The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality voted Nov. 5 to deny San Antonio Bay Estuary Waterkeeper's request for a contested-case hearing and to issue amended air quality permits to Formosa Plastics Corporation Texas.

The chairwoman said additional briefing on the question of "effectiveness" persuaded her that the Waterkeeper had not shown a member with standing to sue in her own right, and she proposed denying the hearing request and issuing the permits as recommended by the executive director.

The dispute centered on whether Diane Wilson, a Waterkeeper member who conducts frequent recreational and monitoring visits near Formosa's complex, qualifies as an "affected person" under TCEQ rules. Gabriel Clark Leach, appearing for San Antonio Bay Estuary Waterkeeper and the Environmental Integrity Project, described Wilson's accounts of close-range exposure to active flares, saying she experienced "nausea" and "heat felt like a furnace" and arguing those facts establish a concrete personal interest. "Her personal repeated exposure to air pollution from Formosa during these visits and its consequences establish that Miss Wilson has a personal, justiciable interest," Leach said.

Lisa Dyer, counsel for Formosa Plastics Corporation Texas, told the commission the applications meet applicable air-quality technical and legal requirements and cited toxicologist Lucy Fraser's evaluation concluding modeled concentrations are below NACs and ESLs. "Record evidence shows that maximum concentrations of proposed emissions from the application are not likely to impact the health, safety, or property of Miss Wilson or any member of the public," Dyer said.

Amanda Krainock of the executive director's office described the permitting action as two projects: updates to comply with EPA risk and technology review (RTR) for ethylene production and an increase in annual maintenance, startup and shutdown (MSS) flaring due to additional required shutdowns. Krainock said the ED concluded Waterkeeper had not met the TCEQ affected-person standard under 30 Texas Administrative Code 55.203(b).

Eli Martinez of the Office of Public Interest Counsel argued otherwise, saying Wilson's frequent, hours-long visits for recreation and consent-decree monitoring demonstrate "tangible exposure and reliance on these bays as natural resources" and recommended granting the hearing request and referring the matter to the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

After brief rebuttal from Waterkeeper counsel and discussion, the chairwoman moved to: deny the hearing requests of San Antonio Bay Estuary Waterkeeper; issue the amended air-quality permits to Formosa Plastics Corporation Texas as recommended by the executive director; and adopt the executive director's response to comments. The motion was seconded and approved by the commissioners.

No formal numeric roll-call of votes appears in the record; commissioners voiced their approval on the motion on the record.

The commission's decision addresses standing to obtain a contested-case hearing under TCEQ rules; it does not itself alter the technical terms of the permits. The ED's review and the parties' filings remain part of the administrative record for the permits.