Environmental group sues EPA over pollution rules, cites Houston refineries

Smoke rises from a fire in 2016 at the Pasadena Refinery. It's one of five Texas polluters issued permits that a watchdog group says are confusing and difficult to enforce. The Environmental Integrity Project sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the permits on Thursday, July 20, 2017. less Smoke rises from a fire in 2016 at the Pasadena Refinery. It's one of five Texas polluters issued permits that a watchdog group says are confusing and difficult to enforce. The Environmental Integrity Project ... more Photo: James Nielsen | Houston Chronicle Photo: James Nielsen | Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Environmental group sues EPA over pollution rules, cites Houston refineries 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A watchdog group sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, saying it failed to police lax pollution enforcement by the state of Texas.

In five separate complaints, the Environmental Integrity Project said Texas issued permits to refineries in Houston, Pasadena, Baytown, Port Arthur and Dallas that violate federal law because they allow too much pollution or make pollution limits nearly impossible to enforce.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, comes after the group published a study showing that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality foregoes penalties in about 97 percent of air pollution incidents during equipment breakdowns and maintenance at industrial sites and oil and gas wells, even though they release hundreds of millions of pounds of pollutants.

"Texas does not allow industries to release excess amounts of air pollution when equipment breaks down and when facilities undergo maintenance work," TCEQ spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said in a statement responding to that study. "TCEQ consistently pursues administrative, as well as civil enforcement, against noncompliant regulated industries in accordance with a vigorous, clearly articulated regulatory framework."

In the lawsuits, the plaintiffs argue that permits issued to polluters are often long and confusing, even to regulators, making it impossible for the public to know which plants are in violation.

The EPA hasn't followed up to complaints about the permits at the five sites filed by the Environmental Integrity Project last year, even though the law requires a response in 60 days, the group said.

The five pollution control permits targeted by the lawsuits are for Exxon Mobil's Baytown Olefins Plant and Refinery outside Houston; Petrobras' Pasadena Refinery; Motiva's Port Arthur Refinery; and SWEPCO's Welsh Power Plant east of Dallas.

"EPA's unwillingness to object to faulty state permits deprives the public of health protections guaranteed by the law," Gabriel Clark-Leach, attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, said in an emailed statement.

Houston area residents suffer preventable asthma and heart attacks associated with illegal air pollution, said Bakeyah Nelson, director of Air Alliance Houston.

The EPA has previously objected to weaknesses in Texas permits only after the Environmental Integrity Project sued. For example, EPA objected to two permits issued by the TCEQ for Shell's Deer Park Refinery and chemical plant in 2015 because they failed to include reasonable monitoring requirements and to explain how emission limits applied to units at the complex.

EPA also objected to the TCEQ's permit for the Pirkey Power Plant in 2016 because it created an illegal exemption to pollution control requirements during maintenance, the Environmental Integrity Project said.

A Chronicle series last year, Chemical Breakdown, exposed the lack of penalties and oversight for safety at chemical facilities across the nation.