By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – An EPA official says coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other industries won't face delays as the federal agency takes over the greenhouse gas permitting for Texas.
Al Armendariz, regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, says officials are ready to start issuing permits. Since Jan. 2 the new permits are required for large businesses that release greenhouse gases and are building new facilities or making major renovations.
Texas has estimated 167 projects would be affected by the new rules.
The EPA decided to issue greenhouse gas permits directly to Texas industries after the state refused to comply with the new Clean Air Act regulations.
Texas is suing to stop the EPA from implementing the plan.
Armendariz spoke today during a break at an EPA hearing in Dallas.
Dewhurst, other Texas leaders get more security
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is using state bodyguards on an as-needed basis after he says "credible threats" were documented in December.
Dewhurst on Thursday declined to provide details on the threats.
Gov. Rick Perry has a security detail. Dewhurst was seen this week, with plainclothes Texas Department of Public Safety officers, while in the Capitol and the Senate chamber.
The Austin American-Statesman reports Attorney General Greg Abbott and newly re-elected Texas House Speaker Joe Straus are also part of the expanded DPS security.
DPS declined comment.
Security for elected officials nationwide has drawn scrutiny since U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head during a public appearance last weekend in Tucson. Six people were killed and 14 wounded. A suspect remains in custody.
EPA says DFW-area violates air-quality standards
The Environmental Protection Agency says the Dallas-Fort Worth area has some of the nation's most polluted air.
EPA says the area on Tuesday will be designated a "serious" violator of federal air-quality standards.
The Dallas Morning News reports that Ventura, Calif., is just as bad although five other regions are even worse, including the Houston metro area, which is a "severe" offender. EPA spokesman David Bary says the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will be required to develop a new clean-air plan for DFW by July 2012.
David Brymer, the state's air quality division director, says the new EPA label will probably have little effect on North Texas since a plan to clean the air is already underway because of previous orders by the federal government to do so.
List of possible Hutchison successors takes shape
Potential candidates to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas have plenty of time to prepare following her early announcement that she won't run for re-election.
Hutchison announced her plans in a letter to constituents Thursday. The list of Republicans and Democrats who might seek the job in 2012 is already starting to take shape.
Popular Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst acknowledges he will explore a run. Other potential GOP candidates include Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, and former Secretary of State Roger Williams.
The list is shorter on the Democratic side, but former Houston Mayor Bill White, former U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk and former state Comptroller are among the possibilities.
Company had wrong ID on Dallas City Hall photo
A photography studio is taking the blame for a misidentified mayoral picture hanging at Dallas City Hall. A December visitor to city hall said the photo, in honor of former Mayor Woodall Rodgers, wasn't him.
Rodgers served as mayor from 1939 to 1947. He died 1961.
Relatives of construction company magnate Henry C. Beck Jr. on Wednesday confirmed he was the person in the mislabeled photo.
The Dallas Morning News reports that Gittings photography provided the picture in about 1992 with a label indicating the person was Rodgers. Gittings manager Barry Benton says the company, which does corporate photos as part of its business, is working to replace the incorrect image.