17-Mar-08 10:00 AM CST

Perry Criticizes Tougher EPA Air Quality Standards

Perry criticizes tougher EPA air quality standards
March 12, 2008

Gov. Rick Perry called the tightened federal air quality standards announced Wednesday an arbitrary "moving target" that stand to especially punish Texas and its economy.

Written by Staff, Associated Press
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Gov. Rick Perry called the tightened federal air quality standards announced Wednesday an arbitrary "moving target" that stand to especially punish Texas and its economy.

Texas has 22 of the 345 counties nationwide that the Environmental Protection Agency will require to step up efforts to reduce smog because they now have dirtier air than is healthy. California has the most with 31 counties, while Texas is fourth behind Ohio and Pennsylvania.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson called the new smog requirements "the most stringent standards ever." But Perry said the changes will wind up costing taxpayers in a state he says produces 30 percent of the nation's gas and oil.

"These new standards are particularly onerous on Texas and punish the state because it includes one of the most comprehensively controlled industrial complexes in the world," Perry said.

The new EPA standard will lower the allowable concentration of ozone in the air to no more than 75 parts per billion, compared with the old standard of 80. Perry said the state is "going above and beyond" to meet the current standards.

Texas clean air advocates joined their colleagues nationwide in calling the new standards a "political compromise" that doesn't go far enough.

Matthew Tejada, executive director of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention, said it was "disappointing" the EPA did not demand a lower number. But he hoped the attention would unify clean air advocates and businesses.

Counties in Texas that currently do not meet the EPA's new health standard for smog are Bexar, Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Ellis, Galveston, Gregg, Harris, Harrison, Hood, Hunt, Jefferson, Johnson, Montgomery, Orange, Parker, Rockwall, Smith, Tarrant and Travis.

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Source: Kim Davis