Air Quality - Chapter 6

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Texas Environmental Almanac, Chapter 6, Air Quality, Page 4

FEDERAL CLEAN AIR ACT COMPLIANCE IN TEXAS

Under Title 1 of the 1990 Federal Clean Air Act, any area that violates National Ambient Air Quality Standards for any of the six criteria pollutants as few as once per year and as often as four times over a three-year period is classified as a "non-attainment area." Texas currently has four such areas, encompassing 17 counties. Victoria County and portions of Bexar County have been designated "unclassified" because their monitoring data for ozone and lead, respectively, have not been adequate to measure pollution levels precisely. The Houston Ship Channel in the Houston metropolitan area had been proposed as a non-attainment area for sulfur dioxide. However, recent cooperative activities by the TNRCC, EPA and industries in the area resulted in the submission of an attainment demonstration to the EPA.

Non-attainment areas for ozone, CO and PM10 are classified according to the severity of their air pollution. Each area is included in a State Implementation Plan (SIP) designed by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission to bring the area into compliance. Different areas may have different deadlines for complying with the SIP plan, depending upon the severity of their air pollution problem. If a non-attainment area fails to comply with air pollution standards by the deadline, the Environmental Protection Agency may extend the deadline, but impose more stringent requirements to meet the standards. If there is a failure to develop a proper State Implementation Plan or a failure to implement the plan, the Environmental Protection Agency may develop a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for the area and may impose sanctions for non-compliance including the loss of federal highway funds, bans or stiffer limits on further industrial expansion and the loss of federal Air Pollution Control Program grant funds.

The economic costs of non-attainment are substantial. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission estimates that it will cost $200 billion to bring Texas' four ozone non-attainment areas into compliance.(42) By 1996, the four ozone non-attainment areas must reduce levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 15 percent, net of growth, from 1990 levels. This net reduction requirement means that before any new sources of VOCs can be allowed to operate, reductions must be made in existing sources to offset the new emissions. Thus, the actual total reduction is significantly higher than 15 percent.

Once volatile organic compounds are reduced by 15 percent by 1996, serious and severely polluted areas - which include Houston, El Paso and Beaumont - will still be required to reduce either volatile organic compounds and/or nitrogen oxides an average of 3 percent each year for three years, or until standards are met. Thus, future economic growth and reductions in air pollution are linked together.

The State Implementation Plan is also requiring consumers, small businesses and major industries in non-attainment areas to radically alter their activities. For example, in non-attainment areas, the following programs, many of which are still undergoing refinement, are being required:

Under the state's most recent plan to control ozone pollution, automobile owners would be required to have emissions from their vehicles tested every two years. Vehicles that do not meet emission standards would have to be repaired at the owner's expense. However, in 1995, the Texas Legislature passed a statewide moratorium on inspections to reconsider the program. Still, some sort of vehicle emission testing will likely be required in non-attainment areas.
Service stations are required to install equipment to control gasoline vapors at the pump and as fuel is being unloaded into storage tanks. Most stations were to comply by 1994; smaller stations that were built before 1992 and sell less than 10,000 gallons of gasoline per month are exempt.
The Houston/Galveston area residents will have to use only reformulated gasoline, a cleaner-burning fuel.
The Houston/Galveston area must reduce the number of cars and trucks commuting to and from work through an employer trip reduction program. The program has been delayed six months by actions of the Legislature and Governor, however.
El Paso residents will have to use oxygenated gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide emissions.
Specific industries will be required to install pollution-control equipment beyond what is required under current regulations.
Small businesses like dry cleaners, paint shops, printers and autobody shops will have to install pollution-control equipment.
In El Paso, Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston/Galveston, industrial wastewater systems will be required to cover wastewater treatment areas and route the vapors through a control device.
All new or expanding major industries in a non-attainment area must apply for non-attainment source review permits, which are more stringent than attainment area permits, known as prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permits.
The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission has designated five other metropolitan areas as "near non-attainment" areas. These areas are: Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Victoria, and the Tyler/Longview/Marshall area. They are called near non-attainment because they have on occasion exceeded standards, because they were once non-attainment areas but have since come into compliance, or because of their potential for future growth. In 1993, for example, both Tyler/Longview/Marshall and Corpus Christi exceeded ozone standards for a single day - not enough to cause the cities to go out of compliance, but cause for concern. The state and local officials are working on voluntary programs in these and other cities to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

Because the Clean Air Act limits growth in non-attainment areas by requiring that existing companies offset any new emissions, new industries may be inclined to locate in cities without immediate pollution problems. This growth could cause an increase in emissions of VOCs and nitrogen oxides in these cities, and could cause them eventually to exceed federal air-quality standards.

The criteria pollutants covered by the Federal Clean Air Act are not the only pollutants. Air toxics, greenhouse gases, ozone-depleting chemicals and a wide variety of indoor air particulates are also of great concern.

NON-ATTAINMENT AREAS IN TEXAS

NEAR NON-ATTAINMENT AREAS IN TEXAS FOR OZONE

CATEGORIES OF NON-ATTAINMENT AREAS IN TEXAS AND COMPLIANCE DEADLINES
	EPA CLASSIFICATION	DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE
Non-Attainment Ozone Area
Dallas/Fort Worth	Moderate	November 1996
Beaumont/Port Arthur	Serious	November 1999
El Paso	Serious	November 1999
Houston/Galveston/	Severe II	November 2007 Brazoria
Non-Attainment Carbon Monoxide
El Paso	Moderate	November 1995
Non-Attainment Respirable Particulate Matter
El Paso	Moderate	November 1994
Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, State Implementation Plan for Non-Attainment Areas (Austin: TNRCC, 1994).

REQUIRED REDUCTIONS IN NON-ATTAINMENT AREAS, VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (TONS PER DAY)
	ADJUSTED 1990 YEAR	1996 TARGET	NEW EMMISSONS FROM GROWTH	TOTALREDUCTIONS NEEDED BY 1996
El Paso	74	61	9	21
Dallas/Fort Worth	534	460	64	146
Houston/Galveston	1,091	915	57	232
Beaumont/Port Arthur	331	277	-7	48
Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Revisions to the State Implementation Plan (Austin: TNRCC, May 1994), 37-41.

ACHIEVING CLEAN AIR IS A BINATIONAL PROBLEM FOR EL PASO
El Paso is the only city in Texas in violation of national standards for both respirable particulate matter and carbon monoxide. The city is also designated as a "serious" non-attainment area for ozone. El Paso has been in compliance with national standards for nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and, since 1986, with lead standards. El Paso and other cities along the Texas/Mexico border face unique pollution problems because environmental standards differ on the two sides of the border. In fact, air pollution originating in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico - which lies in a desert valley across the Rio Grande River from El Paso - may contribute as much or more to overall air pollution in El Paso than pollution originating on the U.S. side of the border. These two cities, along with Sunland Park, New Mexico, share a common airshed in a valley characterized by the Rio Grande River and surrounding moun-tain peaks. Temperature inversions in the area contribute to air pollution problems. A 1990 joint study by the EPA, Texas Air Control Board, El Paso City/County Health Department and Mexican authorities found that the highest concentrations of particulate matter occurred in urban Ciudad Juárez and in the mountain pass along the border.(43) The principle sources of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and ozone in the area include motor vehicles, industries located in the airshed and open burning of domes-tic and agricultural waste. A problem specific to the area is the large number of vehicles waiting to enter or exit the United States from Mexico. The El Paso - Ciudad Juárez border crossing is one of the busiest crossings along the border. Each vehicle crossing the border, about 40 percent of which have Mexican license plates, must wait at least 10 minutes at the border while their paperwork is processed. Vehicles at idle produce higher emissions. Mexican vehicles, because they are older and often have less stringent maintenance and emission controls, tend to be higher emitters. If the TNRCC can prove that pollution emanating from outside the United States prevents El Paso's compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for any of the criteria pollutants - ozone, carbon monoxide and particulate matter - then the city will not bump up to a severe non-attainment area if the attainment deadlines are not met. This dispensation would also keep the city from suffering federal sanctions including the loss of federal highway funds and construction grants. However, El Paso will still have to adopt stringent pollution control rules to comply with the FCAA. For the past two years, state and local officials, environmental groups and business interests from the U.S. and Mexico have been working on the concept of an International Air Quality Management District encompassing the two cities and surrounding areas. Under one proposal, the District would coordinate monitoring and set caps on emissions within the airshed, while also allowing for flexibility to meet these standards. For example, rather than investing in expensive pollution con-trol equipment, new businesses in El Paso might offset their emissions by instead investing in a similar facility in Ciudad Juárez, or helping pave Ciudad Juárez streets.(44)

ACHIEVING CLEAN AIR IS A BINATIONAL PROBLEM FOR EL PASO

El Paso is the only city in Texas in violation of national standards for both respirable particulate matter and carbon monoxide. The city is also designated as a "serious" non-attainment area for ozone. El Paso has been in compliance with national standards for nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and, since 1986, with lead standards.

El Paso and other cities along the Texas/Mexico border face unique pollution problems because environmental standards differ on the two sides of the border. In fact, air pollution originating in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico - which lies in a desert valley across the Rio Grande River from El Paso - may contribute as much or more to overall air pollution in El Paso than pollution originating on the U.S. side of the border. These two cities, along with Sunland Park, New Mexico, share a common airshed in a valley characterized by the Rio Grande River and surrounding moun-tain peaks. Temperature inversions in the area contribute to air pollution problems.

A 1990 joint study by the EPA, Texas Air Control Board, El Paso City/County Health Department and Mexican authorities found that the highest concentrations of particulate matter occurred in urban Ciudad Juárez and in the mountain pass along the border.(43) The principle sources of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and ozone in the area include motor vehicles, industries located in the airshed and open burning of domes-tic and agricultural waste.

A problem specific to the area is the large number of vehicles waiting to enter or exit the United States from Mexico. The El Paso - Ciudad Juárez border crossing is one of the busiest crossings along the border. Each vehicle crossing the border, about 40 percent of which have Mexican license plates, must wait at least 10 minutes at the border while their paperwork is processed. Vehicles at idle produce higher emissions. Mexican vehicles, because they are older and often have less stringent maintenance and emission controls, tend to be higher emitters.

If the TNRCC can prove that pollution emanating from outside the United States prevents El Paso's compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for any of the criteria pollutants - ozone, carbon monoxide and particulate matter - then the city will not bump up to a severe non-attainment area if the attainment deadlines are not met. This dispensation would also keep the city from suffering federal sanctions including the loss of federal highway funds and construction grants. However, El Paso will still have to adopt stringent pollution control rules to comply with the FCAA.

For the past two years, state and local officials, environmental groups and business interests from the U.S. and Mexico have been working on the concept of an International Air Quality Management District encompassing the two cities and surrounding areas. Under one proposal, the District would coordinate monitoring and set caps on emissions within the airshed, while also allowing for flexibility to meet these standards. For example, rather than investing in expensive pollution con-trol equipment, new businesses in El Paso might offset their emissions by instead investing in a similar facility in Ciudad Juárez, or helping pave Ciudad Juárez streets.(44)

OFFSET RATIOS FOR OZONE NON-ATTAINMENT AREAS
	CLASSIFICATION	OFFSET RATIO	% NET REDUCTION
Dallas/Fort Worth	Moderate	1.15 to 1	15%
El Paso	Serious	1.20 to 1	20%
Beaumont/Port Arthur	Serious	1.20 to 1	20%
Houston/Galveston	Severe	1.30 to 1	30%
Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Revisions to the State Implementation Plan (Austin: TNRCC, May 1994), 37-41.

Texas Environmental Almanac, Chapter 6, Air Quality, Page 4

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