By Williams H.C.R. No. 226 77R10630 NBH-D HOUSE 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.