Al Armendariz: The TT Interview
In November 2009, Al Armendariz took a leave from his professorship at Southern Methodist University to become the Dallas-based head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 6 office, which oversees Texas and nearby states. His EPA tenure proved tumultuous. The agency incited the fury of Texas officials when it scrapped a long-standing permitting system that applied to some big industrial plants in the state, introduced national regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and attempted to tighten restrictions on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants, among other things.
The attacks on Armendariz intensified in April of this year ...
Comments (11)
JC DemocratofTejas
Armendariz is in touch with, and understands the reality of which we all must soon. Global warming, climate change. It's real.
BiffTannen
Should be head of the EPA.
Mac Mcclure via Texas Tribune on Facebook
“The Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they would crucify them. And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”
Trey Harris
Armendariz has my gratitude for sticking up for the law when he was at the EPA. Wish he could have stayed on longer. And, yes to JCDemocratOftejas, he should be head of EPA.
Michelle Michon via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I think the people of Texas are best served when all levels of the government — local government, state government, federal government — are all working together on the people’s best interest. And unfortunately I think all of rhetoric, all of the lawsuits by the attorney general, all of the trumped-up conflict was making it very difficult for TCEQ staff to talk to their colleagues at EPA, and for the TCEQ leadership to feel like it could be seen doing things in partnership with the EPA. -And I agree with that. MM
Anya Khan
I found the most telling on why Mr Almendarz was unfit for his job was his surprise on how well the Emergency Response Team reacted. This team drill and exercises for events constantly. That Mr Almendariz did not know who well trained they were is sad and unprofessional. He is not fit to lead a gov't organization.
EyesOfTX
How was it possible to conduct this interview and not ask him about his "crucify" comments? Amazing...
ert dfg
Well good for him. $.04/kWh electricity from Natural gas or $.05/kWh electricity from COAL is horrible.
It actually lets POOR PEOPLE have electricity.
We need to at least raise it to the $.15-$.20/kWh he proposes; maybe higher with questionable transmission stability.
Only when we stop the POOR PEOPLE from having electricity, heating, and modern conveniences can we truly have a green earth...
What? That isn't the goal? What would you do differently if that was the goal? Nothing? Ok then, but that isn't the goal...
Oh, or course *wink wink* yeah, that is NOT the goal, just the obvious outcome that we can't possibly prevent. Sorry poor people, but your suffering was NOT our goal; it was something else entirely.
Lara P
"Best science"--really? Because what Armendariz did to Range in Parker County, while high-fiving his activist buddies in the immediate, was based on no science at all.
Didn't adequately test the samples of gas. Didn't run the theory past a geologist, who might have pointed out that shallow methane-rich zone just beneath the water well (but over a mile away from Range's fracking). Didn't measure the depth of the citizen's water well--to see how close to the shallow methane zone it might be drilled. Purposefully ignored years-old reports (before fracking hit the area) about Parker County water wells with methane that could be ignited. Refused to provide anyone from EPA to explain the findings he leveled against Range--refused, that is, until a federal judge made them pony up a witness. It wasn't just the result of sloppy work. It was a steamrolling. Where's the retraction after real experts, from across the spectrum, agreed that the gas in the water well was definitely not from Range's work? At the end of that fiasco, publicity about his "crucify the first five guys you see" approach was not the reason for his departure from EPA. It was just the last straw that forced them to ease him out the door.
Seriously, what's wrong with creating a moderate Environmental Agency that makes decisions that are scientifically-based, without pandering to either side of the political spectrum?
Lara P
Oh, and here's a slightly fuller version of the background: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304746604577382492416602720.html
Anya Khan
Thanks Lara