September 4, 2006

New TCEQ Commissioner in Spotlight
as Swing Vote on Coal Plant Proposals

Austin lawyer Martin Hubert will be in the hot seat in his new job as one of Texas' three environmental commissioners at a time when regulators are determining the fate of a proposed expansion of coal-fired plants around the state. And some environmentalists have greeted his appointment with apprehension as a result of its timing and the political circumstances surrounding it.

Hubert - the state's number two agricultural official - was tapped by Governor Rick Perry on Friday to fill a year-old opening on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality with a term that's good for the next five years. The appointment puts Hubert in position to be the tie-breaking vote on the governing board for an agency that's become a point of debate in Perry's campaign for re-election in a five-candidate field this fall. Hubert's nomination to the post is subject to confirmation by the Texas Senate.

The Republican governor sought to portray his selection of Hubert as a move that should have bipartisan appeal considering the appointee's stint as a former top aide to the late Democrat Bob Bullock in the lieutenant governor's office and his current position as deputy commissioner for the Texas Department of Agriculture. But some environmental activists - while voicing no apparent problems with Hubert's qualifications - are suspicious about the way the appointment came about on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend in the wake of recent setbacks for the utility industry in the push for more coal plants.

"The timing of this appointment sure smells fishy," Luke Metzger, the legislative advocate for the watchdog organization Environment Texas. Metzger said the group hopes Hubert as a determining vote on the three-member commission will support a crackdown on polluters and follow the advice of the Administrative Hearings Office judges who've recommended that TCEQ reject the two recent permits in question.

Hubert was a natural resources policy analyst for Bullock before working his way up to general counsel and special assistant to the Democratic Senate leader. Hubert left Bullock's staff after the 1998 election when he signed on as Republican Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs' top deputy at TDA. Hubert will join TCEQ Commissioners Kathleen Hartnett White and Larry Soward on the regulatory board. White chairs the commission.

TXU and a half-dozen other private firms are seeking state permits for 18 proposed coal plants in Central Texas and Northeast Texas. While Perry favors an accelerated permitting process, administrative law judges have recommended that the TCEQ deny state approval for two of the plants.

Perry argues that the expansion of coal plants is necessary to encourage energy production using the state's own natural resources while ensuring that Texas will have a sufficient supply of electricity to avoid disruptions and to meet ever-increasing demand. The push for more coal-burning capabilities has met resistance from local officials including big city mayors who favor the use of cleaner fuels for electricity production despite a higher price.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who's running for governor as an independent, oppose the fast-track permitting process for coal-fired plants. Bell has promised to strengthen the enforcement of clean air laws while imposing mandatory limits on toxic emissions. Strayhorn wants to replace old plants with new facilities that would have more advanced technology that's cleaner to use than coal. Richard "Kinky" Friedman, the other independent candidate in the race for governor, says he would put Willie Nelson in control of the state's environmental programs if elected.