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Clean Air Plans for Houston/Galveston and Dallas/Fort Worth Areas Threatened

Release Date: 7/25/2002
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

      Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator  Gregg Cooke announced a proposal to act on the state of Texas' request to revise the Dallas/Fort Worth clean air state implementation plan (SIP) by substituting emission reductions from the Texas Emission Reduction Program (TERP) for construction ban and accelerated purchase provisions, noting TERP's lack of funding.  Cooke said he would propose approval of the Dallas/Fort Worth clean air plan revision if the Texas state legislature appropriates sufficient funding under the TERP or adds other comparable emission reduction programs to the plan.  

      TERP's lack of funding, an estimated $100 million shortfall, also impacts the Houston/Galveston area.  The EPA is proposing to find that the approved severe area clean air plan for the Houston/Galveston area is not being implemented according to its terms.  Specifically, the state of Texas is not implementing the TERP at a sufficient level, currently only about $30 million of the anticipated $133 million state-wide, to achieve the pollution emission reductions needed to bring about clean air.  

      The TERP would have generated pollution emission reductions required by the Clean Air Act.  In the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the fully-funded $133 million TERP would eliminate 16 tons per day of ozone-forming pollution.  In the Houston/Galveston area, the fully-funded $133 million TERP would eliminate 19 tons of ozone-forming pollution.