Texas To EPA: Keep Your Hands Off Our Rubber Stamp!!

Texas goes to court

​As expected, Texas state officials are not just going to roll over and accept the Obama administration's taking away their right to rubber-stamp every application to let companies pour greenhouses gases into the air.

Texas AG Greg Abbott went to court today, filing a petition to stop the EPA's takeover of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's permitting process, such as it is.

"Once again the federal government is overreaching and improperly intruding upon the State of Texas and its legal rights," Abbott said. "With today's new regulations, the EPA is both unlawfully commandeering Texas' environmental enforcement program and violating federal laws that give the state and its residents the opportunity to fully participate in the regulatory process."

The AG's announcement blasted the feds for taking action without allowing Texans to say how much they love their pollution:

Rather than comply with laws that require the public be given the opportunity to provide input, the EPA hurriedly imposed its takeover of Texas' air permitting program without any public comment or debate. Thus, not only did the Obama Administration violate the State's legal rights by failing to comply with mandatory procedures, the EPA also failed to provide the State of Texas and its residents a meaningful say in the way air quality is regulated in Texas - which is required under the Clean Air Act. Instead, the EPA has attempted to shut off any public scrutiny of its actions.

There is also a motion for a stay of the feds' action pending a ruling.