Trump EPA Opens Door for More Haze Pollution in Texas, Benefiting Wealthy Utilities

Texas - Today the Trump Administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved two do-nothing haze pollution plansfrom the Texas government, ignoring public pleasfor EPA to reduce the harmful haze pollution that clouds Texas skies year round and makes people sick. Wealthy coal plant owners - like NRG and Luminant - now have permission to avoid installing readily available, common-sense pollution controls and move forward with spewing more toxic emissions into the air.

Today's EPA decision withdraws a strong federal rule for Texas, finalized during the Obama Administration, that would have required upgraded or new pollution control equipment to be installed at 15 of Texas's dirtiest coal units (see list below). In its place, Trump's EPA approved a regional haze plan from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) that would require no pollution reductions. EPA also approved a different yet related regional haze plan from the Texas government that would likewise require zero pollution reductions from massive polluters.

Regional haze impairs visibility in natural spaces and national parks. It is produced when large industrial sources, especially coal-burning power plants, emit harmful pollution that mixes with sunlight. The Clean Air Act calls for states to propose their own plans for reducing regional haze, and if those aren't adequate, EPA is required to implement its own federal plans that comply with the law. In Texas, haze plans from TCEQ - whose commissioners have all been appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott - have consistently been so weak they would do nothing to reduce haze in any meaningful way.

Statement from Emma Pabst, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Manager

"For the last 20 years, Texas and EPA failed to properly implement the Clean Air Act's requirements to reduce haze pollution in Texas, and today's decision makes clear that both care little about clear skies on our public lands. Monitoring shows that the majority of haze comes from coal-burning power plants, and TCEQ and EPA have an obligation to reduce emissions from these facilities. But both agencies continue to blatantly disregard public input and show us - again and again - that our skies and our health aren't important to them, especially when it comes to giving wealthy donors a pass to pollute. Americans are getting sicker, and this Administration is paving the way."

The following coal plants would have been required to install pollution control equipment under the federal EPA haze plan, but no longer have to due to the Trump EPA withdrawal of the rule (some plants have multiple units):

• Martin Lake - Beckville (East Texas), owned by Luminant/Vistra

• Limestone - Jewett (east of Waco), owned by NRG

• Coleto Creek - Goliad County (Coastal Bend), owned by Vistra

• Tolk - Panhandle (northwest of Lubbock), owned by Xcel Texas

• San Miguel - Atascosa County (South of San Antonio), owned by San Miguel Electric Cooperative
  

This decision impacting Texas comes the same week that more than 30 organizations submitted commentsurging the Trump EPA to abandon plans to weaken the entire regional haze rule that regulates this pollution in many U.S. states.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.