Is good air for sale?

[Mavdog]

I honestly cannot believe that anybody could find it in their minds to support a candidate such as Joe Barton who clearly places the interests of his constituency below that of these polluting campaign donors. The position Barton takes is indefensible, let's hope that the voters in his district speak at the ballot box and throw the bum out!

Unfortunately, voters like I who live upwind (north) of these plants don't get the chance to vote against him, although we get to breathe the polluted air his "protected" industries spew out.

Disgusting.
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Donors have stake in smog move
Barton says funds not tied to bid to block Ellis EPA listing


11:07 AM CST on Saturday, March 20, 2004


By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton's push to exempt Ellis County from the toughest smog rules could directly benefit two corporations linked to Barton campaign donations – corporations now seeking state permits to boost allowed emissions of smog-causing pollution.

Mr. Barton's effort, if successful, would help cement makers Holcim (U.S.) Inc. and Texas Industries Inc. avoid stricter permit requirements and possibly much higher pollution-control costs that would come if Ellis County is designated a smog-violation area, documents and interviews show.

Mr. Barton, R-Ennis, has been working for at least five months to block that listing, saying it is not scientifically justified or economically sensible. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has backed including Ellis County and its heavy industries, is to decide on nationwide listings by April 15.

The EPA's final ruling will determine whether Holcim and TXI must meet the lesser environmental requirements that now apply in Ellis County or the tougher ones that would come with a smog-violator designation, according to a technical review prepared by the EPA.

The ruling would affect any Ellis County industry that seeks an air-pollution permit in the future.

Although most of Ellis County is rural, it is North Texas' center of heavy industry, accounting for about 40 percent of the region's industrial emissions. Altogether, 94 percent of Ellis County's industrial emissions come from a half-dozen cement, manufacturing, energy or waste-disposal corporations whose political action committees have contributed to Mr. Barton's campaigns, a Dallas Morning News comparison of Texas environmental records and federal campaign files shows.

Their donations to Mr. Barton since the 1998 election cycle total $74,500, according to Federal Election Commission reports. That includes $26,500 in either PAC or individual donations from TXI executives and $6,500 from Holcim's PAC.

Mr. Barton also got $27,500 during that period from cement industry PACs to which Holcim's or TXI's political committees donated.

Mr. Barton, a nine-term congressman and the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement that campaign donations from Ellis County industries played no role in his drive to limit smog rules there. Spokesmen for Holcim and TXI also denied any link and said they haven't discussed their permits with Mr. Barton.

"There is no amount of money that any group, corporation or individual could contribute that would influence any of my votes on any subject at any time," Mr. Barton said in his statement.

"It is completely absurd to suggest that I would allow any campaign donation whatsoever to impact my ability to ensure that my own children and grandchildren are breathing the cleanest possible air," he said.

Morris Meyer, Mr. Barton's Democratic challenger in the 6th Congressional District, said the incumbent's effort to exempt Ellis County from the toughest smog rules threatens the health of his own constituents and others in North Texas.

"It's a fact that people are dying because our air is an issue," Mr. Meyer said. "Barton will craft this as an economic issue. And it is an economic issue. We are losing jobs. People are losing their lives or their livelihoods.

"I believe that we need to shine the light of day on this problem. Barton believes in closed-door legislation on matters that affect the health of people."

Through Feb. 18, Mr. Barton's campaign had reported more than $1.13 million in donations for the 2004 election. Mr. Meyer said his campaign would report between $20,000 and $50,000 in donations during 2003's last quarter.

The flap over Ellis County arises from Dallas-Fort Worth's failure to meet national clean-air goals and the move to a new, tougher standard on ozone, or smog.



Smog violation area

Since Congress rewrote the Clean Air Act in 1990, the four urban North Texas counties of Dallas, Collin, Tarrant and Denton have been classified as a smog violation area, or nonattainment area.

Under a new, tougher national ozone standard taking effect this year, Texas officials told the EPA in July that Ellis, Johnson and Parker counties should be added to an expanded nonattainment area.

EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene later said he wanted five additional counties – Rockwall, Henderson, Hood, Hunt and Kaufman – put on the list.

Air-pollution rules are tighter in nonattainment areas. That's especially important for industries that want to expand operations or open new plants. Industries in counties that aren't designated as smog violators can get permits more easily, spend less on pollution-control equipment and emit more pollution than industries in nonattainment counties.State and federal officials agreed that Ellis County belonged on the nonattainment list partly because the county's big industries emit large amounts of smog-causing emissions and partly because the county's own air quality is teetering between clean and dirty as defined by federal law.

Mr. Barton did not agree. At least as far back as Oct. 27, his aides were asking state officials for information justifying local and state clean-air decisions, and sometimes challenging those decisions and questioning details behind them, copies of e-mails and other state environmental commission documents show. The permits for Holcim and TXI weren't planned to coincide with a federal decision on Ellis County – each permit goes back years earlier – but it turned out that way.

Holcim, the U.S. arm of Swiss-based, global cement giant Holcim Ltd., is seeking a new permit to replace one that Texas officials issued in 1998. Holcim promised then that it could double its cement production by adding a second kiln, but at the same time cut emissions in half.

It didn't work. Emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxides and other pollutants went up. As part of a settlement with the state, Holcim paid an $111,563 fine, spent a like amount on equipment for the Midlothian Fire Department and promised to get a new permit that would reflect its actual emissions.

Plant manager Keith Depew said the proposed new permit was carefully written. "We're confident that we walked through the process and that we have a very thorough understanding of the permitting requirements, and that we covered all of them," he said.

However, the EPA's comments on Holcim's draft permit, sent to the state environmental commission on Feb. 20, were sharply critical. The EPA reviewers also found evidence that Holcim was still frequently violating the emissions limits in its 1998 permit. In August, at the height of the ozone-forming season, Holcim complied with its emissions requirements just 13 percent of the time, the EPA found.

Mr. Depew said he didn't know how the EPA reached that conclusion. He said the company would work to fix any problems.



TXI situation

TXI is also seeking state relief because of failed pollution-control equipment. The company says the regenerative thermal oxidizers on its No. 5 kiln don't work and cost too much to run.

"They were represented to us by the vendor to do certain things, and they have not done that," said Randy Jones, TXI's vice president for communications. "They are restricting the production capacity of that kiln. They are costing a tremendous amount to operate because of the natural gas costs. There are economic reasons for applying to modify our permit."

TXI's proposed change would significantly increase emissions of carbon monoxide and of volatile organic compounds, a type of smog-causing pollution. Holcim's new permit wouldn't increase actual emissions, but would legalize the emissions it puts out now – emissions that violate the plant's 1998 permit.

Each company has a big stake in the outcome of Mr. Barton's fight over Ellis County. If the EPA declares Ellis County a nonattainment area before Holcim gets its permit, the company would be subject to much more stringent requirements, EPA reviewers wrote last month.

The same applies to TXI's permit, said Steve Hagle, special assistant to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's air permitting chief. "They're in the same boat," he said.

Neither company will get its permit before the EPA announces its Ellis County decision next month, Mr. Hagle said. Unless the EPA refuses to include Ellis County or delays a decision for a year or more, the companies will face the tougher requirements.

Spokesmen for both companies said their permit problems had nothing to do with donations to Mr. Barton's campaigns.

"I cannot give you a list of the various things that Joe Barton has done that we feel like are worthy of our support," said TXI's Mr. Jones. "He's been very good to the people in his district. He's been a leader in Congress."

Steve Arthur, Holcim (U.S.)'s public affairs manager, also said he couldn't cite any particular action of Mr. Barton's that merited the corporation's support.

Mr. Barton "tends to support reasonable taxes on businesses and individuals that can keep our economy prosperous," he said.

Mr. Depew, the Holcim plant manager, added that Mr. Barton has pressed for environmental rules based on science, not emotion.

But cement industry assertions on the science of smog in Ellis County have run into trouble at the EPA.

Industry consultants said that the high emissions of nitrogen oxides from the cement plants actually reduce ozone levels by scavenging the harmful substance from the air.

EPA reviewers said that's only true in the first 10 to 25 miles downwind of a major pollution source. Farther downwind, they said, the phenomenon reverses and causes large increases in ozone levels – more than enough to keep Dallas-Fort Worth from meeting the national health standard.

The wind blows from Ellis County northward toward Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin counties 58 percent of the time during the spring-summer ozone season, according to a state report. The EPA concluded that Ellis County industries could have a much higher smog impact than previously believed.

The EPA also has raised questions about a state review of Ellis County's smog role that closely coincided with industry arguments.