Why don’t we trust the TCEQ?
ReEnergize Texas is excited about a new campaign called “Why don’t we trust the TCEQ?” which questions the effectiveness of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
To give some background…for over a decade the TCEQ has been allowing big industries in Texas to pollute the air and water at levels above what the federal government allows. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set regulations on polluting facilities to monitor their air emissions and to make sure they are at levels that will not harm the public or surrounding community, but the TCEQ has not complied. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA requires caps on all sources of pollution, even individual units in a facility; however, TCEQ only sets caps on the overall facility. This “flex permitting” may not seem like much of a difference, but in studying this issue EPA has found that the TCEQ program is difficult to enforce and creates loopholes which result in significantly higher pollution.
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Congratulations to the 2010 Summer of Solutions team for completing their first training!
This past Tuesday (June 22nd), eight members of Austin Green Art gathered for a four-hour afternoon training in which leadership development was assessed, and helpful ways to create a campaign matrix for success were outlined. The first hour of training covered delegation and commitment in an organizing group, which helped participants and trainers become acclimated with one another through collaborative brainstorming and positive discussion.
Austin Green Art founder and director, Randy Jewart, encouraged his group to participate and take key components of the training into consideration when thinking about projects that they have completed or are currently working on as an organization.
“We wouldn’t know what to work on throughout the day if Randy didn’t delegate our duties properly,” said one of the Resolution Gardens workers who actively participated during the training. “Aside from doing what we usually do, delegation is important so that the organization stays productive,” he went on to say.
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