As the Trump administration pushes for deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, saying states can take a bigger part in environmental oversight, new data show the majority of states — Texas included — have already slashed their budgets for pollution control.
A study released this week by the Environmental Integrity Project found that 27 states have reduced budgets for their environmental agencies over the past 15 years, adjusted for inflation, and Texas was among the worst offenders.
The Lone Star State is among seven that have axed a third or more of their funding for environmental oversight. Indeed, the 33% funding reduction for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was the nation’s seventh-largest. Lawmakers whittled the agency’s budget from $615 million in 2010 to just $413 million last fiscal year.
Texas also was among the two-thirds of states — 31 to be exact — that also took an ax to staffing for their environmental agencies. Those states eliminated 3,725 positions, or about 13 percent of total jobs, over the past 15 years. TCEQ faced a 2% force reduction over that time period.
“These deep reductions mean that the Trump Administration’s proposed downsizing of the EPA would have an increased impact on pollution control efforts across the country,” the study’s authors wrote. “Not only will the federal pollution cop no longer be on the beat, state authorities may not show up either.”
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would cut the EPA’s funding by 55%, or $4.2 billion, according to the report. House Republicans have recommended slashing it by a quarter, while the Senate Appropriations Committee voted for a 5% decrease.
Amid such a federal downsizing, many states won’t be able to take on more environmental oversight responsibilities because years of budget cuts have effectively neutered their ability to manage pollution, according to EIP’s study.
Calling out the Lone Star State
While Texas isn’t alone in slashing away at its environmental protection agency, the state’s actions warrant special attention because of its brisk growth and its large concentration of polluters, according to the report.
To that point, EIP created a special case study on the state in its report. The environmental group called out Texas for:
• Cutting TCEQ’s budget at a time when the number of companies requiring air pollution expanded by 15% statewide.
• Allowing such a high turnover rate at TCEQ that, last year, 30% of its workforce had less than two years’ experience and half had less than five years’ experience.
• Enabling TCEQ — which is led by three appointees of Gov. Greg Abbott — to operate as “reluctant regulators” who encourage polluters to “self-govern and self-police,” as described in one of the state’s own reports.
In EIP’s analysis, Annalisa Peace, executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, warns that Texas’ environmental regulators don’t receive the necessary support from agency leaders to carry out their work.
“They do have a lot of people who want to do good, but [the leaders] make it very hard on them,” said Peace, who’s observed the TCEQ for roughly three decades.
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