Water pollution is still a major problem, particularly here in Texas. The Express-News reported yesterday (emphasis added):
Texas leads the nation in the number of treatment plants and industrial facilities that fail to meet pollution standards for the wastewater they dump into rivers and streams, according to a report released Thursday.
The report, Troubled Waters, found that 318, or about 53 percent, of the state's major industrial and wastewater plants failed Clean Water Act standards in at least one of 12 reporting periods in 2005.
...
The data were compiled by U.S. PIRG and released by Environment Texas on the banks of the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park on Thursday. Nationally, the groups are lobbying for Congress to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act, which would strengthen water quality protection.
Although Texas tops the nation in the number of facilities that violate water pollution rules, it falls in the middle of the pack when looking at the percentage of facilities that do so. The list is topped by smaller New England states like Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, all of which had more than 75 percent of their plants earning violations.
Locally, Environment Texas has been leading efforts to change state pollution laws that, the group claims, makes it profitable to pollute in Texas.
A 2003 state auditor's report that looked at 80 pollution cases backs that contention. The auditor found that state fines for the pollution cases totaled less than $1.7 million, but the facilities involved benefited more than $8.6 million by not complying with regulations.
Glenn Shankle, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, recommended changing the regulations to address the profit issue in 2006, but the commission has not adopted the recommendations. Agency spokeswoman Lisa Wheeler said the commission will likely take up the issue again early next year.
Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, who attended the news conference, promised to sponsor legislation next session to "take away the incentive for these worst polluters to make a profit at the expense of the rest of us."
It would be the fourth consecutive session such legislation is introduced, Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger said.
"Each time the Texas Chemical Council and others have been able to defeat the bill in committee," he said.
This state of our waterways should be an embarrassment for all Texans. I hope we can do better.
For the full Troubled Waters report, visit Environment Texas.
Former Gov. George Ryan entered federal prison today, the third governor of IL to do so in my life in Chicago. And the currenmt one, for whom I voted even though he is an incompetent idiot but at least a Democrat, is also likely to end up under federal investigation. The entire state is now under total Democrtatic control and it is a complete disaster. The governmenrt is paralyzd. Nothing is being done, they can't agree on anything and their lack of agreement is costing us taxpayers millions, maybe billions because we can't even get federal funds for which we qualify because no bills can be passed and signed. The Governor is even taking the Speaker of the House (his former campaign manager) to court because he(the Gov) doesn't like to the time of day he(the Speaker) convened the house for special sessions called by the governor. The IL state government makes the current Iraqui government look like a marvel of effectiveness. I know this doesn't have anything to do with water in Texas, but I am venting.
Posted by: Arch Bryant | November 07, 2007 at 10:32 PM