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Groups Seek Input on TCEQ for Sunset Review

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A Sunset Advisory Commission review is being conducted now on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and a coalition of local groups is asking for public input at a town hall meeting Monday. Texas Public Radio’s Eileen Pace reports.

November 5, 2010 · The group includes The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, Leagues of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area and Comal County, the Alliance for a Clean Texas, the Sierra Club, Bexar Audubon Society, plus others, along with State Representatives Trey Martinez Fischer and David McQuade Leibowitz.

Annalisa Peace of the Aquifer Alliance says there are numerous problems with the way permits are issued by the TCEQ. 

“We’ve seen things where industries gained the permits and TCEQ staff did not do sufficient oversight. So permits are granted on bases that are actually fictional. A good example was the mulch fire in Helotes that happened a few years ago, where that was permitted, and people complained that it was a very bad situation before it happened. It’s a combination. We’d like to see the agency better funded,” Peace said. 

The town hall meeting is set for Monday night at the central library in downtown San Antonio. Peace said the coalition is planning to tape the meetings and send recorded comments to the Sunset Advisory Commission. The 12-member commission was created by the legislature to review government agencies every 12 years, looking for duplication, considering changes, and considering whether agencies are serving the public good for which they were intended.