AUSTIN, Texas -- Republicans for Clean Air, a group previously unknown to
the Federal Elections Commission or anyone else in politics, is now running
an ad in Tuesday's primary states claiming that Gov. George W. Bush passed
laws that will reduce air pollution in Texas by more than a quarter million
tons a year!
The mystery of "Republicans for Clean Air" was solved Friday when The New
York Times revealed that Dallas billionaire and Bush pioneer Sam Wyly was
fronting the money for this singularly hilarious example of what is called
the "sham issue ad."
And just the other day I was noting that one loophole in Bush's campaign
finance reform is that it doesn't address sham issue ads.
In the ad, Sen. John McCain's face is superimposed on a backdrop of
smokestacks belching dark clouds, while a voice-over announces:
"Last year, John McCain voted against solar and renewable energy. That
means more use of coal-burning plants that pollute our air. New York
Republicans care about clear air. So does Gov. Bush. He led one of the first
states in America to clamp down on old coal-burning electric power plants.
Bush clean-air laws will reduce air pollution more than a quarter million
tons a year. That's like taking five million cars off the road. Gov. Bush:
Leading so each day dawns brighter."
Excuse me, I think I have a banana in my ear.
OK, let's look at the facts.
Texas has very dirty air. According to the North American Commission on
Environmental Cooperation set up by NAFTA, we pollute more than any other
state or Canadian province. According to the Environmental Protection
Agency, Texas is No. 1 in overall toxic releases, recognized carcinogens in
the air, suspected carcinogens in the air, developmental toxins in the air,
cancer risk and 10 other equally depressing categories.
This is not Bush's fault. The petrochemical complex on the Texas Gulf
Coast, the dirty coal-fired electric plants and many other happy
contributors to our dirty air have been around since Bush was a pup. The
question is: What, if anything, has Bush as governor done about all this?
Our biggest single problem in air pollution is the "grandfathered
polluters." When the Lege passed the Texas Clean Air Act in 1971, it
exempted 850 heavily polluting plants that were already in existence -- in
other words, it "grandfathered" them so they didn't have to obey the new
law.
The exemption was intended to last only a few years, to give the old plants
time to crank up to the new standards. But you know the Lege -- here we are,
29 years later with around 800 plants (a little attrition there) now
producing nearly one-third of all the air pollution in the state. That's
905,669 tons a year out of the total 2.75 million tons from all sources of
air pollution in Texas.
Over the years, environmental and public-interest groups worked to increase
public awareness of the problem and gradually built enough political
momentum to get something done, with help from many newspapers around the
state.
The Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (called "Trainwreck"
because of its odd acronym -- TNRCC) is sort of the state's EPA, though no
one has ever accused it of being a particularly alert watchdog.
In 1997, Bush's three appointees to Trainwreck, none of whom can be
described by any stretch of the imagination as an environmentalist, decided
that something had to be done. Bush's environmental director warned him that
the commissioners were "moving too fast" and might "rashly seek legislation
this session."
So Bush asked two oil company executives to outline a voluntary program
allowing the grandfathered polluters to decide for themselves how much to
cut their pollution. The oil execs summoned a meeting of two dozen industry
reps at Exxon offices in Houston and presented them with the program.
In a now-famous memo obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, one
executive wrote that "clearly the insiders from oil and gas believe that the
governor's office will 'persuade' the TNRCC to accept what program is
developed between the industry group and the governor's Office."
And they did. And two years later this joke of a program was enacted into
law by a bill written by the general counsel for the Texas Chemical Council,
who also lobbies for energy and utility companies. The bill was denounced by
newspapers across the state.
The happy result is that of the 760 grandfathered plants now subject to the
Bush voluntary compliance program, 73 have signed up to write plans to cut
emissions; three have actually cut emissions; and five have permits or
enforcement orders. Another 299 are located in non-attainment areas and are
therefore ultimately subject to the EPA. That's according to an
Environmental Defense Fund analysis of TNRCC numbers.
In a separate bill in 1999, 68 of the old grandfathered electric utility
plants were cut out from the herd and are now covered separately -- a shrewd
move made by Democratic Rep. Steve Wolens of Dallas. He exacted pollution
standards on the utilities by holding up the bill to deregulate the
utilities in committee unless the companies agreed.
When they agreed, so did Bush, who later signed Wolens' bill and is
apparently claiming credit for it.
Molly Ivins is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. To find out
more about Molly Ivins and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers
and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at
www.creators.com.
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