The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a final disapproval of Texas’ flexible air permit program, saying it violates several national Clean Air Act requirements. The conflict between EPA and Texas had been heating up since mid June when the federal agency took over two state issued air permits, one for Garland Power and Light’s natural gas fired Ray Olinger plant on Lake Lavon in Collin County, and one for Chevron Phillips Chemical Co’s Baytown plant.
“It’s shocking for the Obama Administration to target a 16-year-old air quality program that has achieved a 22 percent reduction in ozone and 53 percent reduction in NOx from regulated sources since 2000”, said Governor Rick Perry. “Texas’ air quality program has outperformed federal programs in virtually every category”.
EPA official Al Armendariz says Texas’ air permit program allows companies to avoid certain federal clean air requirements by lumping emissions from multiple units under a single cap rather than setting specific emission limits for individual pollution sources at their plants.
In 1995 the Texas legislature passed a law allowing certain qualified facilities to implement physical and operational changes to their sites without having to undergo additional regulatory process, provided that the changes neither increased emission nor resulted in the release of new contaminants. In 1996 the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) submitted Texas’ qualified facilities rule to the EPA and has since then been regulating qualified facilities.
Under the Clean Air Act the U.S Environmental protection Agency (EPA) had one year to approve or disapprove the flexible permit program that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had submitted for inclusion in its clean-air implementation program.
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