Lone Star Chapter director Ken Kramer attended the Western Governors' Association "Environmental Summit on the West" in Phoenix on December 4th and 5th to challenge Governor George Bush to support "action, not rhetoric, to clean up the environment." Ken Kramer said that Governor Bush - considered a top contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000-"needs to move beyond words and show that he truly cares about the environment of Texas and indeed that of the nation." Bush did not attend the conference.
Kramer and other citizen group leaders were in Phoenix to express concerns about the new environmental management approach, coined "Enlibra," which has been developed and endorsed by the Western Governors Association, of which Bush is a member. The WGA brought landowners, environmentalists, business leaders, and government officials together in Phoenix for a discussion of the so-called Enlibra principles.
The eight principles of Enlibra include:
1. National Standards, Neighborhood Solutions - Assign responsibilities at the right level
2. Collaboration, Not Polarization - Use collaborative process to break down barriers
3. Reward Results, Not Programs - Move to a performance-based system
4. Science for Facts, Process for Priorities - Separate subjective choices from objective data gathering
5. Markets Before Mandates - Replace command and control with economic incentives whenever appropriate
6. Change a Heart, Change a Nation - Environmental understanding is crucial
7. Recognition of Benefits and Costs - Make sure environmental decisions are fully informed
8. Solutions Transcend Political Boundaries - Use appropriate geographical boundaries for environmental problems
The governors say that Enlibra offers a collaborative approach to addressing environmental problems that rewards results, emphasizes use of the free market rather than government regulation, promotes good science, evaluates benefits and costs, and emphasizes good stewardship of natural resources. Sierra Club leaders say they have heard this type of rhetoric before. They want the governors to take action to correct environmental problems and promote citizen rights in their states _ to demonstrate that Enlibra is more than just a public relations ploy to placate the public's strong support for environmental protection.
"In Texas," said Kramer, "we have heard political leaders such as Governor Bush use artful language to promote policies that claim to protect the environment and protect the public but that in reality primarily benefit polluting industries." "One such example," continued Kramer, is Governor Bush's voluntary program to end the loophole enjoyed by `grandfathered' air polluters. The grandfathered polluters are those old industrial plants that were in existence or under construction in 1971 when the Texas Clean Air Act was passed and put into effect. They were exempted from having to meet the major requirements of the Act, including a requirement that they install the best available technology to control their emissions."
"Unfortunately," said Kramer, "almost 30 years later, we still have hundreds of grandfathered plants using outdated controls, if any, that allow a million tons of harmful pollutants to be emitted into the air. Rather than go to the Legislature to urge that the loophole for grandfathered polluters be closed, Governor Bush has been touting an effort to get companies to "volunteer" to come into the state air pollution control permitting system. He has conducted press conferences at the Houston Ship Channel and in Dallas to recognize the companies which have `volunteered.' So far, however, after a year, only about 30 companies have volunteered to bring some of their grandfathered units into the permitting system and reduce some of their emissions into the air. The total emissions those companies have pledged to reduce from grandfathered sources amounts to no more than 40,000 tons of pollutants out of the million tons emitted in Texas from such sources."
"In other words," contended Kramer, "the Governor has emphasized public relations over actual results. He has given the appearance of doing something about grandfathered air polluters, when in fact little has been accomplished compared to the magnitude of the problem. He has used the popular concept of voluntarism to make it appear that the problem will be taken care of by business leaders themselves without government action, when indeed that is not the case. This `disconnect' between rhetoric and reality is what concerns us about Enlibra."
"The Texas environmental community challenges Governor Bush to take real action to protect the environment of the Lone Star State," said Kramer. "Specifically, we challenge him at a minimum to do the following:
1. Send a proposal to the Texas Legislature to end once and for all the grandfathered loophole for air polluters and use your powers of persuasion with legislators to get such a bill passed.
2. Support the package of citizens' `Right to Know, Right to Act' legislation to give Texans the right to know about the pollution threats to their families and communities and the right to act to protect themselves from such threats. Oppose efforts by the Texas Chemical Council to eliminate the rights of citizens to contest pollution control permits.
3. Push for the repeal of the Texas `pollution secrecy' (environmental audit privilege) law.
4. Support proposals in the Texas Legislature to provide a long-term, stable source of adequate funding for the state's water quality protection program _ the most poorly funded of all major state environmental programs.
5. Oppose any efforts by extremists to undercut environmental education programs in Texas."
"These types of actions would give Texans an assurance that the words found in the Enlibra set of principles are not empty rhetoric," said Kramer. "As our Governor looks seriously at the prospect of running for President," Kramer concluded, "how he follows up on Enlibra in practice becomes a critical matter not just for Texas but for the nation as a whole."