Texas Defends Relaxed Environmental Enforcement After Virus

States have followed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in relaxing some enforcement of environmental regulations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Their moves have led to some concerns about potential risks to the environment or public health, which officials from Texas and other states have sought to alleviate.

• Jon Niermann, chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), in a Monday letter said the state hasn’t relaxed any of its limits on air emissions or discharges to water, or its requirements to ensure safe drinking water supplies and disposal of waste.
• But “TCEQ’s Executive Director has determined that it may be inappropriate to pursue enforcement for violations that were unavoidable due to the pandemic or where compliance would create an unreasonable risk of transmitting COVID-19 or otherwise impede an appropriate response to the pandemic,” Niermann wrote.
• Texas has given companies an additional month, until April 30, to submit compliance reports for stormwater permits and air emissions reports.
• David Paylor, who heads the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, also issued a statement last week to remind the public that the state agency must balance environmental protection with protecting the public’s health.
• “All regulated entities are expected to make every effort to comply with environmental compliance obligations, adhere to permit limits, and maintain the safe and environmentally protective operation of their facilities,” Paylor said, adding “we recognize this is an unprecedented public health crisis.”
• NOTE: The U.S. EPA has also fended off criticism that its policies are letting polluters off the hook, arguing that some leeway is necessary during any crisis.

—With assistance from Sylvia Carignan.