Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Several Democratic senators are calling on Gov. Rick Perry to clean up the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which they say is beset by conflicts of interest and undue industry influence.

"The issues are pervasive and systemic," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso, a frequent critic of the agency. On Monday, he and Sens. Kirk Watson of Austin, Rodney Ellis of Houston and Wendy Davis of Forth Worth asked the governor to do a top-down performance review of the environmental agency.

The state environmental office "is too important not to fix," Shapleigh said.

But they appear unlikely to convince the governor. In what might be a sign of their lack of clout on the issue, the senators are not going the route of legislative action. But they could make a play to quash the confirmation of Bryan Shaw, Perry's latest nominee to the three-member commission.

A spokeswoman for Perry said the senators had not contacted the governor's office with their complaints.

"At this point, we haven't seen any information to warrant a review of that nature," spokeswoman Allison Castle said.

Terry Clawson, a spokesman for the environmental agency, said officials disagree with the senators. "We are proud of our permitting and aggressive enforcement programs that are leading to a cleaner environment across Texas," Clawson said.

Shaw needs 21 Senate votes for confirmation, and 12 of the chamber's 31 seats are held by Democrats. But Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, who is chairman of the Nominations Committee, said "there's a good chance" that Shaw will be confirmed. He said Shaw, who has worked on air pollution issues at Texas A&M University, has the support of his home district senator, Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, who is chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Shaw had no comment.

At a news conference Monday, the Democratic senators (Watson did not attend) cited what they say are signs that the state environmental agency is too close to the companies that it regulates.

The former executive director of the commission, Glenn Shankle, is now a lobbyist for Waste Control Specialists, a landfill company whose controversial permit application for the disposal of radioactive waste in West Texas he approved.

In October 2007, he issued a preliminary license for the burial of radioactive waste near Andrews. Agency staff members that reviewed Waste Control's application had said that it was inadequate and objected to the license.

Shankle, who left the agency last summer, could earn as much as $150,000 this year.

Chuck McDonald, a Waste Control spokesman, said Shankle is on the team that lobbies legislators and not the commission.

Shankle did not return calls seeking comment.

Meanwhile, a district judge in Travis County told the environmental agency this month that it must release documents related to possibly illicit meetings that its commissioners had with lawyers representing an El Paso smelter.

On Monday, thesenators also focused on a rift between the state and federal governments on air permits. In a February letter,

Watson asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency whether the state was acting outside the bounds of a clean air plan approved by the federal government.

"Yes" was the answer in a March 19 letter from acting regional EPA administrator Lawrence Starfield; the letter said the Texas permits may not be in line with the clean air plan.

The state environmental agency "has chosen a path of not ultimately achieving its mission," Watson said.