By: Brown S.C.R. No. 23 1-1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-2 WHEREAS, The reduction of pollution and the protection of the 1-3 environment are matters of great state and national concern, and 1-4 both the state and the federal government bear responsibility for 1-5 actions in this regard; ideally, this mutual concern and shared 1-6 responsibility should manifest itself in a collaborative 1-7 partnership to reduce pollution and protect natural resources; and 1-8 WHEREAS, However, while both state and federal governments 1-9 share these goals, differences have arisen regarding the most 1-10 effective approach to environmental problems and specific pollution 1-11 reductions and environmental protection efforts; and 1-12 WHEREAS, These differences reflect a state-federal 1-13 relationship that relies less on mutual development of policy and 1-14 coordination of agency efforts and more on a command-and-control 1-15 approach that focuses exclusively on state implementation of 1-16 federal regulations, thus denying Texas the flexibility it needs to 1-17 protect its natural resources and environment as effectively as 1-18 possible; and 1-19 WHEREAS, The current approach instituted by the United States 1-20 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit pollution at the 1-21 state level through the use of a federally mandated permitting 1-22 process has proven to be moderately successful at reducing 1-23 pollution, but it is also a process that is burdensome and costly 1-24 to both the states and the regulated facilities; and 2-1 WHEREAS, In Texas, the burden of enforcing federal 2-2 regulations and monitoring compliance with required permits falls 2-3 primarily on the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission 2-4 (TNRCC); however, the overly prescriptive approach that the federal 2-5 government has taken gives TNRCC no input in the development of 2-6 these regulations and little flexibility, either in interpreting 2-7 regulations or in the way it must enforce them; and 2-8 WHEREAS, Alternative paradigms are available, including 2-9 outcome-based assessment methods that allow the state to direct its 2-10 efforts to measuring the actual reduction of pollution and 2-11 identifying and targeting offending facilities rather than 2-12 expending limited agency resources simply monitoring each 2-13 facility's compliance with its permit; and 2-14 WHEREAS, States should be given greater latitude to implement 2-15 innovative regulatory programs and other pollution reduction 2-16 methods that vary from the current top-down model that requires 2-17 states to adhere strictly to the federally mandated permitting 2-18 process; and 2-19 WHEREAS, TNRCC should take a leadership role in these efforts 2-20 and work as closely as possible with the EPA and other national 2-21 environmental associations to establish a working relationship that 2-22 would give states a greater voice in the decision-making process 2-23 and allow them greater flexibility in the implementation of federal 2-24 environmental programs; and 2-25 WHEREAS, Such a relationship would benefit individual states 2-26 and the federal government by streamlining current environmental 3-1 programs, making them more effective and reducing the overall costs 3-2 of environmental regulation; now, therefore, be it 3-3 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 3-4 hereby respectfully urge the Texas Natural Resource Conservation 3-5 Commission to expand its coordination efforts with the United 3-6 States Environmental Protection Agency, the Environmental Council 3-7 of the States, and other national associations to increase 3-8 flexibility for the states in the implementation of federal 3-9 environmental regulations; and, be it further 3-10 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward an 3-11 official copy of this resolution to the executive director and to 3-12 the chairman of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.