He's the first Chairman of the new Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. He's also the first African American to head the largest U.S. state environmental agency - confronting polarized ecoactivists, business leaders and restive employees. Billions of dollars are at stake as tough federal deadlines near

By Katina Johnson
Spring/Summer 1994; pages 11-15
Tejas

Growing up on a Texas family farm, he learned to work hard in the cotton fields. Following sunup-sundown rhythms, picking cotton in sweltering Texas heat, he was as close to the environment as anyone can get.

Today his energies are focused on the environment in a different way, even though he escaped from the endless toil of farm work.

John Hall, the African American head of the state's largest environmental agency, is still known for a weekly 60-hours-plus regimen. Few miss his early morning arrival at new North Austin offices, noting the passage of a 6-foot-5 inch frame clad in a conservative business suit.

Texas' first chairman of the newly-formed Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) symbolizes the Protestant work ethic, leading by example with a commitment to improving the state's troubled environmental picture.

Hall's latest commitment forces him to walk a tight line. He not only contends with polarized environmentalists and conservative business leaders, he also supervises more than 2,500 employees and promotes an ambitious public agenda. And, he believes his strength lies in his ability to convince both sides of the value of compromise.

"I'm crazy enough to believe there isn't a problem that can surface that we can't solve," Hall, 39, says. "We have been very effective in taking people who initially start off with extreme views, putting them in the same room, and over a period of time, they gravitate towards each other, which puts us in a position to undertake a major new policy."

In 1991 the Legislature, attempting to streamline the state's environmental activities, passed Senate Bill 2, thus creating the TNRCC. The bill terminated the Texas Air Control Board (TACB), merging the field offices of the Air Control Board and the Texas Water Commission (TWC) into the TNRCC. The TNRCC, a super agency in which the commissioners of the TWC took control, now regulates all the states' water and air. Most states already have a centralized environmental agency, but Texas' is now the largest in the country.

During her first year in office, Governor Ann Richards restructured the states' environmental control agencies (still known as the TWC and the TACB.) Hall was one of the first of her appointments. In May 1991 Hall was named commissioner of the TWC. Within the month, Richards reappointed Hall to a full six-year term that expires in 1997, this time as chairman of the Commission.

Later that year, Gov. Richards selected Pam Reed and Peggy Garner as the remaining commission members.

The environmental picture in Texas is bleak at best. In addition to leading the nation in hazardous wastes and toxins released, Texas ranks 46th in overall environmental quality, based on the 1991-92 Green Index statistics, the latest comprehensive report available.

"We do not give sufficient resources to environmental matters in this state," said Kirk Watson, former chair of the TACB, now a lawyer in private practice.

In fact, Texas is dead last in per capita environmental program spending, averaging $6.78 per person.

Texas' environmental problems are closely related to the oil, gas and chemical industries. More than 520 million pounds of chemicals were released in 1991. State boundaries include about 60 percent of the nation's petrochemical production and 25 percent of the nation's oil refining production.

The Commission is reorganizing internally, Hall explains. While confronting a backlog of permit cases and impending Clean Air Act legislation, the Commission must address Texas' environment.

He grew up believing that government could be a positive vehicle for change; he knew at an early age that he wanted to be a public servant. A Sam Houston State University graduate with a double major in history and government, Hall soon found that simply graduating with honors wasn't enough.

He landed in Austin not knowing anyone and couldn't even get an interview for a state job. At that point, he pursued an alternate route into state government by enrolling in the University of Texas' Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs. He graduated in 1978 with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

"I said, 'I'm going to grad school or law school at a prestigious university that is connected and when I get out, I'm going to have contacts,' " Hall recalls.

He began his public service career with former Houston mayor Fred Hofheinz, serving as a project assistant. A year later, Hall took advantage of a presidential internship program created by former President Jimmy Carter, becoming a program analyst for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Midway through his job at HUD, Hall was asked if he wanted to help with a special project in the White House for six months. He never returned to HUD.

But it was his experience as a special assistant and deputy campaign director for then-U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen (now treasury secretary) in 1982, that Hall credits with developing his political savvy and managerial skills.

Attending UT's LBJ School allowed Hall to immerse himself in environmental issues. By 1983, Land Commissioner Gary Mauro was asking Hall to reorganize the general land office - making Hall responsible for the supervision of 14 million public acres. Hall became deputy commissioner for community resources, the most technical part of the land office.

"I had no experience in oil and gas. My first response to him was, 'I can't do that,' Hall remembers.

Mauro didn't give him a choice and Hall estimates the series of auditing programs he initiated have saved the state $500 million over the past 10 years.

Though sometimes criticized by farmers as insensitive, Hall, in fact, has direct experience in farm work.

"I spent my first 20 years chopping cotton and hauling hay. It motivated me to want to go to college," he remembers. "I learned there is nothing harder than doing farm work. I work real hard now and I put in long hours, but my job is easy, compared to what I used to do."

Hall's parents grew up on plantations. His father, Willard, dropped out of school in the third grade and his mother, Earline, in the eighth. They brought up their nine children in a small Southeast Texas town, surrounded by the Brazos River and its tributaries.

"Although we were very poor, they painted this picture for us that we could and we would go to college. That was mainly because they had the ability to instill within us that we could do things they hadn't done," Hall said.

A middle child, eight of whom received degrees, Hall worked 40-hour weeks at Southwestern Bell his last two years of college. He also went back to his home in Washington County every weekend to help pick cotton.

That adversity prepared him for his early days as Chairman, when he had to contend with co-commissioner holdovers from former governor Bill Clements' administration. The challenges Hall faces as head of the agency today are amplified by the fact that, as the first African American in this position, the success of the newly-merged TNRCC lies in his hands.

"Everywhere I've been, I've known that there's a different standard because of the fact that I'm African American, even in this job," Hall said.

The Commission's present makeup has obviously drawn attention.

"There have been nothing but all-Anglo male boards in the past and here we are without an Anglo male," said TNRCC Commissioner Peggy Garner. "It's been quite a culture shock to the world."

In keeping with Gov. Richards' diverse appointments, Hall has increased minority employment at the Commission to one-quarter, up from approximately 10 percent two years ago. He wants to reach the Legislature's goal of 36 percent within the next two years.

His Clean Texas 2000 program expects to cut the state's pollution in half by the end of the century, based on the level of pollutants in 1987. Seventy-six of the state's 200 largest polluters have volunteered to join the program; many have exceeded the clean air goals set by the agency.

"Clean Texas 2000 has been a terrific success," says Gov. Richards. "It hardly seemed possible just a few years ago to persuade some of the state's most polluting industries to reduce their pollution voluntarily."

The "voluntarily" cooperation was spurred by Hall's promise to make the program mandatory if businesses don't follow the guidelines. What remains to be seen is what will happen to the polluting companies who don't join Clean Texas 2000. The Commission plans to initiate an aggressive marketing campaign to encourage them to do so.

Rick Abraham, executive director of Texans United, a grass-roots coalition group based in Houston, says the program has been ineffective and merely serves as a public relations ploy for the Commission.

"Governor Richards understands all the right environmental rhetoric, so we get symbolic measures like the Clean Texas 2000 program," says Abraham. "I hand-delivered a letter about compliance history recommendations for Clean Texas 2000 to John Hall and I have not heard a word about it."

As the new TWC head, Hall laid off 18 employees and redirected $9 million of the TWC's funds to pollution control. That action woke up employees who had become complacent, he said. Despite the layoffs, more than 100 new employees were hired and $275,000 was used for salary raises of highly skilled employees Hall felt were underpaid.

Similar events occurred when the state's environmental agencies merged. Although no TACB employees were slated to be laid off, some Air Control Board officials refused to work for the TNRCC, saying they had been overlooked and that the TWC commissioner's control of the TNRCC was unfair.

Two of the top members of the TACB were named deputy directors of the new commission, to be supervised by TWC executive director Tony Grigsby. In addition, four of the nine TACB members were appointed to oversee specific air control issues.

But, criticize some members of the former TACB, the four positions are voluntary and may lead to politicization and bureaucratic red tape.

Some argue that part of the reason for the desertions may have been because Hall tried to do too much too fast.

"He does a fair amount of moving people to make sure things don't get too staid," said Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter Director Ken Kramer. "Initially he tried to make a lot of changes in such a short time that it was problematic for everyone. I think he recognized that a year ago and things have slowed down since."

Gov. Richards' appointments were immediately cited as proof of her commitment toward improving the state's environmental record in her "New Texas."

But Hall's appointment left the business community in a quandary.

Most didn't know who he was and those who remembered his involvement in the Edwards Aquifer controversy were worried. As the water commission chairman, Hall attempted to seize control of the Aquifer to end a 50-year dispute over pumping rights.

A judge voided Hall's move, saying the Commission did not have the power to enforce Hall's plan. Nevertheless, Hall has persevered through his initially turbulent days.

"The only question was whether he would apply himself the way we knew he would," says Jon Fisher, senior vice president of research at the Texas Chemical Council. "In fact, he has done better. He's the type of administrator who could really pull off this type of merger and make it work."

"People were afraid of me," Hall said of the days after his appointment. "They didn't know me and the business community thought that I was going to shut them down."

"John is aware of the economic effects of our decisions on businesses and on cities. He always keeps in mind economic effects," Commissioner Garner argues.

Governor Richards agrees.

"John is demonstrating that we can deal aggressively with environmental problems while monitoring a healthy economic climate," she adds.

Traditionally, those words have made environmentalists queasy, but Garner says the Commission has no choice but to try to balance the two interests.

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"Clean Texas 2000 has been a terrific success," says Gov. Richards. "It hardly seemed possible just a few years ago to persuade some of the state's most polluting industries to reduce their pollution voluntarily." The voluntary cooperation was spurred by Hall's promise to make the program mandatory if businesses don't follow the guidelines.

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Duggan Flanakin, senior editor of the Texas Industry Environmental Advisor, authored the Flanakin Report, a 60-page analysis of the TWC under Hall's early leadership published by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a San Antonio-based think tank. The gist of the report labeled the new agency as a bureaucracy with the potential to stifle the state's economy.

Among the study's findings were:

• The TNRCC lacks the expertise of Air Control Board members because the Water Commission commissioners head the TNRCC.

   

• A series of test cases demonstrate a tendency to please the public rather than enforce technical or statutory requirements.

   

• Patterns emerging during the agency consolidation process raise concerns about whether TNRCC will uphold open government or manage the Commission as a fiefdom.

   

• The TWC has been unduly responsive to environmentalist demands and other political considerations, a practice that could continue if Hall were to head the TNRCC.

"He's always said he wants to err on the side of the environment, but he's not going to go out of his way to do it," said Flanakin, who once referred to the TNRCC's acronym as 'Train Wreck.' Currently, Flanakin is working on a study of the Commission's impact on small business.

Abraham, of Texans United, disagrees.

"Under the leadership of John Hall, he refers to industries as that pollute as customers," Abraham said. "The petrochemical industry promotes their influence over government and the agency. Policemen don't call criminals customers or clients. That agency should be about enforcing the law."

Abraham says the Commission's failure to look at a company's environmental compliance history when issuing permits is a prime example of catering to businesses.

In response to the extra work load resulting from the merger, the TNRCC created a permit issuance policy in which the executive director can approve an uncontested permit. The new policy does allow the commissioners to reconsider the application if an objection is made. In the past, only commissioners could approve permits.

Hall admits the agency still has at least another year of revamping before it reaches full efficiency.

In addition to ensuring that the consolidation is implemented properly, the Commission is faced with impending federal Clean Air Act deadlines. If the air quality of Texas' four worst areas, particularly Houston, Dallas and El Paso and Jefferson counties, does not improve soon, the state could lose more than $1 billion. In a recent speech, Hall said Houston business leaders estimate the cleanup will cost $80 billion over the next 15 years.

In order to implement the Clean Air Act requirements, the 1994 budget increased 39 percent from the combined budget of the former agencies, giving the TNRCC control of $380 million.

The consolidated agency also has to contend with problems held over from the previous two agencies. A 1991 operational audit of the TWC found that permit files were backlogged by as much as three years, adding that the TWC's budget and accounting system were inadequate.

In a 1993 joint report to the 73rd Legislature, the Commission set goals to eliminate the backlogs, naming the project "Operation Paperchase." The Commission already reached its first goal of eliminating the issuance backlog of water quality permits last year; the current plan eliminates the remaining permit backlogs by this year.

Environmental and business agencies agree that at the very least, Hall is leading the agency in a proactive direction.

"I think the Edwards Aquifer example demonstrated that he is a man of action," said Flanakin. "He wants to have a solution and he's going to get criticized sometimes because there will always be some who don't want a solution because it means losing."

"He has taken some bold steps previous administrators wouldn't take," the Sierra Club's Kramer said. Kramer has served as the co-chair of Task Force 21, an advisory committee for the Clean Texas 2000 program.

Those steps have raised concern that Hall has been using his chairmanship to run for political office. Andrews, chief executive of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said Hall's assumption of the TNRCC chairman position was the result of Hall's using his "formidable bureaucratic skills to strengthen his position in Austin."

Hall denies the charges.

"At one point in time I was absolutely committed to running for statewide office," Hall says. "It may happen down the road, but I don't wake up every morning feeling that that's something I have to do. Except for the governorship and the lieutenant governor, there's not another agency that is in the throes of public policy making and impacting...more than our agency is," he added.

Whatever his motives, Hall's political experience may prove beneficial to the Commission, say analysts. The TNRCC stands to gain up to $6 billion toward environmental cleanup and regulation with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Edwards Aquifer, which runs from Medina County in Southwest Texas to the Gulf Coast, serves as the sole water source for 1.5 million Texans and 40,000 businesses, including the entire city of San Antonio.

Hall stepped into the middle of a 50-year controversy, eventually bringing the situation to a head. The structure of the debate had been such that the late commissioner, John Birdwell, spent years on the battle, but could not get all sides to agree on a management plan. Texas farmers have traditionally asserted that they have the "right of capture," allowing them to draw as much water as they want from what they consider to be their personal property.

"We didn't handle that issue the way the culture of this organization says that we're supposed to handle it," Hall said. "If we had, we would have absolutely gotten killed."

The Sierra Club initiated action by filing a suit to protect the fountain darter, a one inch minnow protected by the federal endangered species act, which lives in the state's largest springs in New Braunfels and San Marcos. Environmentalists also pointed to a Bexar County catfish farm that was using 43 million gallons of water daily, one-fourth the water supply for the entire city of San Antonio, from the Aquifer as an example of the unregulated system's faults.

U.S. District Judge Lucius Burton III (Midland) gave the TWC two months to come up with an interim plan for the state to limit pumping from the Aquifer. Farmers balked at the order, vowing a "fight to the death." The president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, John W. Jones, said the judge was putting "Texas bugs before Texas babies."

Hall wanted the Aquifer classified as an underground river source to give the Commission authority to regulate the enforcement plan. Attorney General Dan Morales gave the Commission permission to do so, citing a 1941 opinion allowing the Legislature to issue broad authority to the agency. Four months later Morales recanted, saying the law had been misinterpreted. State District Judge Pete Lowry tossed out the plan, ruling that the Commission didn't have the authority to regulate.

Hall's proposal left some the historic rights of capture, but cut annual pumpage by 20 percent. New Braunfels, San Marcos, some western farming interests and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave their approval, but some of the loudest cries of protest came from the City of San Antonio. The city council, in particular, was weary of state regulation.

Four months after the dispute began, a San Antonio paper ran a poll that showed the majority of the city's population was in favor of the TWC's proposal. The city council later unanimously endorsed the plan, and San Antonio backed Hall's compromise.

Though the Edwards Aquifer quarrel has been Hall's toughest battle to date, many of the challenges facing the agency today loom just as large and controversial.

In an unprecedented move, the TNRCC ordered Gibraltar Chemical Resources, Inc. in Winona, to temporarily shut down last year, based on the company's history of noncompliance. The company recycles and disposes of Smith County's hazardous waste. Before the closing, the TNRCC ordered Gibraltar to upgrade its procedures and personnel training.

As it turned out, Gibraltar had a long history of non-compliance with the TACB also, Hall said. But lack of communication between the two agencies allowed Gibraltar to go unpunished for years. It wasn't until the merger that a true picture of Gibraltar's environmental record became apparent.

Gibraltar wasn't the first company heavily penalized by Hall. In 1992 the TWC levied the highest environmental fine ever on Elf Atochem North American, Inc., putting an end to a 10 years of hazardous waste in Bryan. The company was fined $2.5 million for emissions from its arsenic plant that contaminated a creek and small city-owned lakes in the Northeast Texas town, but the total cost is expected to go beyond $26 million.

Though Hall believes in stringent regulation, he takes pride in industry's involvement with the Commission. He wants to get rid of the good 'ol boy system and the "bureaucratic arrogance" that was rampant in the agency before he took over, he says.

"If you were to talk to independent observers, I think they would tell you that before I came to this agency, lots of people had the view that politics and political connections and economic standing were the key roles in determining the outcome of an issue," Hall said.