TCEQ’s Revolving Door: Executive Director Leaves Agency to Run Business Group Backing Data Center Expansion
TCEQ's director will become voice of business she once regulated
AUSTIN, Texas — The departure of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) executive director, Kelly Keel, to take the helm of the state’s most prominent pro-business group is an example of the “revolving door,” in which top state officials leave their government roles to advocate for the corporate interests they once regulated, Public Citizen said today.
On Friday, the Texas Association of Business (TAB) announced Keel would leave the environmental agency to become the group’s president and chief executive officer on Oct. 2. The move comes as communities across Texas fight back against the rush to build data centers, which in some cases requires TCEQ approval and the construction of which TAB fully supports. The organization says its top “non-negotiable principle” is no additional statutory or regulatory requirements for Texas businesses.
“What should the public think when staff leaves the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and heads to a cushy industry role? Whose interests are being served?” said Kathryn Guerra, director of Public Citizen’s TCEQ Watchdog Campaign. “Here is an immediate transition, going from leading an agency that Texans view as too friendly to corporations to leading a business lobby whose explicit mission is to advance the bottom line of those same corporations. It shows exactly why everyday Texans facing environmental dangers don’t feel that their concerns are truly heard when they go before the TCEQ to ask for protection over corporate profits.”
For years, the TCEQ has experienced an exodus of staff at all levels, many of whom are subsequently hired by the same industries they regulated.
Texas law includes a “cooling-off” period to prevent certain former senior agency officials and employees from appearing before their former agency on behalf of another person for two years. Still, it does not limit advocacy for formerly regulated entities before other decision makers, including the Texas Legislature. Public Citizen has championed “revolving door” reforms at the federal and state levels, such as extended cooling-off periods and limits on lobbying activities on behalf of industries an individual oversaw in their former government role.
In August, the TCEQ announced the retirement of several other high-ranking, long-serving employees, including the Director of the Office of Water, the Director of the Office of Waste, the Deputy Director of Water Quality Planning and the Regional Directors of the Tyler and Houston-area offices.
The TCEQ has not announced who will lead the agency’s day-to-day operations when Keel departs.