By Cyrus Reed
It may not seem like much is going on at the Texas Legislature right now, with the 84th session still months away and an election between now and then, but budget decisions are being made now that will affect key state agencies, including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Agencies such as the TCEQ are in the middle of submitting “legislative appropriations requests,” or LARs, which will form the basis of the state budget for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Lone Star Chapter Conservation Director Cyrus Reed recently submitted comments to the TCEQ that would improve air quality and develop clean energy infrastructure in Texas, if adopted.
August 15, 2014
Brief Comments on TCEQ Proposed LAR
Time to Step up to the Plate and Ask for the Money
There is only one large question on TCEQ’s proposed budget: How much money being generated by the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) and Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance, Retrofit, and Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Program (LIRAP) will TCEQ procure to clean up the air over our major urban centers and promote new technologies like energy storage and natural gas vehicle infrastructure.
TCEQ has chosen in its draft Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) to not even ask for additional funds for TERP or LIRAP as an exceptional item and only to ask for the base budget amount. I would like to point out that the only reason that TCEQ received $77 million as opposed to $65 million last year because I, and others, worked with Senator Deuell and the Legislature to increase the funding.
The Legislature will be taking a close look at the $800 million in the TERP account and the tens of millions in the Clean Air Account where LIRAP dollars flow, and yet TCEQ is refusing to even suggest additional money they might be able to use to help Texans breathe easier and meet tough EPA ozone regulations. Our skies are cleaner than they were but EPA is scheduled to lower the ozone standard, and it is quite possible that between two and seven additional metropolitan areas in Texas could be required to develop state implementation plans (SIPs) to meet these new standards. Quite simply, TCEQ has an obligation to ask for additional money from TERP and LIRAP.
In addition to TERP and LIRAP, we request that TCEQ acknowledge other impending EPA rules that TCEQ will be tasked with implementing. The broadest and most important is EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan rule. While only a proposal, and subject to legal challenges, we believe that ultimately some version of this rule will go forward, and TCEQ will need additional staff to help develop a state plan, and coordinate with other agencies, like the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), Public Utility Commission (PUC), and Railroad Commission, which will be partially in charge of making sure carbon reduction goals and rates are met. We believe that this additional staff, verification and measurement and other aspects could be written as a contingency item, and should also include funding from TERP for the Energy Systems Lab at Texas A&M University and SECO to help verify reductions from energy efficiency and renewable programs.
Specific Requests:
- Exceptional Item for LIRAP. TCEQ should ask for the full $40 million per year for each year of the budget, if not more. With one county already having left the program, unless TCEQ and the legislature restore funding, this important program to get “smoking” vehicles off the road will die a slow death, and the promise will die with it.
- Exceptional item for TERP. We believe that TCEQ should ask for a large amount of the TERP balance in 2016 and 2017. We would suggest $200 million per year, which would “buy down” 50% of the fund balance. Because the TERP program ends in 2019, coming up with a four-year plan to fund the program is important.
- Exceptional item for new EPA regulations. We believe that with both ozone standards and carbon regulations being implemented in 2016 potentially, TCEQ should ask for additional funding for staff, modeling and verification of programs that help meet the new goals. We suggest between $1-$2 million for TCEQ, and $2 million – funded out of TERP – for the Energy Systems Lab to verify carbon and other pollutant reduction savings from energy efficiency and renewable programs. While ESL has the ability to generate these numbers, they have not been “truth-tested” and additional money for studies and measurement and verification steps are needed.
Sierra Club believes that TCEQ must ask for money for TERP and LIRAP and to implement new EPA regulations.