By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-885778.mp3
Dallas – The region's new EPA administrator, Al Armendariz, says he's disappointed the State of Texas is suing his agency. The suit, filed Tuesday, claims EPA's tougher air quality standards are based on junk science.
"We are home to approx 35 percent of the industrial co2 emissions in the country so we need to be leading the way and not fighting through litigation," said Armendariz.
Governor Rick Perry has led the state's opposition to the EPA's ozone regulations.
During the first week of 2010, Governor Rick Perry's office served notice the state might take the EPA to court. That's when the agency confirmed plans to cut the amount of allowable, ground-level ozone by up to 20 percent.
The EPA said tougher pollution limits are needed, because there's growing evidence carbon dioxide and ozone cause respiratory problems and other health risks.
The new standards would place nearly twice the number of Texas counties out of compliance with federal law and force them to adopt plans for further cutting air pollution.
In announcing the state's lawsuit against the EPA, the Governor cited the loss of Texas jobs as a major concern.
"This misguided plan paints a big target on the backs of Texas energy producers and nearly 200,000 Texans they employ, " said Perry.
The state's lawsuit claims the new ozone standards are based on inaccurate information provided by two discredited research groups. One group, the International Panel on Climate Change, recently became the focus of a controversy known at "Climategate" after emails exchanged by scientists suggested the group manipulated data to overstate the dangers of global warming.
Attorney General Gregg Abbott, the state's lawyer, says questionable science is at the center of the case.
"We've learned of cover ups, suppression and destruction of scientific information and even the falsification of information," said Abbott.
Environmental advocate Tom Smith of Public Citizen says the state's suit ignores an overwhelming body of evidence that confirms the health dangers posed by ozone. Smith says a similar suit filed by the state of Massachusetts in 2007 failed and he doesn't think Texas' case has a chance.
"Texas is stuck," said Smith. "The Supreme Court has ruled against Texas and a number of states who objected to global warming emissions being regulated. So we've had our day in court."
Smith says it's true, some Texas industries will be hurt financially by the new ozone regulations. He says others will benefit.
"The large electric utilities, the refining industries are going to be hit pretty darn hard. But the studies also indicate that we'll create more jobs than we'll lose here in Texas because nobody has more renewable resources than we do to export."
The EPA's new ozone regulations are scheduled to go into effect in March, despite Texas's lawsuit.
Many believe this skirmish is just the first punch to be thrown in a bare knuckled battle between the EPA and Governor Perry's administration.
The EPA has served notice that air permits issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are too lax and don't meet federal standards. The EPA says the state must be brought into federal compliance.