The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is currently under Sunset review, a legislative process that critiques and could even abolish the agency. Public comment will be invited in mid-December. The Alliance for a Clean Texas (a coalition of Texas environmental and public interest groups) is organizing a campaign to demand changes at TCEQ, as part of the Sunset review process. According to the organization’s website, “In the coming year, Texans have a once-in-a-decade opportunity to improve the way our state environmental agency carries out its mission to protect our health and natural resources. … The sunset review process offers all concerned Texans a chance to advocate for much-needed reforms at TCEQ.”

The commission’s report on an agency must include a recommendation to abolish or continue the agency; it may also recommend changes. If the Legislature continues the agency, it should correct problems identified during the Sunset review. For more info on ACT’s grassroots campaign, see www.acttexas.org.

This article appears in May 28 • 2010.

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