1-1 By: Williams (Senate Sponsor - Bernsen) H.C.R. No. 226 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 7, 2001; 1-3 May 7, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural 1-4 Resources; May 11, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote: 1-5 Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 11, 2001, sent to printer.) 1-6 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-7 WHEREAS, The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) area is 1-8 classified as a serious nonattainment area and the Beaumont-Port 1-9 Arthur (BPA) area is classified as a moderate nonattainment area 1-10 for the one-hour ozone standard and both are likely to be 1-11 classified as nonattainment areas for the proposed eight-hour ozone 1-12 standards and for the particulate matter 2.5 standards, should 1-13 those standards be reinstated; and 1-14 WHEREAS, The State of Texas recently submitted revisions of 1-15 its State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the HGB and BPA areas to 1-16 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlining 1-17 measures that will be taken in order to achieve compliance with the 1-18 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone; and 1-19 WHEREAS, For the HGB and BPA areas to be classified as in 1-20 attainment for ozone, the regions must make significant reductions 1-21 in air contaminant emissions from several types of sources, 1-22 including industrial point sources such as petroleum refineries and 1-23 chemical plants; and 1-24 WHEREAS, Strategies aimed at controlling industrial emissions 1-25 target specific industries and facilities, requiring them to bear 1-26 up front the high costs of installing emission control 1-27 technologies; and 1-28 WHEREAS, While pollution control technologies can be 1-29 effective in reducing emissions, the technology that many companies 1-30 are required to purchase by the ozone SIP can cause a tremendous 1-31 financial strain on an individual entity and affect entire 1-32 industries; and 1-33 WHEREAS, Some industries, including agricultural, chemical 1-34 production, gasoline terminals, and oil and natural gas production 1-35 and petroleum refineries, must purchase costly maximum achievable 1-36 control technology in order to be in compliance with the ozone SIP; 1-37 and 1-38 WHEREAS, The Texas Gulf Coast has a crude operable capacity 1-39 of 3.462 million barrels of refined petroleum products per calendar 1-40 day, i.e. 84.6 percent of the Texas total and 21.9 percent of the 1-41 U.S. total; and 1-42 WHEREAS, The HGB area is home to more than 400 chemical 1-43 plants employing more than 38,200 people and the BPA area is home 1-44 to numerous chemical plants and industrial operations employing 1-45 more than 20,000 people; and 1-46 WHEREAS, The Houston Gulf Coast region has nearly 49 percent 1-47 of the nation's base petrochemicals manufacturing capacity; this is 1-48 more than quadruple the manufacturing capacity of its nearest U.S. 1-49 competitor; and 1-50 WHEREAS, Many of the commodities produced in this area are 1-51 distributed throughout the nation, yet, while the entire country 1-52 benefits from the petroleum refining and petrochemical industries, 1-53 these industries must bear the up-front costs of environmental 1-54 compliance while faced with global competition without significant 1-55 federal assistance; and 1-56 WHEREAS, Currently, the federal government authorizes the 1-57 issuance of tax-exempt facility bonds to help finance the building 1-58 of installations that are used for the public good, such as 1-59 airports, water plants, sewage and solid waste systems, and some 1-60 hazardous waste facilities; however, since 1986, such bond issues 1-61 have no longer been authorized for air pollution control 1-62 facilities; and 1-63 WHEREAS, The reduction of air pollution clearly benefits all 1-64 residents of the state, and air contaminant emission reductions are 2-1 mandated by the federal government in nonattainment areas; given 2-2 the severity of the up-front financial costs that are to be 2-3 incurred in order to reduce the air contaminant emissions in Texas 2-4 nonattainment areas, restoring the previous provision that allowed 2-5 the issuance of tax-exempt facility bonds to finance air pollution 2-6 control facilities would significantly enhance the ability of 2-7 regions such as the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria and Beaumont-Port 2-8 Arthur areas to meet applicable National Ambient Air Quality 2-9 Standards and avoid future sanctions; now, therefore, be it 2-10 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 2-11 hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to amend 2-12 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow for the issuance of 2-13 tax-exempt facility bonds for the purpose of financing air 2-14 pollution control facilities in nonattainment areas and to provide 2-15 that such tax-exempt facility bonds issued during the years of 2-16 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007 for the construction of such air 2-17 pollution control facilities not be subject to the volume cap 2-18 requirements; and, be it further 2-19 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 2-20 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 2-21 the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of 2-22 the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of 2-23 the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 2-24 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 2-25 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. 2-26 * * * * *