The House Committee on Environmental Regulation held their first interim hearing January 23 at the Capitol. The full committee examined the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQs) response and cleanup efforts related to Hurricane Harvey, and focused on whether the current air, water, waste, and wastewater rules and regulations adequately protect the public, natural resources, environment, infrastructure, residential areas, and industrial facilities from damage caused by natural disasters.
Committee Chairman, Representative Joe Pickett (D-El Paso), announced a few weeks before the hearing that a Subcommittee on Air Quality and Municipal Landfills created and Chaired by Representative Ed Thompson (R-Pearland). The Subcommittee held a hearing earlier that morning to discuss issues related to solid waste landfills, and will be holding future hearings on the economic impact of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and TCEQ’s expedited air-permitting program.
Representative Pickett opened the hearing stating, “Following an event like Hurricane Harvey, it is human nature to begin pointing fingers at who did what wrong. I do not want to focus on that, but rather discuss what we can do better and progress forward.”
Dr. Bryan Shaw, TCEQ Chairman, spoke on water and wastewater to residents as the agency’s top priority and handling issues surrounding the amount of debris due to Hurricane Harvey. “We are about 66% of the way through the 17 million cubic feet of debris, however we still have several parts of the state, especially around the Rockport, TX area, that still have large quantities of debris,” stated Chairman Shaw.
“With as much rainfall as we had during the storm, there will be water and wastewater equipment affected, and at this juncture, we still have several areas with boil water notices in effect while their water systems come back online at a reliable operating rate.”
Chairman Shaw pointed out that in previous years the agency’s relationship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on many environmental issues has not always been cordial and productive.
“We tend to have good relationships with EPA when responding to emergencies, but I would like to point out that the response from EPA during Hurricane Harvey has been very successful,” stated Shaw. He also mentioned the startup and shutdown of many industrial facilities due to the storm.
“Part of the question that is being raised about startup and shutdown of facilities is should these be coordinated, etc. These facilities have their own emergency plans and the overall goal is to ensure that if you have to shut down, you minimize the negative effects that could occur. Overall, the startups and shutdowns went well, with a few instances where you had unforeseen issues (example given: pipeline failure due to river gouging) that are being examined at this time.”
Representative Pickett asked Chairman Shaw about the biggest issues TCEQ faced due to the hurricane. Chairman Shaw responded by stating, “Water with biological contamination continues to be a top issue, and also knowing, as an agency, what dangerous substances are at certain facilities where a release or catastrophic event could occur and ensuring that decision makers at the local level are informed. Finally, we have one final public water system that is still not back online.” Dr. Shaw said the biggest criticism the TCEQ received was in regards to wastewater interventions not being as timely as possible, which was in large part due to difficult communication efforts with local entities and officials. Chairman Pickett asked Dr. Shaw to prepare recommendations from the agency following Hurricane Harvey in preparing for the next major disaster and legislative session.
Nim Kidd, Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), provided support for the state obtaining and utilizing mobile resources and technology deployed and used during emergency events. Representative Pickett asked what TDEM is doing to train and educate new elected officials in the area of emergency management as it relates to the difficult communications mentioned previously by Chairman Shaw. Chief Kidd responded that there is currently a law that mandates emergency management classes offered by TDEM completed by certain elected officials. He recommended expanding that law to include additional elected officials.
Elena Craft, Senior Scientist and Toxicologist for Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) gave their organization’s perspective on what happened during Hurricane Harvey and the agency’s response. Part of EDF’s goal is to manage and identify strategies to reduce air pollution in the eight county Houston region. Craft focused her testimony on the releases at industrial facilities and specifically, the Arkema Facility in Crosby, TX. “We would like to see TCEQ improve their disaster response by being fully equipped to protect the people from different environmental threats, such as deploying mobile air monitoring devices in the Houston area and sharing as much information in real time as possible,” stated Craft.
She also made mention of the newly established “One Breath Partnership” and their mission to educate the community in the Houston-area about the impact of air quality on their health.