Unreported Emissions: |
May 29, 2002 |
Perry Cash & Houston Smog
Traced To Common Source
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Will Political Hacks Rewrite Texas’ Air-Quality Plan for Houston?
Pressured by industrial polluters that have given Governor Perry $408,256, Texas officials are considering gutting their own plan to stop Houston from flunking federal air-quality standards. Instead, they want to substitute an industry air plan based on a ludicrous premise.
Because Houston has some of the nation’s filthiest air, the federal government forced Texas in 2000 to adopt a cleanup plan to make the Houston area meet U.S. air-quality standards. Masquerading as the Greater Houston Partnership’s “Business Coalition for Clean Air Appeal Group,” polluters that account for about 56 percent of Houston’s smog-producing nitrogen oxides (NOx) sued the state last year. Alleging that junk science marred the state plan, the polluter plaintiffs demanded fewer restrictions on their emissions.
| 'Business Coalition for Clean Air' Polluter |
Perry Donations |
'99 Houston-Area NOx Emissions |
| Reliant Energy | $132,500 | 50,504 tons/year |
| Texas Petrochemicals | $100,500 | 1,547 tons/year |
| Enterprise Products | $81,256 | 1,279 tons/year |
| Entergy | $30,000 | 2,865 tons/year |
| Shell | $12,000 | 8,384 tons/year |
| Dynegy | $11,500 | 362 tons/year |
| Dow Chemical | $11,000 | 18,314 tons/year |
| ExxonMobil | $10,500 | 21,028 tons/year |
| ChevronTexaco* | $6,500 | 3,089 tons/year |
| Occidental Petroleum† | $4,500 | 2,379 tons/year |
| Lyondell | $6,000 | 5,445 tons/year |
| Air Products & Chemicals | $2,000 | 182 tons/year |
| TOTAL | $408,256 | 115,378 tons/year |
At a minimum, the state based its cleanup plan on junk reporting. Results from air-monitoring planes that sampled toxic plumes directly over Houston industrial plants show that these polluters released an estimated 143,000 tons of ozone-forming “olefins” each year—or 12 times what polluters reported to the state.
Now polluters want to make reductions in previously unreported emissions part of their contribution to Houston’s clean-air plan, environmentalists say. Clean-air advocates warn that the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC) is about to propose a new Houston air plan that does just that.
The last word on this scheme goes to three TNRCC commissioners who answer to Governor Perry. Perry has received $408,256 in campaign contributions in recent years from the very “Business Coalition for Clean Air Appeal Group” polluters that keep hacking away at clean-air plans for Houston.•
Business Coalition for Clean Air Appeal
Group Lobby
Contracts in 2001
| Lobbyist | of Contract |
of Contract |
| John 'Cliff' Johnson Jr. | $50,000 |
$100,000 |
| Clayton Pope | $50,000 |
$100,000 |
TOTAL: |
$100,000 |
$200,000 |
