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78S20009 SMC-D
By: Chavez H.C.R. No. 2
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Air pollution has become an increasingly serious
problem that endangers public health; as pollution has increased,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has sought more
stringent enforcement of the federal Clean Air Act; and
WHEREAS, Any region that does not meet the National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide,
particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, or lead may be
designated as a nonattainment area; a nonattainment area is given a
deadline for achieving those standards, and the federal statute
requires any state with one or more nonattainment areas to develop a
State Implementation Plan outlining a process to reduce emissions
to meet NAAQS within a specified time; and
WHEREAS, Currently, the State of Texas has nine metropolitan
areas that either have been designated as nonattainment areas by
the EPA or are close to exceeding the NAAQS for one or more of the
regulated pollutants; and
WHEREAS, El Paso was classified as a serious nonattainment
area for the one-hour ozone standard in 1991 and is also the only
area in Texas that fails to meet the NAAQS for particulate matter
and carbon monoxide; and
WHEREAS, El Paso's ability to meet the NAAQS is adversely
affected by several circumstances beyond its control: its
proximity to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, the fact that the two cities are
surrounded by mountains that form a common air basin, and the high
levels of emissions originating in Ciudad Juárez that contribute to
the high concentration of certain criteria pollutants in the basin;
and
WHEREAS, Section 179B of the Clean Air Act, which addresses
nonattainment areas along international borders, stipulates that
the State Implementation Plan must be approved by the EPA for any
metropolitan area in the United States that is able to demonstrate
that the area would be in compliance with the NAAQS for any of the
regulated pollutants if not for emissions from outside of the
United States; and
WHEREAS, The EPA approved a demonstration in 1992 by the
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, now the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality, establishing, through the use
of scientific modeling, that the El Paso area was in compliance with
the NAAQS for particulate matter; and
WHEREAS, The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
submitted evidence to the EPA in 1995 and 1996 establishing that the
El Paso area also would be in attainment with the NAAQS for the
one-hour ozone and carbon monoxide standards if not for emissions
from Mexico; and
WHEREAS, Despite this evidence, the EPA has not yet approved
redesignation State Implementation Plan revisions for particulate
matter, ozone, and carbon monoxide in El Paso; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 78th Legislature of the State of Texas,
2nd Called Session, hereby respectfully request the Congress of the
United States to urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to
redesignate El Paso from a nonattainment area to an attainment
area; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.