Campaign groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency in a bid to force it to clamp down on industrial air pollution in Texas.

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Lawsuits filed in Washington DC on Thursday allege that the federal regulator is allowing the nation’s leading oil- and gas-producing state to get away with issuing weak and opaque permits that do little or nothing to halt excessive emissions.

The legal filings cite allegedly lax pollution control permits for five plants and refineries, four near Houston and one near Dallas.

“EPA knows that Texas issues unenforceable permits with illegal loopholes that render useless some of the most basic pollution control requirements of federal and state law,” Gabriel Clark-Leach, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, the Environmental Integrity Project, said in a statement. “EPA’s unwillingness to object to faulty state permits deprives the public of health protections guaranteed by the law.”

An EPA spokesperson said on Thursday that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Environmental groups are stepping up their pressure at a time when there is widespread skepticism about the agency’s willingness and ability to carry out its mission given the Trump administration’s desire to slash its budget and the intention of the EPA’s industry-friendly head, Scott Pruitt, to roll back numerous regulations.

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives voted on Tuesday for an eight-year delay in the implementation of ozone pollution standards issued by the EPA during the Obama administration. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, was sponsored by a Republican from Texas.

State officials have questioned whether it is worth spending large amounts to reduce smog. The toxicology director for the state regulator, the Texas commission on environmental quality (TCEQ), told the Texas Tribune in 2014 that he had not “seen the data that says lowering ozone will produce a health benefit. In fact, I’ve seen data that shows it might have a negative health benefit.”



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The Environmental Integrity Project and Environment Texas issued a report on 7 July claiming that the TCEQ imposed fines on about 3% of 24,839 unauthorised air pollution incidents from 2011 to 2016.



Using figures from state records of self-reported incidents, the analysis found that more than 500m pounds of air pollution was released during industrial malfunctions and maintenance, with $13.5m in fines levied. Last year, the report noted, there were 3,720 unauthorised pollution events which have so far led to only 20 penalties.



In response, the TCEQ said in a statement that it “complies with all of the requirements of both the State and Federal Clean Air Act. Texas does not allow industries to release excess amounts of air pollution when equipment breaks down and when facilities undergo maintenance work. Rather, TCEQ is required by law to evaluate emissions events that exceed a reportable quantity and requires facilities to minimize emissions from maintenance activities and upset events (malfunctions)”.

Under Texas rules, companies can avoid sanctions for “non-excessive”, “unavoidable” emissions reported in line with state guidelines. Critics say the rules amount to a loophole that hands companies a license to pollute with impunity and that infrequent, modest fines give them little incentive to upgrade their equipment or put more robust safety standards in place.

“Houston-area residents suffer preventable asthma attacks and heart attacks associated with the illegal air pollution from these refineries and plants. It is long overdue for both EPA and the state of Texas to get more serious about protecting public health,” Bakeyah Nelson, executive director of Air Alliance Houston, a clean air advocacy group, said in a statement.