Partners in Crime: TCEQ Lets Exide Lead Smelter Air Plan Deadline Pass
Yeah, it's supposed to close by the end of the year. But that shouldn't mean the Exide lead smelter gets an even larger free pass to keep breaking the law on its way out the door.
Under the Clean Air Act, the facility is still subject to a clean-up plan for lead emissions that are violating the new federal lead-in-air standards passed in 2008. It's called a "State Implementation Plan," or SIP, because the state environmental agency, in this case the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, is supposed to submit it to EPA for approval. The deadline for submitting Exide's SIP is July 1st, so the EPA has the required six months for public comment and processing through the Federal Register by the time the standard takes effect in December. As of today, the agenda for the last TCEQ Commissioners meeting in June did not have the Exide SIP on it.
It's true that the smelter doesn't have to start meeting that new standard until less than a month before it's scheduled closing via the agreement Exide and the City of Frisco announced in late May (and it's been exeeding that standard pretty regulalry since Spring began). But the adoption of a SIP could have put a nice regulatory bow on the package that the company and city have already prepared, and given the state the chance to tie up lots of loose enforcement ends.
By not submitting the SIP to EPA on time, the TCEQ is in violation of the law. What EPA will do about that is unknown, although its advocacy on behalf of Frisco residents over the long history of the smelter has been less than comprehensive and enthusiastic. Even now, neither it nor TCEQ have announced any fines or enforcement measures despite finding plenty of evidence of violations over the last three years' worth of inspections, much less the documented 30-year history of chronic abuses found in the agencies' files.
What might be some of the real world consequences of TCEQ lawbreaking this time? More lead air pollution and lead exposure to Frisco residents in the next six months than would otherwise have been allowed and more contamination of the land the City of Frisco has already bought and must pay to clean-up. A good thing to remember is how the company phased-out its Dixie Metals smelter in Dallas when it was forced to close by a December 31st 1990 deadline by the city. There was full production at the smelter until 12 Midnight, December 31st.
The official apathy of the state and federal agencies regarding Exide's criminal past and present has been breathtaking at times. So far, this missed SIP deadline seems to be one more yawnfest for them. Which is all the more reason citizens have to keep a vigilant eye on things even after the hoopla is over and the important work of cleaning-up a half-century's worth of poisons begins. Environmental protection is a do-it-yourself proposition.