If the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is going to meet in secret with known polluters, then why exactly do we need the commission?

This week the Asarco copper company announced it was giving up plans to re-open a plant in El Paso—even after the state environmental agency handed them a permit. That plant had been the subject of angry protests by small businesses, organized students and the city of El Paso, which spent over a million dollars fighting the plant in court.

Clean air advocates also claim that the agency is too cozy with Asarco, citing a private conference the agency chairman had with the company’s Houston lawyers.

“What TCEQ needs is a house cleaning from top to bottom, ” says El Paso state Senator Eliot Shapleigh in an interview with Texas Watchdog.

Asarco, described by a Dallas Morning News editorial today as having a “history of sullying Texas skies,” blamed the economy on their plans to not open shop — conveniently overlooking a key fact: The EPA inspected the plant and gave it worse reviews than a Kate Hudson movie.

Among the deficiencies the EPA cited:
•    The equipment is in a state of “disrepair or degradation.”
•    The gas handling system needs to be replaced.
•    The oxygen plant equipment need to be repaired or replaced.
•    The equipment is only good for scrap value

The state commission says it had already identified the problems with the copper company.

“ASARCO was ordered by the TCEQ to resolve all of these issues BEFORE they could begin operations,” agency spokesperson Terry Clawson said in an email to Texas Watchdog.

But the EPA took it a step further, saying that as far as it was concerned the Asarco plant was “permanently shut down” and that there were simply too many obstacles preventing it from ever opening again.

In contrast, the state went the extra mile to green light Asarco’s plans to reopen their plant. The Dallas Morning News’ Randy Lee Loftis has reported how agency chairman Buddy Garcia had a private meeting with Baker Botts, the well-connected Houston law firm helping the company in its permit process. That seems no different than a judge collaborating privately with a defendant and his attorney to reach a favorable outcome in a case.

“TCEQ has been an ally of polluters for 25 years,” Shapleigh says. “When our own agency causes  El Paso to wrack up $1.2 million of legal expenses and let Asarco open on a grandfathered permit when those are not legal under EPA guidelines–that tells you where their heart lies.”

Clawson with TCEQ responds,  “We don’t agree with that assessment. To the contrary, we are proud of our aggressive enforcement program that is leading to a cleaner environment in Texas.”

We’re not sure sure the feds — or El Paso taxpayers — would say the same.