One of the best things about the buzzword “Climate Change” is how it succinctly sums up its own ideological battleground. Take Houston for instance: where local government is nervous about the climate, and their state-level colleagues are equally so about change.
The latest fracas between the two involves the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Houston’s homegrown clean air provisions. According to Naveena Sadasivam’s recent article for the Texas Observer, "Texas Supreme Court Blocks Houston Air Quality Ordinance," Houston’s regulatory zeal has been much harrumphed by commercial interests since a 2007 overhaul of the city’s clean air ordinance. Among the complaints voiced were gripes about the collecting of fees from local businesses to police industrial polluters, and that the new changes to the ordinance left business owners in a pickle between inconsistent state and local regulations.
That latter part is especially true no matter which way you cut it, which is why the Supreme Court’s majority ruling to strike down the ordinance’s amendments isn’t really driving up my outrage meter. No, I think it is a perfectly satisfactory concession to business owners, big or small, that they should not have to play Calvinball with any regulatory system. Like the saying goes, “Rules is rules,” and consistency is kind of the whole point of regulation in the first place.
No, what irks me about the decision is all the backslapping and lip service about supporting small business, particularly from the Governor's office (No surprise there. I haven’t had anything nice to say about a Governor of Texas since Richards). According to Sadasivam, Abbott himself filed an amicus brief on behalf of a coalition of companies contesting Houston’s regulations. In this brief, Abbott stated what was really at the heart of the matter: “small businesses.” How small are the businesses in question? Well, that particular coalition includes such Mom-n-Pop operations as Dow Chemical and ExxonMobil. You know, just your average Main Street boutiques.
Also, when can we be done with this: Texans lack something (women’s healthcare, clean air regulation), someone steps up to the plate to provide that service (Planned Parenthood, Houston’s clean air ordinance), State government throws a hissyfit and denies the service (That Hissyfit, This Hissyfit) while simultaneously citing a less-than-mediocre State sanctioned alternative (Texas Women’s Health Program, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), and then, finally, Gov. Abbott ends the day by kissing a picture of pro-business hero Leopold II before bed.
Ok, I obviously made the last one up. I was thinking of using Henry Ford instead, but I’m starting to wonder if State lawmakers would just peg him as a socialist small business owner.
No comments:
Post a Comment