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.
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