Industrial developers describe large facilities as “minor” polluters to avoid federal permitting requirements, and environmental lawyers say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lets it happen.
By Dylan Baddour and Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News, and Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune
Despite the high levels of smog, state officials are pushing back on ozone pollution controls proposed by the EPA, arguing such rules would compromise the electric grid.
Three out of four Bexar County residents agreed that 'global warming will harm future generations,' according to a Yale climate survey published earlier this year.
The study also identified eight other Valero refineries as having average benzene emission levels that could harm the health of those with long-term exposure.