TCEQ idiocy, Big Bend version

In its protesting EPA taking over the environmental permitting process here in Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shows exactly why EPA needs to take over.

At an appearance in Odessa, TCEQ Executive Director Mark Vickery is even ready to pooh-pooh National Park air pollution:

He also took some shots at a common foe of the TCEQ and many in the oil and gas business — the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The federal and state agencies have been at odds since the EPA took over the operating permit of a Flint Hills Resources refinery in Corpus Christi in May.

“In some areas we need to have some robust arguments and, frankly, a lawsuit, and we’re pursuing some of them,” Vickery said.

While he said Texas is already seeing results of air quality initiatives, Vickery said new federal proposals would be unreasonable.

“If this hits the low range (of proposed emissions standards limits), Big Bend National Park is out of the range for ozone,” he said.

Uhh, excuse me? It IS out of the range for other air pollutants already. Have you actually looked at its air?

In fact, your own agency, under its old name, admitted that:

Pollution has created a haze that impairs visibility on most days, and 6% of the time visibility is less than 30 miles. According to TNRCC, "the decrease in visibility at Big Bend National Park is among the most pronounced of any national park in the western United States." Meanwhile, the National Park Service (NPS) considers Big Bend to have the "dirtiest air" among all western parks.

And don't just blame Mexico:

The study showed that urban and industrial areas of Houston and Galveston on the Texas Gulf coast are a large source of air contaminants, as is a similar region in North Central Mexico.

Houston? Galveston? That would be the oil refineries you refuse to adequately regulate. Or, the coal-fired power plants and their sulfur compounds

No, ozone isn't the primary problem in Big Bend. But it is part of the problem.