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By Neil Carman (Clean Air Program Director) and Cyrus Reed (Conservation Director, Interim Director)
The Texas Commission On Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will be holding a series of virtual public meetings in October to get input from the public about ways to improve their public notice process in order to comply with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for federally funded programs such as TCEQ’s, and in particular improve language access to the decision-making process involved in all of its permitting programs. This rulemaking follows quasi-legal action taken by the Sierra Club and many other organizations against TCEQ for violating civil rights for not offering language interpretation at public hearings that were hosted in predominantly Spanish speaking areas in Houston. The administrative Title VI complaint was filed to assure that all Texans have access to important documents and can participate in decisions that impact their lives.
In late 2019, the environmental justice organization TEJAS and Sierra Club filed a Title VI administrative civil rights complaint v. TCEQ at the EPA’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). EPA’s OCR immediately accepted the complaint and TCEQ quickly moved to settle with EPA and TEJAS and Sierra Club in developing new rules. TCEQ has agreed to have public notices and hearings statewide held with Spanish translation and professional Spanish translators at these meetings and hearings. The Title VI complaint was based mainly on the TCEQ’s Valero Manchester refinery public meeting in October 2019 where the agency failed to adequately answer technical questions in Spanish about Hydrogen Cyanide pollution from the Valero cat cracker, failed to adequately address stack and ambient air monitoring concerns in Spanish about Hydrogen Cyanide pollution to accurately track it, and failed to provide for professional Spanish translations in real time since it was obvious that the Valero-paid translators were struggling to interpret the technical information being discussed because they lacked technical training in air permitting.
The result is that Spanish speakers were being discriminated against by not being allowed to hear proper Spanish translation at the air permitting meeting. TEJAS and Sierra Club members noticed frequent gaps in Spanish translation as evidence that the translators lacked a technical grasp of the information being presented by Valero and TCEQ and the questions asked by people attending. In addition, the Title Vi complaint cited numerous other examples in Texas of TCEQ’s disparate treatment of Spanish-speaking only persons, similar to its failures at the Valero refinery public meeting. EPA’s rapid acceptance and response were an outcome of a previous federal Title VI lawsuit filed against the agency by four environmental justice groups in other states and the Sierra Club in Texas over disparate treatment of people of color related to environmental permitting. EPA and the groups settled when the judge ruled in our favor and EPA agreed to respond more quickly to any Title VI complaints filed by the five groups. As a result, TEJAS requested the Sierra Club’s participation in the 2019 Title VI complaint.
Recently, TEJAS and several other groups and individuals were granted party status in the fight over the Valero permit amendment during a public hearing.
Let’s be clear: TCEQ’s failure to post public notices in Spanish and providing professional Spanish translators at its public meetings and hearings was an act of discrimination. Providing adequate and good quality language services at all future meetings and hearings will bring TCEQ into compliance with OCR and, more importantly, bring an end to their consistent discrimination against Latinx and Spanish speaking communities. Language services at public hearings and meetings empowers community members to speak to politically powerful people directly and advocate for their communities, health, and needs.
Here is a notice of the rulemaking from TCEQ’s website:
As part of the rulemaking (Rule Project Number 2020-018-039-LS), TCEQ will be holding four public meetings. The Executive Director’s staff is evaluating extending existing alternative language requirements to additional public notice in waste, water, and air permit applications that must meet House Bill 801 (76th Texas Legislature, 1999) notice requirements, beyond the requirements for alternative language newspaper publication of the Notice of Receipt of Application and Intent to Obtain Permit (NORI) and the Notice of Application and Preliminary Decision (NAPD). Staff is evaluating the necessity and feasibility of extending the requirements for providing notice in an alternative language to various agency meetings held on permit applications, and potentially translating related documents for these applications. Staff is also evaluating the feasibility of requiring additional supplemental information from the applicant during the notice process to explain the application in plain language. Staff is also evaluating the feasibility of requiring professional translation services at meetings conducted by the commission during the public notice process for an application.
Stakeholder Meeting Details
Webinar link for all sessions: https://www.gotomeeting.com/webinar/join-webinar Dates, times, and webinar info for each session:
Monday, October 19, 2020 @ 2:00 PM Webinar ID 208-620-755
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 @ 6:00 PM Webinar ID 989-284-419
Thursday, October 22, 2020 @ 10:00 AM Webinar ID 839-919-251
For those persons without computer or internet access who would like to participate in the webinar (in English): Call 844-368-7161 and enter code 435007#.
Las personas que deseen escuchar o participar en la reunión en español pueden llamar al 844-368-7161 e ingresar el código de acceso 904535#. Para obtener más información o asistencia, comuníquese con Jaime Fernández al 512-239-2566.
Written stakeholder comments may be submitted to Andreea Vasile, MC 205, Texas Register Rule Development Team, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087, or faxed to 512-239-4808. Electronic stakeholder comments may be submitted at: https://www6.tceq.texas.gov/rules/ecomments/. File-size restrictions may apply to comments being submitted via the eComments system. All comments should reference Stakeholder Comments on 2020-018-039-LS. The stakeholder comment period closes November 23, 2020. Stakeholder comments will be considered by commission staff as they evaluate the issues raised in the petition but will not be formally responded to. For further information, please contact Amy Browning at 512-239-0891 or amy.browning@tceq.texas.gov.
If you need translation services, please contact TCEQ at 800-687-4040. Si desea información general en español, puede llamar al 800-687-4040