A public hearing was held recently in Austin as part of the evaluation of the
performance of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC),
the state agency charged with preventing pollution and protecting the environmental
health of the people of Texas. This process is called the Sunset Review, and every
state agency is evaluated every 12 years.
    Over 80 citizens testified, and more than 300 protested the agency’s policies
which have made Texas #1 in the nation in toxic air pollutants, #1 in the nation in
the emission of cancer-causing chemicals,#1 in the nation in toxic waste
incinerators, #1 in the nation in toxic sludge dumps, #1 in the nation in hazardous
waste injection wells, and #46 in the nation in per capita spending on environmental
protection.
    Ten demands have been made for an agency which truly protects the public, not
the polluters.
    1. Create a new TNRCC whose mission is to protect the public health and the
environment.
    2. The agency must be accountable to the people of Texas  Its policies must not
be influenced by polluter money.
    3. No business has the right to pollute, but all Texas residents have the right to
clean air and water.
    4.Pollution permits must reduce and eventually eliminate pollution. Permits
should not be issued to violators and the cumulative effects of pollution from
multiple sources in one area must be addressed.
    5. The agency must adequately review but not support polluters’ permits in
hearings.
    6. The Office of Public Interest Counsel to which the public may appeal a
decision must be independent, adequately funded and have the ability to appeal
agency decisions in court.
    7. The agency must consider environmental justice, cumulative effects, and land
use compatibility in all permitting decisions.
    8. There must be adequate funding of core environmental programs and
sufficient incentives for pollution reduction.
    9. Inspection and monitoring of polluting facilities must be funded and
legislatively mandated to prevent pollution problems.
    10. The agency must seek input and advice from the public, not just the
industries which it is supposed to be regulating.

    The Sunset Review of the TNRCC has an important local focus. For almost three
years the TNRCC has fought, in court, a Denton citizen’s request for a public
hearing to present expert evidence that the proposed toxic emissions from United
Copper Industries’ furnaces will negatively impact his family’s health and well
being. The very agency mandated to protect the environmental health of the public
denies the due process to insure that our air and water are safe. One would think
that if United Copper’s proposed emissions of over 500,000 lbs. per year of criteria
and toxic air pollutants, including copper dust and lead, were truly safe the TNRCC
would not be against a public hearing which would reveal that fact.
    One can only wonder what is being hidden. It is the responsibility of both United
Copper and the TNRCC to prove to this community that the public and
environmental health will not be harmed by United Copper’s emissions. A public
hearing would be the opportunity to do just that. By denying that hearing the burden
and expense is placed on the citizens to prove that the proposed emissions are
harmful.
    Denton County already has its share of polluting industries which spew
developmental toxicants like toluene, ozone causing  pollutants such as nitrogen
dioxide and volatile organic compounds, and carcinogens like dichloromethane into
the air which we breathe. Our primary drinking water source, Lake Lewisville, is
contaminated with industrial chemicals, pesticides, and MTBE.
    Obviously, the TNRCC must protect us, the citizens, and not the economic
interests of the polluters who will otherwise continue to poison our air, our water,
and our lives.
 
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