By: Brown S.C.R. No. 22 1-1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-2 WHEREAS, The reduction of pollution and the protection of the 1-3 environment is of great concern to both the federal government and 1-4 the Texas Legislature; and 1-5 WHEREAS, To protect its natural resources and environment as 1-6 effectively as possible, Texas needs greater flexibility in its 1-7 implementation of federal regulations; and 1-8 WHEREAS, The current command-and-control approach instituted 1-9 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to limit 1-10 pollution at the state level through the use of a federally 1-11 mandated permitting process has proven to be moderately successful 1-12 at reducing pollution, but it is also an overly prescriptive 1-13 process that is unduly burdensome and costly to both the states and 1-14 the regulated facilities relative to the results achieved; and 1-15 WHEREAS, Alternative paradigms are available, including 1-16 outcome-based assessment methods that allow the state to measure 1-17 the actual reduction of pollution rather than simply monitoring 1-18 each facility's compliance with its permit; and 1-19 WHEREAS, States should be given greater latitude to implement 1-20 innovative regulatory programs and other pollution reduction 1-21 methods that vary from the current model, which requires states to 1-22 adhere strictly to the federally mandated permitting process; and 1-23 WHEREAS, Providing this flexibility would allow states such 1-24 as Texas to tailor appropriate and effective approaches to 2-1 state-specific environmental problems rather than expending 2-2 resources to ensure compliance with one-size-fits-all regulations 2-3 that place an inordinate emphasis on procedural detail; now, 2-4 therefore, be it 2-5 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 2-6 hereby respectfully urge the United States Environmental Protection 2-7 Agency to provide maximum flexibility to the states in the 2-8 implementation of federal environmental programs and regulations; 2-9 and, be it further 2-10 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 2-11 copies of this resolution to the administrator of the United States 2-12 Environmental Protection Agency, to the president of the United 2-13 States, to the speaker of the house of representatives and the 2-14 president of the senate of the United States Congress, and to all 2-15 members of the Texas delegation to the congress with the request 2-16 that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional 2-17 Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of 2-18 America.