"Texas Stands Up to EPA Power Grab" is the title of an op ed which appeared in the Washington Times on Thursday, August 26. The author, Peggy Venable, is Texas Director of Americans for Prosperity.

The Lone Star state’s slogan is “Don’t Mess With Texas.” But the Environmental Protection Agency is doing just that.

The EPA appears to have Texas in their crosshairs. First they wanted us to endorse their illegal rewrite of the Clean Air Act and now they have come after our air permitting process

Texas leaders are drawing a line in the sand.

Read the full story here or below: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/25/texas-fights-global-warming-power-grab/?page=1

President Obama’s EPA is circumventing Congress and is well down the path to regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, something the Act was not designed to do. However, they’ve got a problem because if they enforce GHG regulations under the Act as it’s written, they’ll end up forcing churches, schools, warehouses, commercial kitchens and other sources to obtain costly and time-consuming permits. It would grind the economy to a halt and constituent pressure would doom the whole scheme.

EPA’s solution is to unilaterally rewrite the Clean Air Act via a “tailoring rule,” which would reduce the number of regulated sources. Only one problem: EPA has no authority to rewrite congressional statutes. For the EPA to pull off its rewrite, they need every state with a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to rewrite all of their statutory thresholds as well.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman Bryan Shaw saw the “tailoring rule” for what it really is, a massive power grab and centralization of authority. They are fighting back.

Reading their letter to the EPA made me proud to be a Texan, but the letter speaks for itself:

“In order to deter challenges to your plan for centralized control of industrial development through the issuance of permits for greenhouse gases, you have called upon each state to declare its allegiance to [EPA’s] recently enacted greenhouse gas regulations - regulations that are plainly contrary to U.S. laws…To encourage acquiescence with your unsupported findings you threaten to usurp state enforcement authority and to federalize the permitting program of any state that fails to pledge their fealty to the [EPA]. On behalf of the State of Texas, we write to inform you that Texas has neither the authority nor the intention of interpreting, ignoring, or amending its laws in order to compel the permitting of greenhouse gas emissions.”

Clearly Texas leaders aren’t all hat and no saddle – they are taking on the federal government, knowing that Texas would be impacted disproportionately by these regulations.

Federalist principles have allowed Texas to become the strongest state in the union. The Lone Star State leads the nation in job creation, is the top state for business relocation and has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state and is the top state for wind generation. While President Obama said he wanted to double US exports in five years; he could look to Texas as we are the top exporting state in the country. The Obama Administration could learn a lot from Texas.

Instead, they are attempting to ride roughshod over Texas.

For 16 years, the EPA condoned Texas’ approach to meeting the federal air quality standards. But in May, they announced that we were not in compliance with federal regulations. Even though Texas had met its Clean Air obligations, the EPA announced they were taking over.

Texas is the nation’s energy production capitol but the air we breathe is cleaner today than it was in 2000, even though the state’s population has grown by nearly 3.5 million people. Between 2000 and 2008, Texas NOx levels decreased by 46% and ozone levels dropped by 22%, compared with national reductions of 27% and 8%, respectively. All major Texas metropolitan areas currently meet the 1997 federal eight-hour ozone standard, with the exception of the DFW area, which is within 1 part per billion of meeting the standard.
According to Department of Energy and EPA data, since 2000 Texas’ CO2 emissions from fossil fuel usage have actually fallen by more than almost any other state and every country except Germany as a result of our policies to foster renewable energy, make the electricity market more competitive and efficient, and improve our environment.

When the EPA issued rules to reduce NOx and ozone, we complied, but we did it the Texas way.

Now Washington D.C. is trying to federalize the air permitting process. They’re trying to force Texas to ignore our state laws and existing Clean Air Act thresholds and endorse their illegal rewrite of the federal statute.

But Texas has neither “the authority nor the intention” of doing so. Texas leaders realize that our economy and our very way of life is at stake.

The Lone Star State is strong and so are our leaders. And they won’t sit back and allow the feds to be messin’ with Texas.

Peggy Venable is Texas state director for Americans for Prosperity.