Public Citizen Comments to the TCEQ Regarding Enforcement Action Against Lyondell’s Channelview Facility
To: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
From: Cassidy Levin, Texas Environmental Policy and Advocacy Intern, Public Citizen, clevin@citizen.org
Re: Public Citizen Supports Administrative Penalties Against Lyondell Chemical Channelview
Hello. My name is Cassidy Levin and I’m here on behalf of Public Citizen.
We support the proposal to penalize the Lyondell Chemical Channelview facility for their permit violations. However, we take issue with aspects of the agreed order, including the Supplemental Environmental Project approved by the TCEQ, which is intended to be paid to Barbers Hill Independent School District. Barbers Hill is near Channelview; however, it is not in the Channelview community. Barbers Hill ISD is also significantly wealthier and whiter than Channelview ISD. We understand that the company chose a pre-approved SEP rather than taking the time to create a custom SEP that would actually benefit Channelview. This is unacceptable. The agency should reject the SEP, and any SEP that doesn’t benefit the impacted community.
We urge the TCEQ to impose the penalty in full, without deferring any portion in favor of an expedited settlement. We also urge the TCEQ to increase onsite inspections of the Channelview facility. This facility regularly violates its air permits. Since 2020, the facility has had twenty-eight unauthorized emissions incidents. An Air Alliance Houston Report found that Lyondell Chemical Channelview was the second worst polluter in the Houston Area. The TCEQ has assessed penalties of at least $134,266 for these emissions events. Nearly 15% of that amount has been deferred. These enforcement efforts have not been successful in motivating Lyondell Chemical to reduce unauthorized emissions events.
Between 2020 and 2024, LyondellBasell Industries, which wholly owns Lyondell Chemical, reported net income of $14.4 billion. We ask that a more appropriate penalty be assessed, and most importantly, collected, in full. This is the only way to curtail these excessive and unauthorized emissions.
We take issue with the agency’s classification of the release of over a thousand pounds of VOCs into the Channelview community as a minor harm. This underestimation disregards the fact that dangerous chemicals, including carcinogens, were released into a populated area. Crenshaw Elementary School is located less than a mile from the facility. VOCs are also ozone precursor chemicals. Let’s not forget that Channelview is in Harris County, which is in severe non-attainment with the ozone standards of the Clean Air Act.
The community of Channelview is at a higher-than-average risk of environmental burdens. According to the EPA, 86% of those who live within one mile of the facility are people of color, 26% are low-income, and 37% are children 17 years or younger.
The TCEQ must protect the health of the Channelview community.