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Environment
May 17, 2007
Air quality bill passes House, but Farrar amendment unlikely to survive
Two lawmakers from the greater Houston area ended a standoff over an air quality bill, and the bottom line is that both won and lost.
The bill, which expands a program that gives money to low-income Texans to repair their old, polluting cars, passed, but not before an amendment calling for air toxics limits in any given area.
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, had pulled it down several times to avoid the amendment, which he claimed was driven by political motivations: He worried a record vote would make some of his Republican colleagues vulnerable to criticism over their environmental records.
Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, said her amendment would improve air quality. New Jersey, California and Louisiana had similar measures in place, she said.
But the amendment is unlikely to be included in the final law: Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, the bill’s original author, said he and Bonnen were likely to strike the amendment in a conference committee.
April 25, 2007
Barton Springs bill on tap today
Last summer, some Hays County residents protested in front of a Dripping Springs subdivision over its plans to discharge treated sewage into a creek that feeds Barton Springs. Today, those residents and officials for the subdivision will get to lay out their arguments at the Capitol.
When, last year, the developers of Belterra subdivision asked the state environmental agency to permit them to expand their sewage treatment plant with an eye to eventually sending effluent, or treated sewage, into Bear Creek, downstream neighbors, environmental groups, and the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District mobilized.
Bear Creek drains into the Edwards Aquifer, and if the permit goes through, the sewage plant would be the first to discharge effluent directly into a stream in the Barton Springs portion of the aquifer.
Earlier this month, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a draft permit that would allow Belterra to discharge effluent into Bear Creek as part of its sewage expansion. The permit will go through an extensive public comment and hearing process before it is finalized.
But a proposal by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, would prohibit the TCEQ from issuing any permits that would increase the amount of treated wastewater that could be discharged in the contributing or recharge zone of the Barton Springs segment of the aquifer. The bill, HB 3039, gets a hearing at the House committee on Natural Resources, which meets at 2:30 p.m.
February 15, 2007
Scenic highway 71
Texas 71 between Austin and Llano could soon become a scenic highway, if state Sen. Kirk Watson has his way.
The Austin Democrat today filed Senate Bill 669 to prohibit new billboards and other off-premise signs from being built along the Hill Country highway.
If eventually approved, the road would join more than a dozen other such scenic highways in Texas. Closest to the Capital City is U.S. 290 between Austin and Fredericksburg.
Watson said he filed the proposal at the request of Hill Country residents.
February 8, 2007
School bus cleanup
Riding on Texas’ 35,000 school buses is the dirtiest part of many children’s day, and state Sen. Kirk Watson wants to change that.
The Austin Democrat today announced that he has filed Senate Bill 529 to retrofit school buses with exhaust-scrubbing filters and mechanical modifications to significantly reduce the pollution they generate.
Cost: $100 million over several years, using a share of the fees already paid by drivers for vehicle inspections.
About six percent of the Texas school bus fleet operates in the Austin area.
“Children are the most vulnerable because their lungs are developing, and this is perhaps the most damaging time for them to be exposed to 40 different toxins that are in school bus exhaust,” Watson said.
“This bill would create a program to provide funding to reduce these toxins … This program is about protecting children’s health by reducing the air they breathe inside school buses.”
“Children are extremely sensitive to this pollution, especially those with asthma or other health conditions.”
Watson should know. He is former chairman of the Texas Air Control Board, forerunner of the state’s current environmental agency.
Lined up already in support: The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Parent Teacher Association, the Greater Houston Partnership and the Texas Clear Air Working Group, among others.
Similar legislation was approved by lawmakers two years ago, but was not funded, Watson said.
January 25, 2007
Perry names TCEQ commissioner
In an appointment closely watched by environmental and industry groups, Gov. Rick Perry named Capitol insider H.S. Buddy Garcia to the state’s environmental commission on Thursday.
Garcia, an Austinite who is currently serving as Texas deputy secretary of state, has worked on water and low-sulfur fuel issues, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
Commission-watchers wonder how Garcia will come down on some of the major issues that face it: Namely, whether its enforcement activities should be stiffer and what to do about proposals for new coal-fired power plants.
Only three commissioners serve on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and there seems to be some daylight on opinion between Kathleen Hartnett White, a rancher, and Larry Soward, a longtime political appointee who has worked as an environmental lawyer.
Environmental issues are frequently portrayed as economic development vs. environmental protection. The governor’s press release today may have shed some light on where Garcia will come down. It mentioned that Garcia is “a leader in efforts to promote new economic development” before mentioning any of his environmental credentials.
