Texas' top environmental regulator does not have to produce thousands of documents related to carcinogenic emissions limits after the agency was accused of delaying their release, the Texas Supreme Court ruled.
In its ruling, the high court reversed a decision that found the Texas Commissioner on Environmental Quality violated a deadline to ask the attorney general's office whether more than 6,000 files could be withheld after a public records request from the Sierra Club, and environmental nonprofit.
The court found the commission didn't blow the deadline for two reasons: The commission put its request to the attorney general's office in "interagency mail" within the timeframe, and TCEQ reset the 10-day period by sending an email to the Sierra Club for clarification on their information request.
Justices Brett Busby and Debra Lehrmann dissented.
While the ruling doesn't end the case — a trial court must now decide whether or not the files are protected from being released at all — the nonprofit said the decision was a disappointing.
"While it's not a total loss because they're remanding it back to another court, it certainly isn't the ruling we were looking for," said Cyrus Reed, the legislative and conservation director for the Texas chapter of the Sierra Club.
The case dates back to 2019, after the commission requested the Environmental Protection Agency raise the limit for how much ethylene oxide can be emitted into the environment. Ethylene oxide is a colorless gas used mainly to make other chemicals like antifreeze, according to the National Cancer Institute. In small quantities it is used as a pesticide and sterilizing agent.
The Sierra Club requested documents related to how TCEQ determined the ethylene oxide emissions limit could be raised.
"Frankly the reason we wanted to look at the documents is we had concerns about their standards and how they arrived at their standards," Reed said. "And in our view, we didn't consider their standards sufficiently rigorous for protecting public health."
The attorney general's office ruled at the time that TCEQ must make all the requested documents public because it had blown a 10-day deadline to request the documents be withheld.
The attorney general's office later disavowed its own decision, but the Travis County district court still granted a summary judgment in favor of the Sierra Club. A Texas court of appeals upheld the lower court's decision after an appeal by TCEQ.
The district court will now decide whether or not the documents are covered by deliberative-process privilege, which protects pre-decision communications, according to the public information act handbook. Withholding such conversations from public release is meant to "encourage frank and open discussion within the agency in connection with its decision-making processes."
Both the attorney general's office and appeals court previously ruled the deliberative-process privilege did not protect the documents from public release.
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
Copyright 2026 KERA News