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City Loses Contract to Inspect Plants for Bad Air

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 12:00 CDT

Aug. 23--City air pollution experts no longer will conduct routine inspections at Houston's industrial plants after failing to reach an agreement with the state.

The impasse represents the biggest shake-up in the oversight of local facilities in more than a decade.

Since the early 1990s, Houston has received money from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to act as the state's local environmental police, a job that entailed inspections at 80 facilities, including major refineries and chemical plants.

The failure to renew the contract with the state will force the city to fire or reassign all 28 of its inspectors. Without the state's funding, the city budget for inspections will be cut by nearly 70 percent.

The deadlock also represents a setback for the city, which in late 2004 successfully negotiated an amendment to its current three-year contract, which expires Sept. 1. The amendment allowed the city to enforce violations without the state's consent.

But TCEQ officials refused to sign the fiscal 2006-07 agreement with that added enforcement provision.

"The fact is that we are not going to be doing routine inspections, and even customized inspections will be fewer in number," said Elena Marks, Mayor Bill White's health policy director.

The city still will be able to inspect plants on its own dime and pursue criminal or civil enforcement, city and state officials said.

"We do not believe it is in the best interest of our citizens for us to give up a powerful enforcement tool," Marks said. "All of the other work we do is only as good as our ability to hold polluters accountable."

The state has funded local air quality programs in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso and Galveston County since the early 1990s. Locally, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality provided the city with $1.5 million annually to inspect pollution sources within its limits. The city kicked in an additional $750,000 a year.

If city inspectors found a violation, they would notify the TCEQ, which could then decide if and how it would punish the company. TCEQ officials said they declined to sign the new contract with a clause giving the city more enforcement leeway because they were concerned about a "duplication of efforts."

The change, they said, only affects the funding, not the city's role in policing plants.

"We are in no way altering the city of Houston's authority," TCEQ Chairwoman Kathleen Hartnett White said. "We are only talking about money in this contract."

The agency's executive director, Glenn Shankle, said enforcement would not be compromised. He said he would initially hire 10 more inspectors for the local TCEQ staff, including some of those working for the city, and an "air czar" to better coordinate between the various agencies and industry involved in improving the city's air quality.

The mayor's office has said that it will pay the salaries of the city's 28 inspectors through December. White already has committed an additional $500,000 for the city to combat air pollution this year.

Environmentalists are concerned that the shift will disable one of the tools that White -- who has taken one of the toughest stances on pollution -- could have used in his battle to clean up Houston's air.

The administration already has added two lawyers to screen permits and prosecute environmental cases, hired a new director of environmental programs, and has applied for a $500,000 grant to purchase equipment to better identify sources of harmful air pollution.

In contrast, the TCEQ has been criticized for its weak enforcement practices. On numerous occasions between 2002 and this year, city inspectors reported violations to the state, only to have them dropped by state environmental officials, according to Arturo Blanco, the director of Houston's Air Quality Control Bureau.

Two of those cases involved Goodyear and Texas Petrochemicals, companies responsible for the high levels of a carcinogenic chemical in East End air. Recently, both companies signed voluntary agreements with the TCEQ that, while not legally enforceable, commit them to reducing emissions at their Houston plants.

The mayor's office is seeking similar agreements, but wants them legally binding.

"One of the city's criticisms is that the state has failed to take enforcement action," said John Wilson, executive director for Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention. "I hope the state is going to be as aggressive as the city has been. I hope finally they will start taking enforcement action."

Enforcement wasn't the only sticking point in the contract negotiations.

City officials also said the state inspection process they had to follow had little benefit when it came to cleaning Houston's air.

Marks said that from now on, the city's Bureau of Air Quality will focus more on researching sources of pollution in the air and analyzing air quality data.

"(Industry) may wish we were still doing routine inspections," she said.

Shankle said the state's air pollution monitors and company records already help the state zero in on companies violating the law.

"Houston wanted to do recognizance and we wanted to do inspections," he said. "Recognizance without any clear objectives for results concerned me greatly."

Less 'protection' Critics, however, don't buy the adage that it's possible to do more with less. "We will have fewer investigators, and they can talk about more bang for the buck, but the city will be doing less," said Brandt Mannchen, air quality chair for the Houston Sierra Club. "It is telling taxpayers that we are going to be doing less environmental protection for you."

Representatives of several companies operating within city limits said the change would have little impact.

Chip Gross, environmental director for Valero's Houston refinery, located in the Ship Channel-area community of Manchester, said disagreements over interpretations of the law are normal when it comes to enforcing environmental regulations. He said there have been cases when local state staff has clashed with enforcement officials in Austin.

"The local TCEQ staff may find what they feel is a violation, and then it gets overturned when it gets to Austin," Gross said. "But this facility has not taken advantage of arguing our point in Austin to overturn anything with the TCEQ."

HOW THE PROGRAM WORKED

--The state helps fund local air quality programs in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso and Galveston County.

--Houston received $1.5 million annually from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The city added $750,000 to inspect pollution sources within its limits.

--If a violation was found, city inspectors notified the TCEQ, which could then decide if and how it would punish the company.

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GT,

Source: Houston Chronicle

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