Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry should review the state's environmental agency from top to bottom to ensure it is protecting the health of Texans and not the bottom line of polluting industries, Democratic senators said Monday.

"Polluters have captured and corrupted the agency," charged state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, referring to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Shapleigh, along with Sens. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth and Rodney Ellis of Houston, said regulators had become too cozy with the industries they oversee.

Allison Castle, spokeswoman for Perry, said none of the senators had discussed their request or concerns about the agency with the governor.

"We haven't seen any information to warrant a review of that nature," she said. "If they have information, we'd certainly be interested in seeing it."

TCEQ spokesman Terry Clawson said the agency's administrators disagreed with the senators' assessment.

"To the contrary, we are proud of our permitting and aggressive enforcement programs that are leading to a cleaner environment across Texas," Clawson said in an e-mailed response.

In El Paso, he said, air quality has significantly improved in the last 15 years because of restrictions on industrial and outdoor burning, vehicle inspection and maintenance programs and seasonal fuel blends.

But Shapleigh pointed to the example of the environmental agency's decision last year to renew an air quality permit for Asarco as an indicator of the need for reform.

"We believe behind that (decision) are influences from the industry that we want to let the people of Texas know about," Shapleigh said.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality staff and three administrative judges recommended denial of Asarco's permit, based on worries the smelter would spew tons of pollutants into the air.

But last year, the three-member TCEQ commission unanimously approved the permit.

Shapleigh alleges that decision came after illegal, secret meetings between commissioners and Asarco attorneys. He is in a protracted legal battle to obtain documents from the agency that he contends will prove these violations.

The Asarco case, the senators said, is not an isolated example. TCEQ commissioners renewed an air permit for a cement kiln in the Fort Worth area despite concerns from residents, elected officials in the region and the EPA.

TCEQ also approved a license last year for Waste Control Specialists to dump low-level radioactive waste at a site in Andrews in West Texas.

Glenn Shankle, who was executive director of the TCEQ when the license was approved, has since become a lobbyist for Waste Control Specialists, promoting their interests at the Capitol.

Davis said ethics problems at TCEQ start at the top. "Right now, industry is having their way with the regulators, and it must stop," she said.

The lawmakers said Perry should bring in an independent auditor to review the TCEQ, its ethics and its permit granting process.

Legislators have approved laws requiring ethical standards and separation between TCEQ officials and industry, but Shapleigh said they have been ignored.

He proposed new laws to ensure stricter oversight, but said they had been stifled by the powerful industry lobby.

"The governor is the executive," Shapleigh said. "He has the authority with respect to nominees at this agency. If he's not participating, these issues don't get fixed."

Senators may hold up the confirmation of the newest TCEQ commissioner, Bryan Shaw, whom Perry appointed in 2007, if they determine the governor has not worked to fix problems at the agency, Shapleigh said.

In addition, environmental groups have petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to rescind the TCEQ's federally designated authority if it doesn't make changes in the way it regulates polluters.