SRC-SEW S.C.R. 22 77(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.C.R. 22
77R1745 NBH-DBy: Brown, J. E. "Buster"
Natural Resources
3/19/2001
As Filed


DIGEST

The reduction of pollution and the protection of the environment is of
great concern to both the federal government and the Texas Legislature.
However, to protect its natural resources and environment as effectively as
possible, Texas needs greater flexibility in its implementation of federal
regulations.  The current command-and-control approach instituted by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to limit pollution at the state level
through the use of a federally mandated permitting process has proven to be
moderately successful at reducing pollution, but it is also an overly
prescriptive process that is unduly burdensome and costly to both the
states and the regulated facilities relative to the results achieved.
Alternative paradigms are available, including outcome-based methods that
allow the state to measure the actual reduction of pollution rather than
simply monitoring each facility's compliance with its permit. States should
be given greater latitude to implement innovative regulatory programs and
other pollution reduction methods that vary from the current model, which
requires states to adhere strictly to the federally mandated permitting
process.  Providing this flexibility would allow states such as Texas to
tailor appropriate and effective approaches to state-specific environmental
problems rather than expending resources to ensure compliance with
one-size-fits-all regulations that place an inordinate emphasis on
procedural detail. 

PURPOSE

As proposed, S.C.R. 22 submits the following resolutions:

Provides that the 77th Texas Legislature respectfully urges the United
States Environmental Protection Agency to provide maximum flexibility to
the states in the implementation of federal environmental programs and
regulations.  Provides that the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, to the president of the United States, to the speaker of
the house of representatives and the president of the senate of the United
States Congress, and to all members of the Texas delegation to the congress
with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the
Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of
America.