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Archive for June, 2010

TCEQ Continues to Fail the People of Texas

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, TCEQ, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 30, 2010 |

The TCEQ ruled today on the air permit for the proposed Las Brisas pet-coke plant in Corpus Christi. The good news is they didn’t grant the permit (yet), instead they remanded the permit back to the State Office of Administrative Hearings on a number of issues. However, they refused to acknowledge some of the most important aspects and requirements of the process (like a case-by-case analysis of the hazardous air pollutants) and practically ignored the recommendations of the administrative law judges and even their own staff – who have all recommended that this permit be denied.

TCEQ should have sent Las Brisas packing – they should have outright denied this joke of a permit, or at the least made them restart the permitting process from square one. Instead we have the same old story from TCEQ. They have shown once more that their primary interest is to allow industries to pollute irresponsibly and not, as it should be, to protect the people and environment of Texas from unnecessary pollution.

The video below is of the press conference held yesterday, which also talked about revisions to water quality standards – another mistake TCEQ is in the process of making. Visit Sierra Club’s website for more on that. Stay tuned to Texas Vox for more info on the Las Brisas case – the video footage of today’s proceedings will be up by tomorrow and will include responses from the protestants in the case including locals from Corpus Christi.

[vimeo 12988286]

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas

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Want a Public Meeting on EPA Coal Ash Waste Rules – TAKE ACTION NOW

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , on June 30, 2010 |

Requests for a public meeting should be submitted to EPA’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery by July 21, 2010.  For a sample request letter and where to send it, click here.

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EPA disapproves Texas “flex permitting” program at TCEQ- new programs must follow Clean Air Act, transparency standards

Posted in Energy, Good Government, TCEQ, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 30, 2010 |

Child using inhaler because of dirty airThe EPA announced today that Texas’s much-discussed and derided flex permitting program does not follow the federal Clean Air Act (big surprise  </sarcasm>).  This was an action that began when the EPA under George W. Bush called into question the transparency and efficacy of the program which allows big polluters to skirt the federal Clean Air Act.  From their press release:

EPA is disapproving the permit program after determining that it 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.

“Today’s action improves our ability to provide the citizens of Texas with the same healthy-air protections that are provided for citizens in all other states under the Clean Air Act.,” said Al Armendariz, Regional Administrator.  “EPA will continue working closely with Texas, industry, environmental organizations, and community leaders to assure an effective and legal air permitting system.”

We’re chiming in on this, with a joint press release from the Alliance for Clean Texas (ACT), where you can go to read the full press release.  Here’s the highlights: (more…)

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Dirtiest Oil in the World to be Refined in Texas?

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Transportation, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 29, 2010 |

TransCanada, a pipeline company out of Canada, wants to build a pipeline to bring the dirtiest kind of oil in the world from tar sands mines in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Houston and Beaumont. This oil is many times dirtier than conventional crude and allowing Houston area refineries to process it would increase air pollution throughout the region. The tar sands mines in Alberta are devastating the Boreal forest ecosystem, laying waste to a region the size of Florida and poisoning the people who live downstream. The first permit this pipeline needs is the Presidential Permit, which goes through the State Department. The comment period on this project is open until July 2 – to submit comments online go here. For more information on tar sands oil visit dirtyoilsands.org and to stay updated on tar sands news in Texas keep coming back here to Texas Vox, and visit our main webpage on tar sands here. (more…)

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Want an EPA Public Hearing on Coal Ash Waste?

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , on June 28, 2010 |

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to set federal safeguards for millions of tons of dangerous coal ash waste currently being stored in dry dumps and waste ponds. You can help set EPA on a straight course towards the first ever strong, federally enforceable safeguards for coal ash. And judging from the current proposal, it seems like the EPA can use our help.

Coal Ash Waste

Texas leads the nation in coal ash waste production so final rules could have significant impact in keeping Texans safe from toxic waste, blighting our landscape and polluting our groundwater.  According to the EPA, if the weaker coal ash option were put in place, coal ash dumps and waste ponds in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming will retain their status quo: poorly regulated, unprotected and unsafe. Even in Tennessee, where in December 2008 a coal ash pond in Kingston collapsed, spilling over 1 billion gallons of the toxic waste across 300 acres, will not have protections in place to prevent a similar disaster from happening again.

If you want EPA to hold a public hearing on the proposed coal ash waste rule in your area, you need to request one.  Requests for a public meeting should be submitted to EPA’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery by July 21, 2010. (more…)

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GasLand: A Must Watch Documentary

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, natural gas, Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 23, 2010 |

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtpSgqUZ3oA]

A few days ago, Larry King interviewed T. Boone Pickens and if you were watching it, you heard him condemn the spill and the US dependence on oil then he raved about natural gas and how safe it is to drill for it.

Pickens is not the first. Many have claimed that natural gas is better, safer, and cheaper. Simply, that is not the case. I have written about a couple of natural gas blow outs and pipe fractures in Texas this month alone but this documentary examines several other elements of natural gas impact than just rigs blowing up.

Yesterday, HBO aired a documentary that is both eye-opening and disturbing. It is called GasLand, in which Josh Fox, the director travels across the United States to explore the damage and contamination that has resulted from drilling for natural gas. In the documentary, Fox points out the different impacts of natural gas; on our drinking water, the air we breathe, and the nature that surrounds us. If the pictures of evaporating water mixed gas into the air to get rid of the waste (process done by gas-drilling facilities) won’t tell how bad natural gas is, then I am pretty sure watching people lighting their contaminated faucet water on fire will.

Fox collects water samples from homes with contaminated water and sends them to a lab for examination. I will leave it to you to watch his outrageous findings in the documentary.

In case you missed it, Josh Fox’s GasLand will be airing on HBO at the following (central) times:

Thursday, June 24: 12:00PM

Thursday, June 24: 11:30PM

Saturday, June 26: 11:00AM

Wednesday, June 30: 08:45AM

For more information, visit the HBO schedule page or the webpage for GasLand.

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90 Days to Tell the EPA We Want Strong Safeguards on Coal Ash

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , on June 22, 2010 |

EPA offers two options for coal ash: one good, one very, very bad (more…)

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Joe Barton has Apologizer’s Remorse

Posted in Campaign Finance, Energy, Global Warming, Good Government, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 18, 2010 |

So he’s sorry he was sorry. Joe Barton, District 6 Congressman, apologized yesterday for his publicity stunt of an apology to BP where he equated the $20 billion aid fund to a shakedown. He claimed that his comments over being ashamed of the White House were misconstructed, as in constructed badly, kinda like that leaky oil well huh there Joey? *pause for laughter*

Republicans and Democrats immediately condemned Barton for his remarks and Representative Jeff Miller (R-Florida) called for Barton to resign as the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. When asked whether he planned to stay put on the committee, Barton responded:

“Damn straight.”

It’s clear that he was wrong in saying what he said, but what exactly inspired this self righteous act of disregard for the victims of the BP oil spill? Cash money you silly goose. Duh! Barton agrees that BP should be held responsible for their “bad accident” but only if it doesn’t involve funding aid to repair the lives and economy it has destroyed. Of the top 20 ranking industries contributing to Joe Barton’s campaign, oil and gas rank #2 at a grand total of $100,470.

As a matter of fact, October 15, 2010 marks the 7th Annual Barton Family Fishing Trip in beautiful Islamorada, Florida (that means purple island by the way). Current oil trajectory maps show that Islamorada will not be affected by the oil spill wait for it…YET. I guess we’ll just have to see if this party and the Gulf of Mexico’s tourist industry is still on in a few months.

For those of you who just won’t accept that Barton’s apology was fueled by campaign contributions there is another possibility. After all BP is a British based company with its headquarters located in London. Many wonderful things have hopped the pond and made life in the United States a little bit better. Maybe Joe Barton apologized to BP because he was afraid of incurring their wrath and in a vengeance driven rampage BP would snatch those wonderful things away. Because I don’t know about you but I love Harry Potter, and the Rolling Stones and The Office so we should listen carefully to how sorry BP actually is before we start holding them accountable for the safety and construction oversights that caused this tragedy:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAnsA96JK6Y]

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas and we’re not sorry about it.

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Three Finalists for Austin Energy GM Announced!

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, tagged , , , , , on June 17, 2010 |

From the Austin Business Journal:

The finalists include Ronald Davis, Larry Weis and David Wright.
  • Ronald Davis (Burbank, Calif.) Davis has worked 30 years in the electric industry and has led Burbank Water and Power for the last 12 years. Burbank Water and Power is a municipal utility in urban Southern California with a 2009 budget of $410 million and a peak electrical load of 308 megawatts. The company adopted a 33 percent renewable energy portfolio standard in 2007.
  • Larry Weis (Turlock, Calif.) Weis is the general manager and CEO for the Turlock Irrigation District, one of the 30 largest public power utilities in the U.S., which provides water and electricity to Central Valley California. He has 29 years of experience in the electric industry, including 20 years as a general manager. TID is currently supplying 28 percent of its annual energy requirements from renewable resources.
  • David Wright (Riverside, Calif.) Wright is the general manager for the City of Riverside’s public utilities. He’s worked in the sector for more than 22 years. The Riverside Public Utilities group serves more than 300,000 residents with an annual budget of more than $500 million. He is a Certified Public Accountant and former finance director for San Diego County Water Authority. He was also city controller for Riverside before taking joining Riverside’s public utility.

As the energy industry changes rapidly, this hiring decision is critical. We will look forward to hearing more about these candidates in the coming days.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Things to know about the TCEQ air-permitting controversy

Posted in Good Government, Sunset, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 16, 2010 |

Background: What the controversy is all about
On May 25, 2010, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) barred the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) from issuing a permit to a refinery in Corpus Christi. EPA said that the process used to justify that permit violated the Clean Air Act.  EPA’s Region 6 Administrator, Al Armendariz, also stated that the EPA would block future permits and force polluters to comply with EPA standards if the TCEQ did not change its rules. On June 14th, EPA announced it was taking over the process for two additional air-quality permits

At issue are two types of air permits used in Texas – one known as a “flex permit” and one known as a “plant-wide applicability limit.” In both cases, instead of issuing permits that limit pollution from each individual point-source (e.g. a smokestack), TCEQ limits pollution for entire facilities, allowing operators to emit more pollution from one stack if another stack was emitting less. Studies indicate that there would be greater emission reductions if limits were done on a stack-by-stack basis.

These permits make enforcement extremely difficult at vast petrochemical and refining facilities. They also fail to protect people from emission clouds that can occur as a result of letting one stack emit more than would be allowed under the Clean Air Act.

Suppressed reports add fuel to the fire
The flex permit controversy had been brewing for some time as EPA and TCEQ battled behind closed doors, secretly playing a game of chicken with air pollution regulations. Meanwhile, another controversy was broiling beneath the surface in Fort Worth.  Elected officials from the area felt they were getting the run-around from TCEQ when they asked whether natural gas drilling and processing on the Barnett Shale was putting residents’ health at risk.

On June 1st, TCEQ admitted they had failed to divulge (i.e. suppressed) reports showing elevated benzene levels in the area.  In a statement, Mark Vickery said TCEQ “missed an opportunity” to “bolster their confidence in the quality of the air.” In reality, TCEQ knowingly presented inaccurate air-quality information to leaders and decision makers for months. Soon after, TCEQ admitted that 3 additional air-quality reports had not been made public. (more…)

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TransCanada to Build a Tar-Sand Pipeline in East Texas

Posted in Global Warming, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , on June 14, 2010 |

Keystone XL

TransCanada's map for the proposed pipeline.

While the Department of Energy took a step towards cutting the emissions of the state by approving a Carbon Capture and Storage project for Texas which will start early next year, a nasty tar-sand Pipeline is set to penetrate through Texas land and be completed by late 2011. The first segment of the line which extends from Alberta to Illinois has already been completed and will be functioning next month. The second segment (Texas and Oklahoma) of the Keystone XL line will be built by the Canadian oil and pipeline company, TransCanada.

The line will end in Houston, where the crude oil will be refined. In addition to the fact that pipelines are not the safest to be around as we saw a couple of them blow up just in the past week, the line will carry tar-sands, one of the dirtiest sources of oil. This source of oil is estimated to have as much as three times more emissions than other oil sources when produced, keep in mind that it will be refined in Houston, a city that is already in non attainment of federal air quality standards.

TransCanada also applied for a special permit to build the line thinner than what the standards require. The segment already built in Illinois was approved for using a thinner pipe, a method which the United Steelworkers had warned last year that it “would increase the risks of ruptures, leaks and spills and lessen pipeline safety by the use of thinner pipe and greater operating pressure.” State Department approval for the Texas-Oklahoma segment is pending.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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NRC ACCEPTS APPLICATION FOR EARLY SITE PERMIT AT VICTORIA COUNTY SITE IN TEXAS

Posted in Nuclear, tagged , , , , , , on June 14, 2010 |

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review the Exelon Nuclear Texas Holdings Early Site Permit (ESP) application for the Victoria County site near Victoria, Texas.

The application and associated information were initially submitted on March 25 and is available, minus proprietary and security-related details, on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/esp/victoria.html.

Exelon’s application seeks approval for safety and environmental issues for the site, approximately 13 miles south of Victoria.  If approved by the NRC this would give Exelon three to 20 years to decide whether to build a plant in Victoria County. It can be extended for another 20 years, giving the company up to 40 years to begin construction from the time that the NRC approves the permit.

Now the site permit application will undergo a three- to four-year review process by the NRC in which it will evaluate the project’s environmental impact and safety preparedness.

Water use figures prominently into the concerns of many. The Guadalupe River is the designated water source for the possible power plant, and Exelon has a water reservation agreement with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) that expires in 2013. (more…)

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HEARING ON NUKE DUMP NOW SET FOR SATURDAY

Posted in Nuclear, TCEQ, tagged , , , on June 11, 2010 |

At a time when lax regulatory oversight has contributed to such catastrophic problems for our nation as the financial crisis and the BP oil spill, Texas may be in the process of setting itself up for a fiscally disastrous and environmentally catastrophic future – all because of a vote by an appointed committee taking place out on the dusty, lonely edges of West Texas.

The hearing on plans to expand the low-level radioactive waste facility in Andrews County, that was postponed last month because of the volume of comments for official review, has been rescheduled for Saturday, and opponents of the facility are stepping up their opposition. (more…)

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White Stallion Town Hall Meeting

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, TCEQ, Toxics, tagged , , , , , on June 11, 2010 |

This footage is of the town hall event that was held in Bay City in April. Though invited, White Stallion representatives refused to show up to answer questions from the public. Some Bay City officials, including Mr. Owen Bludau of the Matagorda Economic Development Corporation and Judge Nate McDonald did attend to voice their positions and to answer questions that pertained to them. This footage is for public/educational use and may be duplicated and distributed freely by all.

[vimeo 11720643] (more…)

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EPA Hearing in Dallas on New Ozone Standard

Posted in Global Warming, TCEQ, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 11, 2010 |

Video footage of a public meeting back in March for the Dallas, TX region. EPA has proposed a new NOx attainment standard, and this meeting was held during the comment period. Though an official EPA meeting had been held in Houston, there was no official meeting for Dallas (where Region 6 offices of EPA are located) so a number of environmental groups got together to host and sponsor this event. The last video is of some folks who didn’t speak at the event itself but who wanted to submit video comments to the EPA. The event was sponsored by Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Texas Campaign for the Environment, Downwinders at Risk, and other individuals and environmental organizations. Rep. Lon Burnam presided over the entire meeting and was joined throughout by Mayor Cluck of Arlington, TX and other representatives and officials, including one from the TCEQ.

Press Conference

[vimeo 11089828]

(more…)

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