January 31, 2012

Just after I wrote to you last month, the US Court of Appeals granted Texas' request for a stay preventing the EPA from implementing CSAPR. Now the rule cannot go into effect until the merits of the case are fully considered. At this time, the state is preparing for court and oral arguments are planned for April 13, 2012.

Included in the stay is direction to EPA to continue applying CSAPR's predecessor, the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). Industry and regulators were fully aware of the emission budgets for CAIR and EPA has reinstated CAIR accounts. The court's decision to issue a stay of the EPA's legally and scientifically-flawed cross-state air pollution rule now gives them time to review the regulation and its burdensome effects on Texas. We should all be reassured that electric grid reliability will not be immediately affected by this bureaucratic overreach by EPA.

You may remember just over a year ago I wrote about TCEQ's TPDES program and EPA's treatment of our whole effluent toxicity (WET) limits, which are part of that program. At the time, TCEQ staff had been working in good faith with EPA on what we believed were the final stages of permit language regarding WET limits we both agreed upon. However, we heard through a press statement and subsequent letter from Region 6 that our efforts were wasted as EPA was requiring new conditions and timeframes.

Since that time, TCEQ has continued to work on our TPDES program to ensure sound science and common sense prevail while trying to come to agreement with our counterparts at EPA. No doubt this is a difficult topic to fully comprehend, but staff has done an excellent job explaining the agency’s position on WET limits in an article found in Natural Outlook, TCEQ's online publication, found here.

I encourage you to read the article as well as the proposed language in the IPs. If you are affected by this proposed Implementation Plan, be sure to provide input during our public comment period which runs January 27-Feb 27th.

This event marks the first time that a Purchase of Development Rights agreement has been issued through the Texas General Land Office's Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program. It is also the first conservation easement purchased by the Galveston Bay Estuary Program and the TCEQ!

Savannah Oaks Ranch—part of a fifth-generation family farm—is a 700-acre rice farm situated at the convergence of Austin and Flores Bayous in Danbury, TX. Its rice fields provide excellent wildlife habitat for a variety of shorebirds and waterfowl, including the mottled duck—an Audubon's WatchList species in decline.

Through this conservation easement, the landowners, Rody and Donna Kuchar, will maintain the property's current use as a working farm while preserving its wildlife values in perpetuity. In fact, Mr. Kuchar and Ducks Unlimited, the conservation organization responsible for holding and monitoring the easement, are already developing plans to further increase the property’s wildlife value and reduce runoff pollution.

A very special thanks goes to the Kuchar family, Ducks Unlimited, Texas General Land Office, and the many stakeholders who worked for several years to make this happen. Congratulations team!

TCEQ staff held a stakeholder meeting last September while drafting this rule and will now hold a public hearing on March 6th in Austin, TX at the TCEQ headquarters for comments on the current rule proposal. The public comment period begins Feb. 10 and ends March 12th. For more information on Sunset Bill implementation visit here.

The TCEQ Clean Transportation Triangle (CTT) grants are part of the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, and are offered to eligible entities that intend to build natural gas fueling stations along the interstate highways connecting Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth. These fueling stations must be located no more than three miles from the interstate highways and must be made available to the public.

CTT program goals include ensuring that natural gas vehicles purchased, leased or otherwise commercially financed, or re-powered under the Texas Natural Gas Vehicle Grant Program have access to fuel; and building the foundation for a self-sustaining market for natural gas vehicles in Texas.

Grants are offered to eligible applicants, with preference to be given to stations providing both liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas at a single location, and stations located not more than one mile from an interstate highway system.

The TCEQ will conduct a grant application workshop to review CTT grant requirements and application procedures for potential applicants. The workshop will be held Feb. 9, 2012, 1:30 p.m. at TCEQ headquarters, 12100 Park 35 Circle, Building E, Room 201S, Austin, Texas. Application deadline is April 16, 2012, 5:00 p.m., CST.

For additional information on the grant application process, eligibility requirements, and copies of the application form for the Clean Transportation Triangle, visit the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan website, www.terpgrants.org or call 800-919-TERP (8377).

Clark & Augie Garrido – NWLL Baseball Camp

Reid - West Austin Cotillion