Texas, EPA fight over regulations grows fierce

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Texas, EPA fight over regulations grows fierce
HOUSTON – A longstanding tit-for-tat between Texas and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over how to regulate pollution has grown fierce in recent months, leaving industry frustrated and allowing some plants and refineries to spew more toxic waste into the air, streams and lakes than what is federally acceptable.
"These permits that EPA has not approved would have more stringent requirements,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," Shaw said. "The delay is reducing our ability to continue to make the environmental progress we've been making in the past years."
Earlier this month,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],Cleanup of oil-tainted Gulf Coast nears end, the EPA also took on the Railroad Commission, the Texas agency that regulates the oil and gas industry,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and accused it of not moving fast enough after having found evidence that methane had leaked into residential water wells. The federal agency ordered the gas driller to provide affected families with clean drinking water and determine how to stop the problem.
Industry, meanwhile, finds itself in a Catch-22. While it doesn't favor the EPA's more stringent regulations,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], it also isn't pleased with the ongoing battle because it creates uncertainty.
Some industries in Texas have chosen to deal directly with the EPA, which says it's working with about two-thirds of the largest facilities to get them new flexible permits.
The American Petroleum Industry,Cleanup of oil-tainted Gulf Coast nears end, a Washington-based lobbying group that represents more than 450 oil and natural gas companies, believes the battle is hurting business. It called the EPA's most recent move to take over greenhouse gas permitting in Texas "coercive."