Three Legislature Bills Would Loosen Texas' Extraordinarily Loose Pollution Guidelines

[TexasTowelie]

Texas law has always been a little loose -- and yes, in this phraseology "loose" is code for kind of slutty -- about environmental regulation, but now the state legislature has a few bills bouncing around during the 83rd legislative session that may make it looser than Lindsey Lohan after some booze and a Xanax.

StateImpact Texas reported that these bills are part of a move toward making Texas more business friendly -- the assumption being that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the misnamed Railroad Commission (they're over oil and gas, not railroads), and legislators in general aren't besties with business yet. (None of the bills' sponsors would talk to us, by the way.)

If that's the case, then Gov. Rick Perry needs to rethink his whole advertising thing. He's been hitting up the people of Illinois and California in recent weeks, encouraging them to head to Texas, according to Time.

Right now, if, say a company wants to mine uranium from the water or put in an injection well, they have to go through a permitting process with the TCEQ, the state regulatory agency for all things environmental.

More at http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2013/05/legislature_pollution_regs.php