Posted on 06/02/2010 5:11:58 PM PDT by EBH
On Tuesday, for the first time in any state, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seized control of Texas' jurisdiction over granting a clean air permit.
The takeover affects one key operating permit governing Flint Hills Resources' crude oil refinery in the Corpus Christi area (to which the EPA formally objected in December), but it sends a powerful message that Texas must comply with federal law.
EPA Region 6 Administrator Al Armendariz said the EPA is prepared to take control of Texas' entire air-permitting system because it violates the Clean Air Act, if TCEQ doesn't immediately begin requiring Texas air-quality permits that are federally sufficient.
"If the state agency is unwilling or unable to issue those permits, the EPA must and will do so," he told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. Armendariz says the EPA will begin issuing its own permits for several plants for which it has filed formal objections; those include facilities owned by Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Dow Chemical Co.
"The time for delay and for partnership and for compromise is very quickly coming to an end," Armendariz said. "We have to get the Clean Air Act implemented in the state of Texas."
They could very well be. Most Title V permits have an open period in which the public can submit questions and objections to the permit.
This is where I used to get crazy with the environmental groups as there was no amount of compliance that was sufficient for them. Even if you met the compliance regulations, they would still object.
Well it sounds to me like the EPA is using the “citizen petition” crap to deny the extension or fast permitting. The PDF just says “two citizen petitions filed with the EPA, dated August 28, 2009, and January 5, 2009.” I haven’t found those petitions on the EPA website and have no idea if they keep them there. What is interesting though is the Green groups bragging about how they are going to stop the refinery with this convoluted process. It is also interesting that the plant in question is owned by Koch which is accused by Greenpeace of climate denial funding. I think this is an intentional and deliberate first strike by Obama’s EPA goons to shut down CO2 via the back door, pretending that there are pollution point sources that pass Texas’ standards (they use facility-wide regulation). In reality they just want to shut it down by using Texas’ own logic that point sources don’t matter to climate change, just the totals.
I agree. From what has been written the feds have been extremely non-communicative. From what the feds have told them, there is no way that Texas can respond to either defend their plan as is, or modify it to meet with federal guidelines ... if there are such things any more.
We need to get these thugs hanging from ropes, pronto.
The federal authority to do this is right there in Article MCXLVII of the Constitution!
There are a couple things going on here.
First, I agree with you that the EPA is using this facility as a first strike. It is clear from all the reports they intend to use this facility as an example or to make the facility a bad example.
If this facility is required to have a Title V permit, I assume they have several Environmental Managers working for them. If I were them, I would be down right PO’d and have my environmental lawyers already on the line.
The EPA can order the refinery to stop working...shut it down. Now isn’t that a cute move and they will blame the TCEQ.
What is worse, that folks here seem to be missing, IS THEY INTEND TO MAKE THE TCEQ OBSOLETE. They are not just sticking their noses into this one facility, but the entire state agency is going to be shut down.
This is the first state to be threatened in this manner. I will bet we see more of this kind of stuff in the future. They will get their cap & tax any way they can.
I am totally new to this issue, but it sounds like the EPA is doing an end round to take over a state agency. Just a complete take over. WOW.
Interesting times indeed.
Do the state agency’s realize what they are up against?
Everybody is watching the big bill in Congress, but the EPA don’t need no stinkin’ bill.
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