AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Today, commissioners for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) adopted a rulemaking ostensibly aimed at increasing public participation, as required by the TCEQ Sunset Bill (SB 1397) signed into law in 2023. Despite the bill\u2019s clear intent, the final rule falls short of the reforms lawmakers and the state\u2019s Sunset Advisory Commission envisioned.<\/p>\n
The TCEQ received more than 50 comments from community and environmental advocates asking the agency to align the rule with the Sunset Advisory Commission\u2019s recommendations, increase transparency and make participation less confusing. The agency rejected each of those comments. Instead, the TCEQ modified this rule proposal after it was presented to the public, based on more than 30 comments from corporate interest groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cIronically, but not surprisingly, the TCEQ has adopted a public participation rulemaking while rejecting all of the public\u2019s participation,\u201d said Kathryn Guerra, director of Public Citizen\u2019s TCEQ Watchdog Campaign.<\/strong> \u201cThese rules were drafted by the same TCEQ staff that the Sunset Commission said lacked sufficient consideration of community\u2019s interest to begin with. Any comments that address the commission\u2019s inadequacy were summarily dismissed as \u2018outside the scope of the rulemaking\u201d because the TCEQ drafted them without considering the needs of communities across Texas. This agency has no intention of addressing the legislature’s concerns around agency trust or transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2023, the Sunset Advisory Commission found that \u201cTCEQ\u2019s policies and processes lack full transparency and opportunities for meaningful public input, generating distrust and confusion among members of the public\u201d, and the legislature mandated that the agency adopt a rulemaking to improve its public participation processes.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the agency rejected all of the public\u2019s comments on its Compliance History rulemaking, also required by the Sunset Bill. It amended that rulemaking to reflect corporate priorities.<\/p>\n The TCEQ Sunset bill required extending the public comment period and the opportunity to request a hearing for a subset of air quality permit applications. Specifically, air quality permit applications that are required to publish notice in a consolidated Notice of Receipt of Application and Intent to Obtain Permit (NORI) and Notice of Application and Preliminary Decision (NAPD) (consolidated notice) must extend the close of the comment period and the opportunity to request a contested case hearing to at least 36 hours following the public meeting held on the permit application. Although many public comments suggested extending the comment period after any public meeting, TCEQ rejected that suggestion as well. The Sunset bill also required TCEQ to post permit applications electronically on TCEQ\u2019s website and make these available to the public.<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-118869","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","tax_topic-making-government-work","tax_topic-open-government","tax_topic-protecting-health-the-environment","tax_case_topic-freedom-of-information-act","tax_case_topic-government-transparency","tax_case_topic-government-transparency-other","tax_case_topic-hazardous-substances-environmental-protection","tax_case_topic-open-court-proceedings-and-challenges-to-protective-orders","tax_supertag-texas","tax_news-press"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n