Toxic Exposure: How Texas Chemical Council Members Pollute State Politics & the EnvironmentHome

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Chemical Council ‘Grandfathered’ Air Releases  


Under the infamous grandfather-polluter loophole of the Texas Clean Air Act, industrial plants in existence when the law took effect in 1971 have not been required to get air permits for then-existing facilities. This omission is important because permitted facilities typically must: TNRCC data reveal that grandfathered plants emitted 893,193 tons of air pollutants into Texas skies in 1997, accounting for 36 percent of the state’s total industrial air pollution.13 Forty-one parent companies of Chemical Council members own grandfathered industrial sites in Texas. These Chemical Council member grandfathered plants produced 244,260 tons of grandfathered air pollution—27 percent of all the grandfathered pollution vented into Texas skies.
 
 
 
The Chemical Council's Worst 'Grandfathered' Air Polluters (By Company) 
Parent Company
GF Total (Tons)
Aluminum Co. of America
104,303
Mobil
34,868
Exxon
33,095
Union Carbide
8,558
Dow Chemical Co.
5,798
AMOCO
5,477
Lyondell-Citgo Refining
5,146
Eastman Chemical Co.
4,919
Phillips 66
4,577
Coastal Corp.
4,527
Huntsman Corp.
3,685
Enron Corp.
3,299
Reynolds Metal Co.
3,010
Rohm & Haas
2,464
ARCO
2,454
Hoechst Celanese
2,375
Goodyear Tire & Rubber
2,361
Chevron
2,359
Equistar Chemicals
2,084
CITGO
2,077
Source: TNRCC 1997 inventory data.
The accompanying tables identify the Chemical Council members that are the worst overall grandfather polluters, as well as those that own the dirtiest individual grandfathered plants in Texas. Three Chemical Council members—the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), Mobil and Exxon—rank among Texas’ five filthiest granddaddies. An ALCOA plant and a Mobil plant also rank among Texas’ five filthiest individual grandfathered facilities. While both of these plants have pledged to reduce their grandfathered emissions, they have not committed to major emissions reductions nor to any compliance deadline for whatever emissions reductions that they ultimately deliver (see “ALCOA, The Granddaddy of  ‘Grandpa’ Polluters.”) 
 
 
 

 

Chemical Council's Worst Grandfathered Air Polluters (By Plant)  
Texas
GF Rank
Grandfathered Site Chemical Council
Parent Company
County
 GF Pollution 
Total (Tons)
1 Sandow ALCOA Plant* ALCOA Milam
104,108
5 Beaumont Refinery* Mobil Jefferson
32,584
16 Seadrift Plant* Union Carbide Calhoun
7,214
18 Baytown Refinery* Exxon Harris
5,876
19 Plant B Dow Chemical Brazoria
5,798
21 Houston Refinery* Lyondell-Citgo Harris
5,146
22 TX Eastman Division* Eastman Chemical  Harrison
4,919
23 King Ranch Plant Exxon Kleberg
4,877
27 Coastal Refining* Coastal Corp. Nueces
4,233
28 TX City Refinery* Amoco Galveston
3,910
30 Clear Lake Gas Plant Exxon Harris
3,787
38 Enron Methanol Co. Enron Harris
3,299
45 Sherwin Plant* Reynolds Metals San Patricio 
3,010
48 Sweeny Refinery* Phillips 66 Brazoria
2,667
54 Huntsman Petrochemical*  Huntsman Corp. Jefferson
2,534
58 Hawkins Gas Plant Exxon Wood
2,497
60 Houston Plant Rohm & Haas Harris
2,464
67 Clear Lake Plant* Hoechst Celanese Harris
2,331
73 Katy Gas Field Exxon Waller
1,992
76 Compressor Station Exxon Montgomery
1,910
77 East Plant Refinery* CITGO Nueces
1,910
83 Beaumont Chem. Plant* Goodyear Jefferson
1,744
94 Tom O'Connor Gas Plant Exxon Refugio
1,487
102 El Paso Refinery Chevron El Paso
1,363
107 Vinyl Acetate Facility Union Carbide Galveston
1,291
*Pledged to permit some part of site. Yet none of these plants set a compliance deadline and their total quantified pollution-reduction pledges would amount to just 5 percent of their total grandfathered emissions. [Source: TNRCC 1997 inventory data.]
 
 
 
Grandpa Polluters  Write the Rules

Documents obtained from the TNRCC by the environmental SEED Coalition reveal that the grandfathered polluters became alarmed in early 1997 because TNRCC officials were seeking a mandatory end to the grandfather loophole.  

At Governor Bush’s request, Exxon and Marathon then drafted an alternative policy on behalf of grandfathered polluters that belong to the Texas Mid Continent Oil and Gas Association (TMOGA). They submitted this plan to Governor Bush’s point men on the issue, TNRCC Commissioner Ralph Marquez and John Howard, Bush’s Environmental Policy Director. At a June 19, 1997 meeting, Exxon and Marathon presented their voluntary proposal to representatives of the heavily grandfathered oil, chemical, electric utility and paper industries, urging them to get on board. That proposal was the basis of Bush’s voluntary Clean Air Responsibility Enterprise (CARE) program. 

In a memo summarizing the June 19 meeting for other Chemical Council members, DuPont’s Jim Kennedy said that the proposal “has no ‘meat’ with respect to actual emissions reductions. One of the leaders actually stated that emissions reductions was not a primary driver for the program.” The laxity of the proposal notwithstanding, Kennedy’s memo added that, “Clearly, the ‘insiders’ from oil & gas believe that the Governor’s Office will ‘persuade’ the TNRCC to accept whatever program is developed between the industry group and the Governor’s Office.”  

Despite widespread opposition to the industry-sponsored CARE program, the TNRCC, the Legislature and Governor Bush turned it into the law of the land in 1999. Environmental groups concluded that the Governor’s Office and grandfather polluters colluded against the public interest in creating the CARE Program.18 

 
 

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