78R12724 CLE-D

By:  Chavez                                                     H.C.R. No. 218



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 
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.