The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has been caught on the back foot, facing serious allegations that it granted permits allowing polluters to operate under the radar, blunting the edge of the Clean Air Act, as per The Texas Tribune
One such case involves the Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC), which obtained permits for chemical tanks producing just shy of the federal threshold for volatile organic compound emissions, a crafty move as it sidestepped the need for a rigorous review process. The facility avoided the New Source Review (NSR) program meant to safeguard air quality, a July 2014 email from permit reviewer Jesse Lovegren voiced "concerns about NSR circumvention," making it clear that not everyone within the TCEQ was blind to ITC's maneuvers, according to The Texas Tribune.
The nuanced but questionable tactics employed by such companies include splitting a major source into several minor sources to bypass stricter regulation, underestimating projected emissions, classifying emissions in categories with lax oversight, or amending permit conditions retroactively after facilities are built—shenanigans that have drawn the ire of environmental groups and legal advocates, with Gabriel Clark-Leach, former attorney for Environmental Integrity Project characterizing the issue as "sort of a foundational problem with Texas permitting." reported by Houston Landing.
In an unexpected twist, criticism isn't only directed at state regulators, but also toward the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for what's perceived as a lackadaisical approach to enforcement in Texas, claims Ryan Maher of the Center for Biological Diversity, who said, "Texas oil and gas is getting a huge handout relative to the rest of the country," stated in Houston Landing.
