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Bill to Help Build Refineries Would Weaken Clean-Air Laws

Posted on: Friday, 7 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

By Scott Streater, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Oct. 7--The battle is heating up over proposed legislation that would make it easier to build oil refineries but strip away some clean-air protections.

Congress is expected to vote today on the Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis.

The stated goal of the bill is to build refineries after hurricanes Katrina and Rita severely damaged facilities along the Gulf Coast, leading to fuel shortages and gasoline price spikes. Industry leaders say the hurricanes highlighted the need for the nation to increase dwindling fuel reserves.

But the bill also includes a number of provisions that would weaken clean-air laws. Included is a proposal that would allow the federal government to push back deadlines to comply with ozone standards in areas such as Dallas-Fort Worth that are affected by pollution blown in from other cities and states.

These provisions have drawn fierce opposition from clean-air advocates, who accuse Barton and others of taking advantage of a national tragedy to try to gut laws protecting human health and the environment.

Barton, speaking with reporters Thursday, said that despite the arguments of critics, "this bill sets in motion a chain of events that leads to lower gasoline prices."

He said, however, "I think it will be a tight vote."

Both sides stepped up lobbying efforts in Congress this week.

On Thursday, a group of hurricane survivors and clean-air advocates from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi -- where many refineries are located -- visited congressional leaders. They argued that weakening clean-air laws adds to the burden of rebuilding their communities by subjecting them to dirtier air.

"It seems to me that this is very disgusting," said Hilton Kelley, a displaced Port Arthur resident and clean-air advocate.

On the other side, labor unions sent a letter to Barton and Rep. John Dingell -- the ranking Democrat on Barton's Energy and Commerce Committee -- urging them to keep the environmental provisions in the bill.

The unions specifically support a provision in the bill that would limit federal requirements that pollution controls be installed whenever refineries and other industrial plants make expansions that increase emissions.

These requirements have slowed efforts to expand facilities, thus undermining "the competitiveness of American job sites," wrote Bill Cunningham, president of Unions for Jobs and the Environment, a Washington, D.C.-based group comprising of unions representing mine workers, boilermakers, electric utility workers and others.

Environmentalists say they do not object to expanding refining capacity, only to provisions in the bill that weaken clean-air protections.

One such measure is the proposal to extend ozone deadlines.

Dallas-Fort Worth is trying to meet a 2010 deadline to comply with federal ozone standards. If not, it could face potentially severe federal sanctions.

Barton has tried unsuccessfully to push the deadline extension through for several years. Congress declined to include it in the energy bill approved in August.

Staff Writer Maria Recio in Washington contributed to this report.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

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Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

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