Texas Legislators Write President Obama in Support of Recent EPA Actions
Austin, TX – Twenty-four Texas legislators signed a joint letter to President Barack Obama expressing their support for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recent actions to ensure that Texas' air permitting program fully complies with the Clean Air Act.
Recently, the EPA directed three Texas facilities with deficient air quality permits to seek federally authorized permits directly from the EPA rather than from the state environmental agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The letter points out that "the environmental regulations in the Clean Air Act better all of our lives, and it is to everyone's benefit that they be enforced."
The letter's signatories are:
- Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston)
- Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston)
- Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso)
- Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio)
- Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo)
- Rep. Alma Allen (D-Houston)
- Rep. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston)
- Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth)
- Rep. Ellen Cohen (D-Houston)
- Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston)
- Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin)
- Rep. Kirk England (D-Grand Prairie)
- Rep. Jessica Farrar (D-Houston)
- Rep. Helen Giddings (D-DeSoto)
- Rep. Ana E. Hernandez (D-Houston)
- Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin)
- Rep. Carol Kent (D-Dallas)
- Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio)
- Rep. Elliott Naishtat (D-Austin)
- Rep. Paula Pierson (D-Arlington)
- Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin)
- Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth)
- Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio)
- Rep. Armando Walle (D-Houston)
* A pdf of the letter is attached.