(cross-posted to The Agonist)
New delay requested on smog cleanup: State wants 9 more years to improve Houston-area air
Texas officially asked the federal government Friday for an extra nine years to meet health standards for ground-level ozone, saying that it would be “practicably impossible” for the eight-county Houston-Galveston region to comply with the law by 2010. The request marks the latest postponement in the decades-long saga to clean up Houston’s smog and seeks more time than both the county and city wanted. If granted, the city would be the last place in the state and one of the last areas in the country to meet health guidelines for the lung-irritating pollutant. Houston’s first federal deadline to meet ozone standards was in 1975. The new deadline would be June 2019.
I really don’t even to launch into a full-scale rant over this issue, because that last sentence really sums it up very succinctly and accurately. Houston’s first federal deadline to meet ozone standards was in 1975. The new deadline would be June 2019. Yeah, the respiratory health of Texans is less important than the ability and right of industry to pollute the air we breathe in pursuit of the Almighty Profit Margin. ‘Cuz Lord knows that every dollar spent on reducing pollution is a dollar that won’t be going into the pockets of CEOs or shareholders.
To me, there is nothing that state government has done (or in this case, not done) that more clearly demonstrates the utter disdain for the health and well-being of Texans that this fiasco. I can understand government trying to create a business-friendly environment, but does it need to give Big Business a blank check? This is something that hits home with me. How much of my current respiratory issues can be laid to the fact that the State of Texas would rather protect polluters than Texans? Yes, nothing says “F__K YOU, TEXAS!!” like the state’s refusal to ensure that Texans can breathe clean air.
All waiting nine more years will do is to provide for more respiratory illnesses among Houstonians in general and Texans in particular. Silly me; here I’d grown up thinking that govenment’s prime directive was to protective the interests of the people it represents. Here in Texas, perhaps more than any other state in the Union, politicians are beholden to those large donors that help them buy their way into office. All the voters do is supply the votes to legitimize the process. Outside of Election Day, Texans are little more than an afterthought as politicians and bureacrats line up to fellate Big Business interests.
If granted, the city would be the last place in the state and one of the last areas in the country to meet health guidelines for the lung-irritating pollutant. No wonder I’m developing asthma symptoms. No wonder I can’t get through a conversation without coughing. No wonder I feel as if something’s sitting on my chest 24/7. Not that the State of Texas actually cares about me…or about those with problems far worst than my own…because in the end, it’s all about the Benjamins.
It seems that if I ever want to be able to breathe normally again, I’m going to have to leave Texas, because it’s not as if the State is actually going to get off it’s collective ass and actually do it’s job of taking care of Texans.
