Perry urged to take steps to bolster clean-air plan

By SCOTT STREATER
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
September 5th, 2007

One of the region's top elected leaders has asked Gov. Rick Perry to reject a state-approved ozone cleanup plan for Dallas-Fort Worth. The plan has been widely criticized for not doing enough to clean the air.

Dallas County Judge Jim Foster, in a three-page letter sent Friday, asked Perry to set up a North Texas air-quality summit at which local, state and federal leaders could work together to devise a stronger plan. He also asked Perry to instruct the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to add strong clean-air initiatives developed last year by local elected and business leaders but left out of the state-approved plan.

"If the much-considered suggestions from those on the ground here in D/FW are not adopted, and weaker measures substituted by the state, there is little motive for anyone in North Texas to keep cooperating with the state in trying to reach the goal of clean and legal air," Foster wrote. "The TCEQ will simply do what it wants to do anyway, regardless of the input of local authorities and experts. This is not the path to cleaner air."

The federal Environmental Protection Agency, which has the ultimate say on whether the plan is approved, has been working with the state to revise it.

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, who in July asked Richard Greene, the EPA's regional administrator, to strengthen the state plan, praised Foster for the letter.

"We need all the help we can get," he said. "We need to do whatever we can in North Texas to get people focused on addressing our air-quality problem."

TWO REQUESTS, ONE ROAD MAP

Letter to Perry

Dallas County Judge Jim Foster is asking Gov. Rick Perry to:

Appoint a North Texas resident to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's three-member board. "Having someone who is already familiar with the particulars of our air problem and the personalities of the local officials would help expedite this task," Foster wrote.

Convene a clean-air summit at which local, state and federal officials would try to devise a stronger ozone-reduction plan. "This kind of direct communication is long overdue," Foster wrote.

Instruct the environmental commission to include the local ozone-fighting measures in the state cleanup plan. The local initiatives target pollution from cement kilns and East Texas power plants. "These measures may not be a silver bullet, but they are certainly part of the solution to the chronic D/FW air pollution problem," Foster wrote.

Letter to EPA

Foster also sent a letter Friday asking Richard Greene, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator in Dallas, to reject the state plan. "You should demand a new one that actually has a chance of success," Foster wrote.

The state plan

The state cleanup plan calls for:

Reducing ozone-forming emissions from cement kilns by 40 percent, which is less than local leaders had hoped.

Replacing off-road construction equipment or retrofitting it with pollution controls.

Replacing the oldest, dirtiest vehicles.

Helping low-income motorists repair vehicles that fail the annual emissions inspection.

Even with all those steps, as many as four regions in the area, including Fort Worth, might still be in violation after the 2010 deadline.

Perry's response

Perry's office said the governor had not received the letter Tuesday. Andy Saenz, an environmental commission spokesman, said state regulators have met with the EPA twice and are working on amendments that "will make the plan even better. Everybody's on the same page to make this plan even stronger."

sstreater@star-telegram.com
Scott Streater, 817-390-7657