By Williams, Woolley, Bonnen, et al.                 H.C.R. No. 226
         77R10630 NBH-D                           
                                CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) area is
 1-2     classified as a serious nonattainment area and the Beaumont-Port
 1-3     Arthur (BPA) area is classified as a moderate nonattainment area
 1-4     for the one-hour ozone standard and both are likely to be
 1-5     classified as nonattainment areas for the proposed eight-hour ozone
 1-6     standards and for the particulate matter 2.5 standards, should
 1-7     those standards be reinstated; and
 1-8           WHEREAS, The State of Texas recently submitted revisions of
 1-9     its State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the HGB and BPA areas to
1-10     the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlining
1-11     measures that will be taken in order to achieve compliance with the
1-12     National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone; and
1-13           WHEREAS, For the HGB and BPA areas to be classified as in
1-14     attainment for ozone, the regions must make significant reductions
1-15     in air contaminant emissions from several types of sources,
1-16     including industrial point sources such as petroleum refineries and
1-17     chemical plants; and
1-18           WHEREAS, Strategies aimed at controlling industrial emissions
1-19     target specific industries and facilities, requiring them to bear
1-20     up front the high costs of installing emission control
1-21     technologies; and
1-22           WHEREAS, While pollution control technologies can be
1-23     effective in reducing emissions, the technology that many companies
1-24     are required to purchase by the ozone SIP can cause a tremendous
 2-1     financial strain on an individual entity and affect entire
 2-2     industries; and
 2-3           WHEREAS, Some industries, including agricultural, chemical
 2-4     production, gasoline terminals, and oil and natural gas production
 2-5     and petroleum refineries, must purchase costly maximum achievable
 2-6     control technology in order to be in compliance with the ozone SIP;
 2-7     and
 2-8           WHEREAS, The Texas Gulf Coast has a crude operable capacity
 2-9     of 3.462 million barrels of refined petroleum products per calendar
2-10     day, i.e. 84.6 percent of the Texas total and 21.9 percent of the
2-11     U.S. total; and
2-12           WHEREAS, The HGB area is home to more than 400 chemical
2-13     plants employing more than 38,200 people and the BPA area is home
2-14     to numerous chemical plants and industrial operations employing
2-15     more than 20,000 people; and
2-16           WHEREAS, The Houston Gulf Coast region has nearly 49 percent
2-17     of the nation's base petrochemicals manufacturing capacity; this is
2-18     more than quadruple the manufacturing capacity of its nearest U.S.
2-19     competitor; and
2-20           WHEREAS, Many of the commodities produced in this area are
2-21     distributed throughout the nation, yet, while the entire country
2-22     benefits from the petroleum refining and petrochemical industries,
2-23     these industries must bear the up-front costs of environmental
2-24     compliance while faced with global competition without significant
2-25     federal assistance; and
2-26           WHEREAS, Currently, the federal government authorizes the
2-27     issuance of tax-exempt facility bonds to help finance the building
 3-1     of installations that are used for the public good, such as
 3-2     airports, water plants, sewage and solid waste systems, and some
 3-3     hazardous waste facilities; however, since 1986, such bond issues
 3-4     have no longer been authorized for air pollution control
 3-5     facilities; and
 3-6           WHEREAS, The reduction of air pollution clearly benefits all
 3-7     residents of the state, and air contaminant emission reductions are
 3-8     mandated by the federal government in nonattainment areas; given
 3-9     the severity of the up-front financial costs that are to be
3-10     incurred in order to reduce the air contaminant emissions in Texas
3-11     nonattainment areas, restoring the previous provision that allowed
3-12     the issuance of tax-exempt facility bonds to finance air pollution
3-13     control facilities would significantly enhance the ability of
3-14     regions such as the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria and Beaumont-Port
3-15     Arthur areas to meet applicable National Ambient Air Quality
3-16     Standards and avoid future sanctions; now, therefore, be it
3-17           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
3-18     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to amend
3-19     the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow for the issuance of
3-20     tax-exempt facility bonds for the purpose of financing air
3-21     pollution control facilities in nonattainment areas and to provide
3-22     that such tax-exempt facility bonds issued during the years of
3-23     2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007 for the construction of such air
3-24     pollution control facilities not be subject to the volume cap
3-25     requirements; and, be it further
3-26           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
3-27     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
 4-1     the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
 4-2     the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of
 4-3     the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
 4-4     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
 4-5     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.