A new DFW Clean air Plan is Being Written Now Will These Industrial Polluters be Targeted?

Right now, the state of Texas is writing a new clean air plan for DFW that is supposed to have us breathing better air by 2010. This follows the 2000 clean air plan that was supposed to achieve success by 2005. That followed a decade of plans that didn't work either.

There are many reasons why DFW still doesn't have clean air. One of the most significant is that the state has never required the most advanced pollution controls for some of the largest industrial polluters upwind of DFW, like the Midlothian cement plants and power plants in East and Central Texas. The state has also allowed a wave of new permits that increase the amount of smog-forming pollution coming from those plants and whole new facilities.

The Citizens' Clean Air Network has a very basic PowerPoint slide show on the new clean air plan to show how it will impact you and why you need to help influence it. Check this out first.

The first step in passing any new clean air plan for DFW is approval by local officials.

Through the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee, county judges from the nine north Texas counties that make up the EPA-designated DFW "non-attainment" area, review information about air quality and decide what pollution control measures to recommend to the state. Joining the judges on the Committee are city council representatives from some of the larger DFW area cities, local Chambers of Commerce, and a handful of local environmentalists and public health advocates.

At the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee website, you see who represents you on the Committee, look at past agendas and presentations, and find out when the next meeting of the Committee will occur.

For information about the process leading up to a new Clean Air Plan, also called a State Implementation Plan, please visit http://www.dfwcleanair.com/sip/.

For details on the specific pollution control measures the Steering Committee is studying, you visit http://www.dfwcleanair.com/sip/new_cont_strat.html.

There, you will often see the measures divided into these categories:

• On-Road - meaning cars and trucks used for transportation
• Off-Road - meaning construction equipment and other vehicles not used for transportation
• Point - meaning stationary sources of pollution such as the Midlothian cement plants, or power plants or any kind of pollution source that stays in one place all the time.
• Area- meaning a number of smaller, diffuse sources that add up, such as cans of paint or roof coatings for building or lawn equipment and backyard grills.

After getting approval from local officials, a new DFW clean air plan must then be sent to officials in Austin with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. There are three Commissioners who run the TCEQ. They were all appointed by Governor Rick Perrry. They have to the power to accept the recommendations from the local Steering Committee, or change them. TCEQ's home page is http://www.tceq.com/

If you search the TCEQ site under "DFW SIP" you'll find a multitude or presentations and papers on the subject, But if you want to look at the status of the current air plan, visit http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/air/sip/apr2005dal_iop.html.

Finally, the state must submit the plan to the Environmental Protection Agency. The six-state regional headquarters for the EPA is in Dallas. The regional EPA Administrator is Richard Greene, former Mayor of Arlington.

The main EPA website is: http://www.epa.gov/

Air Quality topics can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/air.html