TX Politicians To Fight EPA - Y'See, It's All Political - A Way Of Punishing "Biggest Red State"

[hatrack]

Texas is summoning all of its political firepower to do battle against the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Federal and state lawmakers announced the creation of a Texas task force to slow the agency's effort to tighten restrictions on Texas manufacturers. Twenty-three Republicans in the U.S. House and two senators plan to work on the issue with the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house and various committee chairmen.

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, says the task force has two goals: to stop the EPA from discontinuing Texas’ flexible permitting program, which reviews the overall emissions by a plant and not the emissions from individual units within the plant, and to prevent the Clean Air Act from applying to greenhouse gases. “We think the endangerment finding that President Obama issued last year is flawed,” says Barton, referring to the EPA's finding that greenhouse gas emissions are a hazard for public health and welfare. “And we don’t think the Clean Air Act applies to greenhouse gases.” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has already filed lawsuits challenging the EPA on both fronts.

Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club, says the task force's mission is unrealistic because the EPA's greenhouse gas regulations — which Texas is the only state actively refusing to implement — is backed by a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. “What may be more realistic is there have been efforts in the Congress to block funding for EPA," Reed says. Without sufficient funding, the EPA would not have the manpower to implement the proposed rules, Reed says.

The task force says the EPA’s rejection of Texas’ flexible permitting system, which covers some large refineries and other manufacturers in the state, has threatened job creation in Texas by creating uncertainty for energy companies operating in Texas. Barton says that at least two major manufacturers have put plans to build new facilities in Texas on hold or moved to other states. The EPA has said that companies are already fixing their permitting systems to comply with federal rules.

EDIT

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/environmental-problems-and-policies/texas-task-force-to-battle-epa-regulations/

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[emulatorloo]

2. Why isn't Joe Barton the guy who apologized to British Petroleum?

[Old and In the Way]

3. I'd call his bluff.

Let the polluters have their way. I doubt 1 extra job will be created, but the people of Texas can decide if they want their Representatives working to make their already polluted air measurably worse. Sorry, but the voters of Texas elected these clowns...let them deal with the fallout.

[IDemo]

4. Hadn't seen this yet, which explains my latest

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x282134