So this is how it will go down:
Someone makes a report. TCEQ, which has commissioners appointed by the governor, investigates but finds the issue “within limits.” No enforcement, and then you have the complainant fined. Got it.
It's worse than that.
The TCEQ (from your example), could even find the company "out of compliance", which would theoretically justify the complaint. But the company could easily correct the issue within a certain timeframe to get back in compliance and it would *never* go to enforcement.
Enforcement, at least within the TCEQ, is for egregious violations or companies/entities that refuse to comply.
Small violations virtually never go to enforcement but, in my opinion, absolutely justify a complaint originally.
Odors? Dust nuisance? Minor permit violations? Water runoff? Illegal outdoor burns? Small spills? All of these warrant a complaint...and all of them can be remedied without enforcement action.
So if a company pollutes the environment, and you complain, if the state fails to do anything and you don't shut your mouth then the state will fine you? This state is pathetic.
It's not just Musk. Most of the EPA offices are closed or relocated, and if you're lucky you have a county Pollution control dept. There are so many chemical plants, and there have been so many many chemical leaks. They obviously aren't even following their own safety policies, and they are expanding into new areas.
When you wake up with a headache, and your eyes are burning, and you open the door and you are hit with noxious smells, and exposed skin gets irritated/itchy, there's no doubt that's what causing it, but now there isn't even a way to make them own up to it. Ive noticed, too, it's more common at night/early morning when it's dark, and it can be several times a week.
There's a new chemical plant or something surrounded by residential areas near where I live, and the noxious smells have just become common. I'm closer to NASA, and this just started last year.
Doesn't surprise me at all. My grandparents had a house in Port Lavaca when I was growing up. My cousin lives there now and Formosa chemicals has polluted the bay so badly you can't even eat the fish you catch. It's sad to see our state being destroyed much less our health being put at risk for corporate dollars. Makes me sick.
Not just east Houston, it's spreading. The area I'm in now have that same weird artificial fruit/baby diarrhea/chemical smell that's been permeating Deer Park and Pasadena. It's not constant, but it's several times a week. Strong enough to make your eyes burn and your skin itch.
What about Musk and the Boring Company and the current complaints by citizens of Bastrop that they are polluting the Brazos River? Or the complaints about Space X out of Brownsville? The timing of this seems suspiciously fortuitous for Elon.
Is this really a major problem?
We don't expect the general public to know whether something is a violation of environmental regs or not, that is why we have people who investigate it.
It's to fine people who make "abusive complaints" to "weaponize the system".........so in other words, the bill is to written to keep anyone from complaining about pollution, and keep companies from ever having to clean up after themselves, and just pollute without impunity.
"The bill would impose fines when residents make more than three complaints to the state environmental agency in a year if they don’t result in enforcement action. Critics warn the bill would discourage people from reporting pollution."
DISCOURAGEMENT IS THE POINT.
Yet another example of Republican contempt for our First Amendment rights:
> Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to **petition the Government for a redress of grievances.**
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