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Senate committee grills TCEQ nominees on rulemaking, MUDs, batch-plant permits
Summary
Reappointments to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality drew questions on how the agency ensures rules match state law, how it approves municipal utility districts, and how it enforces permits for concrete batch plants and water availability.
The Senate Committee on Nominations heard testimony April 14 from Brooke Popp, the governor’s nominee to continue as chairwoman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and Katarina Gonzales, a commissioner appointed last year, with senators pressing the pair on rulemaking, MUD creation authority and permitting enforcement.
Why it matters: TCEQ enforces state and federal air and water laws for communities across Texas. Committee members said growth and new development are creating friction between environmental permitting and local impacts — including roads, schools and water supplies — and asked how the agency ensures it remains within the law while carrying out reviews and issuing permits.
Brooke Popp, introduced to the committee as the former chair of the Texas Water Development Board, described her background overseeing the agencyloan portfolio and major projects and said she would not use the commission to make policy. "I do not legislate," Popp told senators. "The law is my North Star." She said TCEQhas a multi-step legal…
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