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Chemical Council ‘Grandfathered’ Air Releases  

Under the infamous grandfather-polluter loophole of the Texas Clean Air Act, industrial plants in existence when the law took effect in 1971 have not been required to get air permits for then-existing facilities. This omission is important because permitted facilities typically must:

• Install modern pollution-control devices;
• Submit to health-impact studies; and
• In the most controversial cases, face contested public hearings for air permits before the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC).

TNRCC data reveal that grandfathered plants emitted 893,193 tons of air pollutants into Texas skies in 1997, accounting for 36 percent of the state’s total industrial air pollution.¹³ Forty-one parent companies of Chemical Council members own grandfathered industrial sites in Texas. These Chemical Council member grandfathered plants produced 244,260 tons of grandfathered air pollution—27 percent of all the grandfathered pollution vented into Texas skies.
 
 
 

The Chemical Council's Worst 'Grandfathered' Air Polluters (By Company) 

Parent Company GF Total (Tons) Aluminum Co. of America 104,303 Mobil 34,868 Exxon 33,095 Union Carbide 8,558 Dow Chemical Co. 5,798 AMOCO 5,477 Lyondell-Citgo Refining 5,146 Eastman Chemical Co. 4,919 Phillips 66 4,577 Coastal Corp. 4,527 Huntsman Corp. 3,685 Enron Corp. 3,299 Reynolds Metal Co. 3,010 Rohm & Haas 2,464 ARCO 2,454 Hoechst Celanese 2,375 Goodyear Tire & Rubber 2,361 Chevron 2,359 Equistar Chemicals 2,084 CITGO 2,077 Source: TNRCC 1997 inventory data.

The accompanying tables identify the Chemical Council members that are the worst overall grandfather polluters, as well as those that own the dirtiest individual grandfathered plants in Texas. Three Chemical Council members—the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), Mobil and Exxon—rank among Texas’ five filthiest granddaddies. An ALCOA plant and a Mobil plant also rank among Texas’ five filthiest individual grandfathered facilities. While both of these plants have pledged to reduce their grandfathered emissions, they have not committed to major emissions reductions nor to any compliance deadline for whatever emissions reductions that they ultimately deliver (see “ALCOA, The Granddaddy of  ‘Grandpa’ Polluters.”)

 
 

 

Chemical Council's Worst Grandfathered Air Polluters (By Plant)  

Texas GF Rank	Grandfathered Site	Chemical Council Parent Company	County	GF Pollution  Total (Tons)
1	Sandow ALCOA Plant*	ALCOA	Milam	104,108
5	Beaumont Refinery*	Mobil	Jefferson	32,584
16	Seadrift Plant*	Union Carbide	Calhoun	7,214
18	Baytown Refinery*	Exxon	Harris	5,876
19	Plant B	Dow Chemical	Brazoria	5,798
21	Houston Refinery*	Lyondell-Citgo	Harris	5,146
22	TX Eastman Division*	Eastman Chemical	Harrison	4,919
23	King Ranch Plant	Exxon	Kleberg	4,877
27	Coastal Refining*	Coastal Corp.	Nueces	4,233
28	TX City Refinery*	Amoco	Galveston	3,910
30	Clear Lake Gas Plant	Exxon	Harris	3,787
38	Enron Methanol Co.	Enron	Harris	3,299
45	Sherwin Plant*	Reynolds Metals	San Patricio	3,010
48	Sweeny Refinery*	Phillips 66	Brazoria	2,667
54	Huntsman Petrochemical*	Huntsman Corp.	Jefferson	2,534
58	Hawkins Gas Plant	Exxon	Wood	2,497
60	Houston Plant	Rohm & Haas	Harris	2,464
67	Clear Lake Plant*	Hoechst Celanese	Harris	2,331
73	Katy Gas Field	Exxon	Waller	1,992
76	Compressor Station	Exxon	Montgomery	1,910
77	East Plant Refinery*	CITGO	Nueces	1,910
83	Beaumont Chem. Plant*	Goodyear	Jefferson	1,744
94	Tom O'Connor Gas Plant	Exxon	Refugio	1,487
102	El Paso Refinery	Chevron	El Paso	1,363
107	Vinyl Acetate Facility	Union Carbide	Galveston	1,291

*Pledged to permit some part of site. Yet none of these plants set a compliance deadline and their total quantified pollution-reduction pledges would amount to just 5 percent of their total grandfathered emissions. [Source: TNRCC 1997 inventory data.]
 
 
 

Grandpa Polluters  Write the Rules Documents obtained from the TNRCC by the environmental SEED Coalition reveal that the grandfathered polluters became alarmed in early 1997 because TNRCC officials were seeking a mandatory end to the grandfather loophole.   At Governor Bush’s request, Exxon and Marathon then drafted an alternative policy on behalf of grandfathered polluters that belong to the Texas Mid Continent Oil and Gas Association (TMOGA). They submitted this plan to Governor Bush’s point men on the issue, TNRCC Commissioner Ralph Marquez and John Howard, Bush’s Environmental Policy Director. At a June 19, 1997 meeting, Exxon and Marathon presented their voluntary proposal to representatives of the heavily grandfathered oil, chemical, electric utility and paper industries, urging them to get on board. That proposal was the basis of Bush’s voluntary Clean Air Responsibility Enterprise (CARE) program.  In a memo summarizing the June 19 meeting for other Chemical Council members, DuPont’s Jim Kennedy said that the proposal “has no ‘meat’ with respect to actual emissions reductions. One of the leaders actually stated that emissions reductions was not a primary driver for the program.” The laxity of the proposal notwithstanding, Kennedy’s memo added that, “Clearly, the ‘insiders’ from oil & gas believe that the Governor’s Office will ‘persuade’ the TNRCC to accept whatever program is developed between the industry group and the Governor’s Office.”   Despite widespread opposition to the industry-sponsored CARE program, the TNRCC, the Legislature and Governor Bush turned it into the law of the land in 1999. Environmental groups concluded that the Governor’s Office and grandfather polluters colluded against the public interest in creating the CARE Program.18

 
 

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