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Al Armendariz had been administrator of U.S. EPA's Region 6 for sixmonths when he went to a council meeting in Dish, Texas, a smalltown where pipelines carrying natural gas converge and compressorstations hum. The date was May 10, 2010, and Armendariz tried to reassure thepeople of Dish that EPA would protect them from the toxic chemicalsthat the town's residents suspect are being released into their airand water as drillers tap into the Barnett Shale. In remarks that have now been quoted on the floor of the U.S.Senate and reprinted in newspapers across the country, the formerSouthern Methodist University professor likened his task ofenforcing environmental laws to the crucifixions once done by Romanconquerors, saying he would "make examples out of people who arenot complying with the law." Armendariz apologized last week after Sen. James Inhofe, anOklahoma Republican and a favorite of the oil industry, starteddistributing a recording of the speech. But it did not defuse thefuror, and Armendariz resigned yesterday. The drillers' critics, who had hailed Armendariz for hiswillingness to go after the industry, were left wondering whetherEPA will keep pressing the Texas Commission on EnvironmentalQuality on the effects of the shale gas boom in the Dallas-FortWorth area. Sharon Wilson, a local activist with Earthworks, saidshe has heard no word from Region 6 since the controversy. "Crickets. Nothing at all," she said during an interview. And eventhough some activists think Armendariz used an unfortunatemetaphor, they stand behind the sentiment of what he said. "The industry is incapable of operating in a responsible manner. Ithink if they could do it, they would be doing it, because there'sso much pressure," Wilson said. "The more they expand, the moreopposition they create and the louder the cry for regulation willbecome." EPA scrambled to put Sam Coleman, a Louisiana native who led EPA'sresponse to Hurricane Katrina, in charge of Region 6, whichincludes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and 66American Indian tribes. Armendariz's former deputy in the Dallasoffice, Larry Starfield, recently came to Washington to become thesecond-in-command at EPA's national compliance office. A number of major disagreements remain. EPA has ordered more than 100 of Texas' largest industrial plantsto get new air pollution permits, saying the Clean Air Act does notallow a system that Texas claims is more cost-effective but whichhealth groups have described as difficult to enforce. A lawsuitchallenging that decision is awaiting a decision in federal court. And the boom in the Barnett Shale will divide people no matter whois in charge at Region 6, said a source familiar with thenegotiations between the Obama administration's EPA and the TCEQ. "Oil and gas drilling has always occurred out in the boonies: inthe Permian Basin and, to some extent, in the Eagle Ford," said thesource, who has criticized EPA in the past and wished to remainanonymous to be able to speak freely. "In the Barnett Shale you'reright there, a few hundred feet from somebody's porch. There aretough issues." Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, has used EPA as the posterchild for his claim that the federal government does not respectthe needs of the states. Yesterday, his appointees at the TCEQ cameout swinging with a statement that Armendariz's mistake was that he"slipped and unveiled the EPA's questionable and draconianenforcement philosophy." "We are under no illusions that this will change the direction ofthe EPA," the state agency said. Coleman will need to decide how hard to push back on those claimsand arguments during a tough election-year environment. "He's very tough -- he used to be head of enforcement," theanonymous source said. "But he has a good temperament for gettingeverybody in the room, saying, '/here's where we want to go,' andrecognizing that there are at least two sides to every story." Hiring him "can only help," the source added. 'They have not heard the last of him' Armendariz grew up in central El Paso, where his grandfather,great-uncles and great-grandfather worked at an Asarco LLC smelter.Before it closed down in 1999, the smelter contaminated hisneighborhood for decades with lead and arsenic. Even before thehealth effects became known and EPA started an enforcement case,residents knew something was wrong. "We knew the air was bad. We could taste it," Armendariz saidduring a 2010 interview at his headquarters in downtown Dallas."You're not supposed to be able to taste air, but we could" ( Greenwire , Aug. 10, 2010). With those formative years as his motivation, Armendariz has areputation of making bold critiques in a calm, measured voice. Oiland gas companies felt particularly targeted by the formerprofessor, who before coming to EPA had worked with theEnvironmental Defense Fund on a widely discussed study of theeffect that Barnett Shale drilling was having on Dallas' airquality. As the administrator of Region 6, he brought an action against thedrilling company Range Resources over accusations that itcontaminated drinking water near the Barnett Shale, but EPA droppedthe case at the end of March ( E&ENews PM , March 30). "The federal government is sometimes the last line of defensebetween citizens and corporations who are more interested in makingmoney than in protecting communities," he said in 2010. "There areother communities out there that are dealing with their ownAsarcos. I've seen some now, having been regional administrator,and I want to help." Few people were in attendance to see Armendariz speak at the Dishmeeting two years ago. Still, some people in Texas were notsurprised when the video surfaced last week. The remarks spread byword of mouth, taken by critics as a sign of his aggressivehandling of the oil and gas industry. Richard Greene, a former mayor of Arlington, Texas, who wasadministrator of Region 6 under President George W. Bush, mentionedthe video to Greenwire in 2010, calling it an example of the "threatening tone of EPApolitical appointees" under President Obama. Greene, who now teaches environmental planning as an adjunctprofessor at the University of Texas at Arlington, said in an emailat the time that the disputes over Clean Air Act rules for largeindustrial plants and Texas' regulation of shale gas drilling wouldnot be solved if people handled them the way Armendariz did. "If that approach to finding solutions is how this is going to takeplace," Greene wrote, "there's very little chance that [a]resolution will be achieved during the tenure of thisadministration -- even into a second term." Wilson said she is confident that Armendariz will keep pushingTexas companies on their pollution. "They have just unfettered from government bureaucracy a brilliantscientist who cares about public health," she said. "I don't knowwhat he's going to do at this point, but I am absolutely confidentthey have not heard the last of him." Want to read more stories like this? E&E is the leading source for comprehensive, daily coverage ofenvironmental and energy politics and policy. Click here to start a free trial to E&E -- the best way to track policyand markets. Back to Public index page. Advertisement. I am an expert from led-torchflashlight.com, while we provides the quality product, such as CR123 LED Flashlight , China D Battery Flashlight, LED Torch Flashlight,and more.
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