If anyone expresses surprised by the federal government's crackdown on Texas' transparent lie that it wants to control pollution, they are either stupid or a liar.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Sept. 8 it will scrap major portions of Texas permit program because it hasn't complied for years with the federal Clean Air Act.

States have had some leeway in enforcement of the law since it passed in 1970.

But the EPA has for years disagreed with how Texas efforts, or lack there of, but took no action.

It now will do so since Texas leads the nation in greenhouse-gas emissions and it also has the most refineries, chemical plants and power plants of any state, and very little to show in the way pollution control efforts.

Examples from files of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality abound.

The firms involved, including the one cited here, aren't necessarily bad. They want to make money while they control costs. Every business does that.

But that's not regulators concern. Compliance with the law is there concern.

TCEQ, and the Legislature, should be embarrassed that they have had 39 years to comply with federal law, and have failed. They also can't confess surprise when the crackdown comes.

One case, a minor, common complaint, illustrates Texas official disregard for clean air and water.

Total Petrochemicals, like companies large and small, must submit paperwork to TCEQ.

In one case, Total Petrochemicals, a division of the publicly traded French company with operations in 130 nations, failed to submit an annual compliance certification for its Port Arthur refinery on time.

It didn't miss the deadline by days or weeks, but by months, TCEQ records show.

Total's paperwork in this case covered the refinery's operations from Nov. 14 2006 through Aug. 31 2007. It was due Sept. 30, 2007. It arrived Dec. 12, 2007.

That drew a fine from TCEQ.

Fines should deter bad behavior.

But companies that don't file paperwork in a timely manner, well, TCEQ issues a microscopic fine. In this case it fined Total, whose earnings are in the billions each year, a $9,475 for this violation.

To compound this disregard for simple paperwork, TCEQ did even worse than Total did to act in a timely fashion.

It didn't issue a fine until last month, almost two years to the day after Total's paperwork was due.

In a state where the law allows a person's car to be seized for lack of timely compliance with registration paperwork, it's an insult that a commission whose name links environment and quality has so little regard for the simplest aspects of either.

TCEQ also deferred $1,895 from that fine for what its forms report was an expedited settlement.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency said last month that it will reject some of Texas permit programs for a variety of problems. They include record-keeping and enforcement.

That change won't be quick or easy. But no one ought to pretend it will come as a surprise.