There were also lies about benzene levels after Harvey. Ed Emmett was in charge then.
Does the county judge have access to numbers the EPA doesn't? The EPA said they flew planes and everything was within safe levels. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a nongovernmental organization deployed 10 air-quality monitors to check for chemicals around Houston. By the way, the city requested the EDF monitors.
Schools were closed. People with respiratory issues, children, and the elderly were told to take precaution since day one. Not much else anyone can do other than sit and wait for lawsuits.
Regarding chemicals spilling into the ship channel. Is that Linda Hidalgo's job, or is it the responsibility of the City of Deer Park, ITC, the EPA, and emergency crews to have procedures and guidelines on how to handle situations like this. I don't know...
I had no issues with Ed Emmett and thought he did a good job, but I doubt things would have been handled much differently unless he knows more about chemical fires than the experts. As Jshep stated, lots of lessons learned here.