The 80th session of the Texas Legislature ended on Monday, May 28, and ultimately, none of the 20 or so bills that could have reduced toxic air pollution in the state passed.

In recent weeks, our biggest hope hung on SB 12. That bill passed the Senate and was amended during the House debate to include language that would have improved air quality policies in Texas. The bill passed the House with the amendments, but they were stripped out over the weekend during the conference committee hearings.

Rep. Dennis Bonnen was the chair of the House conference committee, and Sen. Kip Averitt was the chair of the Senate conference committee.

On Tuesday, April 17, GHASP staff and other air quality advocates traveled to Austin, Texas for a hearing in the Senate Natural Resources Committee. We were primarily interested in three bills that would affect air quality efforts in Houston - SB 1317, SB 1855 and SB 1924.

We were in good company, too. Mayor Bill White of Houston was at the hearing to testify against Senator Mike Jackson's bill, SB 1317, "relating to prohibiting a municipality from enacting regulations on air pollution that apply outside its corporate limits."

This one has really got me scratching my head. Did I miss something? Perhaps there was an accompanying article that explained this more clearly. At any rate, the Dallas Morning News ran an editorial today entitled: "How Far We've Come: Bipartisan clean air support is a breakthrough."

For too long, the battle lines had been drawn with Republicans and business leaders on one side, Democrats and the environmentally inclined on the other. This week, these opposing groups came together pledging to craft new policies focused on clean energy and conservation.

Suddenly, the Sierra Club is lauding conservative leaders. TXU, which had been pushing to build coal plants across Texas, is arguing that "green business is good business." And at last, environmental bills are getting a fair hearing at the Capitol.

Earlier this month, the Waco Tribune ran a guest editorial from Ed Armbrister and Dennis Bonnen that said the public debate about air pollution in Texas is overblown. Here's the lead:

 Much has been said over the past several months that would lead almost any casual observer to believe that Texans are just days away from being required to wear ventilation masks every time we step outside.

It is imperative that we, as state lawmakers, set the record straight and offer some background as to how air quality in Texas has improved drastically during our tenure and under Gov. Rick Perry’s leadership.

Environmental activists in the Port Arthur area have come to an agreement with Motiva Enterprises regarding the expansion of its local refinery, according to a Reuters article.

Under the agreement, Motiva will make an initial endowment of $2 million to a foundation providing health care and spurring economic development in impoverished sections of Port Arthur, Texas, where Motiva is considering nearly doubling the refining capacity of its 325,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery.