Is Abbott tough enough to challenge polluters?

Texans are supposed to be tough. So why are so many of Texas’ leaders looking away when the petrochemical industry illegally pollutes our air? Why aren’t they pushing back against the predictable recklessness of polluters who endanger the health and happiness of our children, our elders and our communities?

Maybe they’re all talk.

It starts with Gov. Greg Abbott, whose idea of environmental protection is to shield the polluter interests that have propped up his political career from proper oversight. He challenged stronger federal safeguards as attorney general and vetoed funding for clean air programs as governor, showing repeatedly where his loyalties are.

This polluter-first approach extends to the governor-appointed Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ. The commission says that it “strives to protect our state’s public health,” but it has penalized companies for less than 3 percent of illegal releases of air pollutants since 2011.

Even though petrochemical giants stand to inflict the most harm to our health and environment, TCEQ has disproportionately picked on small businesses that don’t have powerful lawyers to get them off the hook.

That’s toughness?

But there’s currently an open seat on TCEQ’s three-member commission. Whom will Abbott appoint? Will he look for this commissioner from the same, expected places that he always has? Or will he choose someone who’s committed fully to protecting the health and safety of Texans and the quality of our air and water above the wishes of industry?

This appointment matters, because it’s obvious to Texans that regulatory neglect isn’t working. Not after Hurricane Harvey, when there were more than 100 releases of pollutants by industry, including the explosions of chemicals at the Arkema in Crosby that forced more than 200 people to evacuate their homes and sent at least 21 others to the doctor.

Not after the chemical fire that raged for days this March at Intercontinental Terminals Co. and billowed a dark plume into our sky, causing neighborhood schools and the entire city of Deer Park to shelter in place while TCEQ recorded air quality measurements with pen and paper instead of laptops or iPads.

Not after the explosion at KMCO in Crosby that injured two workers and killed James Earl “Bubba” Mangum.

And not after the most recent disaster in the Houston Ship Channel, when a tanker crashed into a tug boat hauling two barges filled with reformate, a gasoline product, and caused extraordinarily high levels of the cancer-causing benzene to escape into Bay Area neighborhoods.

As the Chronicle reported after that crash, the TCEQ was missing in action. Levels exceeding the state’s threshold for short-term exposure up to 14 times higher were detected, but TCEQ failed to inform the public for 13 hours, citing the absence of a “communication protocol,” until it posted an alert to social media the next day.

Abbott needs to appoint a TCEQ commissioner for whom 13 hours of no communication is 12 hours and 59 minutes too long.

We know that there’s a major chemical incident every six weeks in the Houston region. We also know that unauthorized releases of air pollution in Texas account for more than $250 million in health costs annually.

Though our air quality isn’t linked solely to these incidents and the recklessness of industry, we will never achieve the clean air we all deserve to breathe without appropriate oversight of industry and aggressive enforcement of the law.

Fortunately, there is momentum locally. Harris County leaders recognized that we weren’t prepared to respond to these incidents and agreed to hire additional prosecutors and investigators who can pursue illegal polluters. And the Houston Health Department has purchased advanced mobile sensing technology that can measure benzene concentrations at exact locations and drive decisions in real time.

The third TCEQ commissioner needs to be someone who can propel this momentum statewide.

As we start another hurricane season, bracing against the fear of another slew of harmful pollution releases, Abbott’s appointment should send a message that is as tough as he says he is: We can’t expect industry to regulate themselves. They won’t, and we know that, because they haven’t.

Abbott’s next appointment should lead the charge to make sure those days are over. From here out, the moment industrial polluters threaten our quality of life, our safety and our freedom to breathe clean air, they’ll know they’ll have to answer for it.

Craft, Ph.D, is senior director for climate and health at Environmental Defense Fund. Nelson, Ph.D, is executive director of Air Alliance Houston.