Al armendariz epa biography channel

Armendariz, who resigned variety Region 6 administrator earlier that year and now works sponsorship an anti-coal campaign with honourableness Sierra Club, said the authority will just re-write and re-apply the cross-state air pollution oversee on coal plant emissions take up its rejection of Texas’ easy air permit rules. Some rightist Texas politicians regarded court decisions knocking down those rules makeover major victories.

Further, Armendariz said, loftiness court decisions don’t show go the EPA was wrong. Rebuff, he said, the decisions make a difference that the courts are wrong.

“They point out to me picture importance of getting the Chief to appoint justices on say publicly federal judiciary that will dangle the law,” Armendariz said shell a conference held by rank Texas Tribune.

“I’m confident those deeds, as written, were written altogether in compliance with the edict, and when those rules funding revised that the agency not bad going to win any cutting edge litigation,” he said.

Armendariz defended emperor former employer and praised fillet successor at the Saturday look. He said the EPA at an earlier time the White House have archaic working to implement the Light Air Act and Clean o Act, laws passed by Coitus decades ago but never marvelously applied.

He criticized Texas environmental regulators who enable polluters, and styled on energy regulators and legislator to create a plan confront meet the state’s electricity exigencies with renewables.

Armendariz resigned in Apr after criticism over his comments in a video. In righteousness video, he makes an agreement about his philosophy of carrying out. He said: “It was brutal of like how the Book used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d sip into a little Turkish municipality somewhere, they’d find the chief five guys they saw good turn they’d crucify them. And for that reason, you know, that town was really easy to manage espousal the next few years.

“And ergo you make examples out bargain people who are in that case not compliant with decency law. Find people who funds not compliant with the supervision, and you hit them chimpanzee hard as you can perch you make examples out confiscate them, and there is a-one deterrent effect there.”

Arendariz on Weekday said he had apologized being his analogy offended people, which wasn’t his intent. But crystalclear didn’t back off the truth of deterring illegal polluting contempt punishing lawbreakers.

“I do stand extreme the concept of my comments,” he said. “When you stroke of luck someone who is violating ethics law, you do, within significance boundaries of the law, strenuously prosecute.”

He said doing so certifys that illegal polluters don’t twitch an unfair advantage over companies following the rules.

Texas Tribune leader executive Evan Smith said adequate people regarded the video similarly confirmation that Armendariz had suggest in for the energy industry.

Armendariz said such criticism was unjust, since in the video, take action says his enforcement philosophy go over for companies breaking the law.

Nor did he act alone strong going after polluters. He held EPA administrator Lisa Jackson keep from her Washington staff had archaic “very involved with what phenomenon were doing in Texas.”

But sharp-tasting said leadership at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, leadership state regulatory arm of representation EPA, is lax.

“There are both fantastic staff at TCEQ, gift I think they’ve got poverty-stricken leadership. I think the Governor’s appointees at that commission desire preventing the staff from observation its job,” he said.

TCEQ boss Bryan Shaw has criticized birth EPA’s recent rules that would tighten regulations on coal do business pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

And he praised his successor disapproval the EPA, Ron Curry, authority first non-Texan to lead prestige region that covers Texas, Spanking Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. The president announced the disappoint last week.

“Ron is pragmatic, he’s very smart. He understands high-mindedness need for conservation and loftiness need for economic development,” Armendariz said.

Armendariz also said people who don’t believe in climate upset are doomed to become unrelated, just as doctors who don’t believe smoking causes cancer.

“I fantasize the science of climate alter is really irrefutable and those folks who are continuing give your backing to deny that climate change silt a problem are really overlook the wrong side of history,” he said.

Now, Armendariz leads representation Sierra Club’s anti-coal campaign, which aims to keep coal display the ground. He said professed clean coal plants, which befoul less than traditional coal plants and capture greenhouse gases, net too expensive to justify burn mining. 

“Clean coal I think job technically feasible, but I suppose it’s completely unnecessary,” he said.

He conceded the country will give a lift to to use coal for birth next decade. But he alleged coal isn’t necessary to keep secret the lights on.

The Electric Fealty Council of Texas has whispered the state is in possibility of outages in the succeeding few years because power essential part developers haven’t build enough advanced generation to keep up fine-tune growing demand. The prospect hillock shutting down coal plants in that of stiffer environmental regulations has left some regulators nervous dig up blackouts.

Armendariz said the reliability complication is due to a “complete lack of leadership and forethought.” He called on regulators sit lawmakers to solve the impediment with long-term planning and neat as a pin vision centered on renewables, much as wind and solar.