ustxtxb_obs_1967_01_20_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

Also critical of the maximum limits for particles was W. L. Faith, representing 13 cement manufacturing companies. He termed the limits “unreasonable”, and a “death sentence for any industry.” The standards should vary by region \(as beto take varied air conditions into account, as this is a factor in dispersal of smoke and particles, Faith said. Howard Jensen of Lone Star Steel Company also questioned the limits on particles, saying that he has been told by technicians that a steel plant that operates on the scale of Lone Star’s in East Texas could not comply with the proposed limits. A CITIZEN WHO lives at Lohn, Tex., near Brady, J. T. Woodward, told the board that his home is 300 yards from a gin, and “when that gin is in operation it’s an intolerable situation.” He urged the board’s adoption of its rules as proposed. Edward Bush of the Texas Cotton Ginners Association said that the cotton industry is particularly hard-pressed at this point and that undue economic burdens imposed by pollution abatement programs could be disastrous. He said that the technology which the board’s proposed standards would require does not yet exist for gins. Installing control devices that have been developed would cost Texas ginners $18.5 million, Bush said, adding that “this simply isn’t possible” because many gins would have to close instead. Besides, he went on, present controls aren’t adequate to meet the board’s standards. He offered a suggestion: let gins weigh the cotton before and after ginning, and in that manner check the amount of debris being set free into the air. Bush said that the board’s rules which would single out gins and asphalt plants for special consideration are discriminatory. McKee, the board chairman, said that if technology is not available to meet the board’s standards “we still will set such standards, partly as an aid to those working to develop such technology.” Other testimony was heard from Dr. C. A. Pickford, Houston director of public health, who expressed pleasure that the state is entering the pollution fight; William J. Pitstick, executive director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, an organization of municipalities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, who said officials in that area are concerned about pollution and will co-operate with the board; Roy Adams, engineer of the Fort Worth health department, who urged that regulations be simple, flexible, and enforced uniformly and that the board cooperate with local agencies. Adams urged that new industrial plants be required to put air sampling devices in their smokestacks. Also addressing the board were: Mrs. A. Walker Boyd, a member of a LaMarque citizens group. She urged that standards be as stringent as is reasonable, that the problem of multiple pollution sources be considered \(as is provided in the proposed Allen Keller spoke for highway construction interests, speaking particularly about the problems arising from the use of portable rock crushers. Others speaking at the hearing or filing written statements with the board were John R. Gray of Texas Instruments at Dallas, J. R. Walton, Jr., of the Houston Chamber of Commerce, 0. R. Crawford of Kraft Pulp Manufacturers of Texas, E. Jack Turner of Dow Chemical Company at Freeport, Thomas C. Collier of the asphalt industry, State Rep. Don Cavness \(who authored the bill that established American Smelter and Refining Company at El Paso, A. B. Ridgley of Sargent-Gulf State Incinerator Company, Robert A. Kennedy of Texas Power and Light Company, Roman Haas of Champion Paper Company, and an unidentified spokesman for the Folger’s Coffee Company. Industry Is Well-Represented- Perhaps Too Well-Represented? State regulation of air pollution was begun, slightly, in 1956 when the State Health Department employed an engineer and a secretary to mull the situation. Federal funds provided two more engineers in 1965, the same year in which the legislature established the Air Control Board. The board was to begin work Aug. 30, 1965, but Gov. John Connally didn’t name its members until Feb. 24, 1966. A month later the board met for the first time. A study of trash and dust discharged by the state’s some 1,300 cotton gins was conducted and air quality was sampled in Jefferson County, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Wichita Falls, Laredo, Dallas, and Fort Worth. These studies were used in setting up the first set of proposed air pollution control rules, which are now being considered. Complaints will be brought to the board’s attention and companies believed offending will be asked to correct the situation. That failing, a formal complaint will be filed and a public hearing held. Two-thirds of the board must agree that a company is in violation. If this happens, an order is to be issued to that effect. Continued violation will mean that a civil proceeding will be prosecuted by the attorney general’s office. If a firm is found guilty in court of disobeying the board’s order, it will be liable to a pen 6 The Texas Observer alty of up to $50 a day. As provided in the legislation, there are three ex-officio members of the board Harry Clark, director of the Industrial Commission; Dr. J. E. Peavy, State Health Commissioner; and Dr. S. B. Walker, director of the State Animal Health Commission. The governor named six other persons, including two to represent the public, three with backgrounds in industry, and someone from municipal government. Herbert McKee of Houston, chairman of the board, is the assistant director of the department of chemistry and chemical engineering at the Southwest Research Institute. Other members are: Dr. Wendell Hamrick of Houston, a specialist in industrial medicine and surgery and a past president of the Texas Industrial Medical Association; Clinton Howard of Irving, president of Bio-Assay Laboratory of Irving and chairman of the boards of Superior Circuits, Inc., and of General Hydroponics, Inc., both in Dallas; Henry J. LeBlanc, Sr., of Port Arthur, the owner of Standard Brass Company, and, when appointed, president of the Sportsmen’s Clubs of Texas and a regional director of the National Wildlife Federation; Herbert Whitney, city manager of Corpus Christi; and John Files of Houston, presi dent of the Merichem Company and, at the time of his appointment, secretary treasurer of the Texas Chemical Council. FIVE OF THE appointments were criticized by Dr. Walter Quebedeaux, Harris County pollution control officer, who said that except for Whitney and the three ex-officio members the board was made up of men who “have some personal interest in matters that would come before the board for consideration.” Each of the five, in some way, Quebedeaux charged, could thus be liable to conflicts of interest because of their connections with industry. McKee, Quebedeaux said, had directed a pollution survey for the Houston Chamber of Commerce which earned his firm $220,000 in fees since 1957. The institute also has a number of industrial clients. McKee countered that his term on the board is for two years and “we will need that much time for the necessary studies before any question of enforcement comes up.” When first contacted about the possibility of serving on the board, McKee had declined because of the conflicts of interest considerations. He finally accepted, he said, after considerable study and on the basis that he would disqualify himself should a case arise involving one of his institute’s clients. LeBlanc, Quebedeaux asserted, had been “instrumental in keeping [the conservation organization of which LeBlanc is president] from even adopting a reso