted in 1978. Its latest "approval date" is from 2016, and its latest "expiration date" is... STILL 2019. And yet the permit is still "active" rather than expired.
You can check at: https://www6.tceq.texas.gov/wqpaq/index.cfm
Put in "WQ0000007000" for the State Permit No., click Add, then click Search.
(Sidenote: still using ColdFusion? In 2025? Damn).
Ouch.
#TexasObserver @TexasObserver #BrazosRiver #Brazos #Brazoria #Texas #TCEQ #FreePort #CleanWaterAct #CleanWater
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Thursday temporarily denied an air quality permit for a concrete crushing facility that has drawn fierce opposition from Fort Bend County residents.
#Business #EnergyEnvironment #FortBend #Local #News #ConcreteCrushingFacility #ConcreteCrushingPlant #FortBendCounty #Tceq #TexasCommissionOnEnvironmentalQuality
Texas regulators are taking public comment about how they should implement an EPA rule to reduce methane leaks from the oil and gas industry.
#EnergyEnvironment #News #AirQuality #Arlington #DonaldTrump #Epa #Fracking #Methane #OilAndNaturalGas #Tceq #TexasNews #TexasOilAndGasAssociation
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is holding a public hearing for the W.A. Parish power plant in Richmond on Monday night.
#EnergyEnvironment #FortBend #News #FortBendCounty #NrgEnergy #Tceq
Representatives for NRG said the water concentrator will help the power plant comply with the EPA’s new wastewater standards, roughly four years ahead of the deadline set by the federal agency.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will hold a meeting Tuesday evening to hear public comment on a proposed concrete and rock-crushing facility on the eastern edge of Fort Bend County.
#EnergyEnvironment #FortBend #Local #News #FortBendCounty #RockCrushingPlant #SiennaPointe #SouthernColony #Tceq
As part of the permitting process for a proposed concrete and rock-crushing plant, TCEQ will hold a public hearing on Tuesday. If approved, the facility would neighbor residential areas.
"Houston's Dirty Dozen": new report shows the twelve worst air polluters in the Houston area
#EnergyEnvironment #HarrisCounty #Houston #Local #News #AirAllianceHouston #AirPollutionInHouston #Epa #Tceq
The top three facilities that release the most emissions - ExxonMobil Baytown, LyondellBasell in Channelview, and Chevron Phillips in Baytown - make up 60% of the chemical releases in Harris County.
Houston Public Media
Preston Maness ☭
