The Dallas Morning News
www.dallasnews.com

Anti-smog plan gets federal OK

Hurdles remain after preliminary approval

By Randy Lee Loftis

January 5, 2001

Texas' anti-smog plan for the Dallas-Fort Worth area is headed toward federal approval, but first it must make it through lawsuits and the Legislature.

"Every level of government must do its part for this plan to work," Gregg Cooke, regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Thursday.

Mr. Cooke signed papers that give the state-written plan the EPA's preliminary approval. Final approval can come after a 60-day public comment period.

The plan would lower highway speed limits from 70 to 65 mph and from 65 to 60 mph in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Parker, Rockwall, Ellis, Johnson and Kaufman counties starting in September 2001.

The plan also proposes expanded vehicle emissions inspections beginning in 2002 in Collin, Parker, Rockwall, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Dallas and Tarrant counties. Only Dallas and Tarrant are covered now.

Other provisions include pollution cuts from industrial plants and equipment and cleaner diesel fuel.

Dallas-Fort Worth is one of four Texas urban areas where the air violates federal health standards for ozone, or smog.

"We have real health problems in North Texas that are results of [poor] air quality," said Dallas County Judge Lee Jackson, one of the plan's local architects.

"We simply don't have the luxury of waiting."

Since the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and then-Gov. George W. Bush approved it in April, the plan has come under attack from industries and environmentalists.

Airlines, electric utilities, cement makers and others filed six suits to block it, though several have been settled. Environmentalists say the plan doesn't go far enough.

However, the plan has considerable political backing.

The Dallas, Tarrant and Denton County judges and Dallas and Fort Worth city officials came to show their support Thursday.

"This plan is a fix and not a patch," said Collin County Judge Ron Harris, who led the planning effort.

Still, some officials say they are worried that the Legislature might order changes during the session that starts Tuesday. The plan doesn't require legislative approval, but lawmakers could step in and amend it.

Mr. Cooke said the plan as written makes only the minimum necessary pollution cuts, so taking out any part of it would jeopardize the whole strategy – possibly meaning that the EPA couldn't legally approve it, he said.

"It is imperative that all the measures in this package remain intact," Mr. Cooke said.

Any legislative changes that weaken a new plan for the Houston-Galveston area, which the state submitted last month, would also worsen Dallas-Fort Worth's outlook, officials say.

The state and the EPA now agree that smog-causing pollution in Houston drifts north and adds to North Texas' problem. That means Dallas-Fort Worth is partially relying on pollution cuts in Houston.

One provision in both plans that could draw legislative opposition is a much-disputed ban on early-morning operation of heavy construction equipment during smoggy summer months, starting in 2005.

The chairman of the House environmental regulation committee said he's urging his colleagues to leave the Dallas-Fort Worth plan alone.

"My advice to the Legislature is going to be that they not make alterations in the plan," said Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa. "They do so at great peril."

Environmentalists say the Dallas-Fort Worth plan is too weak.

"We don't agree that the plan is good enough, and we don't think it's legally approvable," said Environmental Defense scientist Ramon Alvarez.

Mr. Cooke acknowledged that there's little room for error. Officials will re-examine the plan in 2004 to see which parts do and don't work, he said.