Environment
The Legislature has taken significant steps toward improving air quality, creating incentives for renewable energy, establishing requirements for energy conservation, and ensuring that water in Texas’ rivers, lakes, and bays is clean.
Senate Bill 5 (77R) - House Bill 1365 (78R) - Senate Bill 12 (80R) The Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP)
Senate Bill 5 created TERP , a comprehensive range of incentive programs aimed at improving air quality in Texas. Three main incentive programs are operated through TERP are: emissions reduction grants, rebate grants for the replacement of certain vehicles, and new technology research and development grants.
House Bill 1365 enacted reforms to help bring Texas into compliance with federal emissions laws and regulations enforced by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Specifically, the bill made the following statutory changes:
- Allowing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to adopt standards for ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel;
- Allowing TCEQ to apply TERP to additional counties as necessary; and,
- Altering the apportionment of TERP funds to state agencies and other entities such that a larger amount of funding is directed to TCEQ.
HB 1365 was necessary to ensure that the state would be in compliance with federal law and USEPA regulations. The funding changes were particularly critical to addressing the non-attainment areas of the state, and the approach adopted by HB 1365 was widely viewed as the most painless way to achieve the required level of funding and the most effective way to raise the money to do the necessary retrofitting for diesel engines.
In the 80th Legislature, Senate Bill 12 expanded TERP as follows:
- Permitted TCEQ to expand the assistance it provides to low-income Texans with the cost of repairing and replacing vehicles through LIRAP;
- Expanded TERP to cover counties containing all or part of a major highway transportation corridor, and also to cover waterways or bays within nine miles of a non-attainment area;
- Increased maximum TERP grant award cap; and,
- Required that TCEQ implement an internet-TERP application process.
Key point: The Texas Emissions Reduction Plan is now an integral part of Texas’ efforts to improve air quality by focusing on emissions from mobile sources such as cars and trucks.
Senate Bill 712 (79R) Energy Efficiency Goals
Senate Bill 712 established that energy efficiency programs may address reductions in peak demand as well as energy consumption and costs. The bill required PUC establish energy efficiency programs for schools and homes, including appliance recycling and air-conditioning improvements. The bill also permitted transmission and distribution utilities to spend 10 percent of their efficiency funds on research and development for efficient technologies.
Key point: Senate Bill 712 proposed new energy efficiency goals to encourage the use of emerging technologies to reduce energy consumption, especially in times of peak demand.
House Bill 2129 (79R) - House Bill 3693 (80R) Smart Metering and Energy Efficiency
House Bill 2129 required electric utility providers to consider establishing consumer-option programs that encourage the reduction of air contaminant emissions. The bill clarified that regulated electric distribution utilities have the responsibility for metering services for residential and small commercial customers and required PUC to develop a plan for deployment of smart metering that includes a surcharge to recover net costs associated smart grid networks. The bill directed PUC to conduct a biennial study the use of advanced metering and to present the study to the Legislature.
House Bill 3693 increased the state’s energy efficiency goals in order to provide near-term reductions in consumption and demand to protect the reserve margin, avoid crises during peak periods, and reduce electric rates.
Specifically, the bill enhanced existing energy efficiency programs, enabled more customer demand management, updated building energy codes, and required state agencies to purchase more efficient equipment and appliances.
Key point: House Bill 2129 established incentives for the deployment of smart grid and advanced meter technologies to improve reliability, reduce demand, and lower consumer costs. House Bill 3639 increased energy efficiency goals to help decrease consumption and reduce consumer electric rates.
House Bill 2714 (80R) Recycling of Computer Equipment
Key point: House Bill 2714 requires computer manufacturers to establish free and convenient computer equipment recycling programs.
Senate Bill 1413 (79R) Clean-Up of Brownfield Sites
Key point: Senate Bill 1413 authorized certain counties to establish and fund county clean up programs to clean up abandoned industrial land that is blighted with hazardous waste or other environmental damage.
Senate Bill 20 (79S1) Renewable Energy Generation
In 1999, through Senate Bill 7 (the legislation that deregulated the electric market in Texas) the Texas Legislature established renewable energy generation targets for the first time. The bill expressed legislative intent that an additional 2,000 megawatts of renewable generation capacity be developed by January 2009. This set a baseline target for January 2009 of 2,880 megawatts.5 By 2005 however, it was clear that this goal had already been achieved, so the Legislature moved to set new standards. Through Senate Bill 20 (79S1), the renewable energy generation capacity target was set at 5,880 megawatts by 2015, and then 10,880 megawatts by 2025.
Significantly, Senate Bill 20 also required the designation of Competitive Renewable Energy Zones to help ensure that "sufficient transmission infrastructure exists to meet the state’s goal for renewable energy." In July 2007, the Public Utility Commission designated eight areas of the state as Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ). The purpose of the designation is to ensure that the areas of the state where wind energy is most feasible are adequately connected – via transmission lines – to the areas where the energy will be used:
The establishment of the CREZ means that Texas can continue to grow its wind generation capacity in the knowledge that the power generated by future wind farms will have the necessary transmission infrastructure to direct it to where it is needed. In July 2008, PUC adopted a transmission proposal that will result in $5 billion of transmission upgrades and development.
Key point: Senate Bill 20 expanded the state’s renewable energy generation goal to 10,000 megawatts by 2025. The bill also established Competitive Renewable Energy Zones.
House Bill 1386 (80R) Nuclear Plant Decommissioning
HB 1386 established annual decommissioning funding for nuclear generating facilities. The bill required that the Public Utility Commission (PUC) ensures there is adequate funding for nuclear decommissioning and that nuclear facility operators must contribute to the decommissioning fund on a yearly basis.
Key point: House Bill 1386 provided a mechanism through which nuclear plant owners must demonstrate that they can fund the safe decommissioning the plant when it closes. This protects the environment and ensures that taxpayers are not burdened with nuclear decommissioning costs.
House Bill 1090 (80R) Biomass Incentive Program
House Bill 1090 established the Agricultural Biomass and Landfill Diversion Incentive Program to provide grants to farmers, loggers, and diverters who provide agricultural biomass to facilities that generate electricity using agricultural biomass.
Key point: House Bill 1090 established incentives for the development of biomass-generated energy in Texas.
House Bill 1 (80R) Funding for Wind Turbine Research
The Legislature appropriated $5 million to the University of Houston, a participant in the Lone Star Wind Alliance. The appropriation was contingent on the US Department of Energy awarding the development of a National Large Wind Turbine Research and Testing Facility to Texas. This award was made in June 2007, and the wind-turbine and blade-testing facility will be near Corpus Christi.
Key point: The Legislature appropriated $5 million for research and development of wind turbines for electricity generation.
House Bill 2293 (80R) Fuel Efficient Vehicles
Key point: House Bill 2293 required at least ten percent of the vehicles purchased by state agencies to be low-emission and fuel-efficient, assuming that this is commercially viable for the type of vehicle in question.
House Bill 2819 (80R) Protection of Beaches
Key point: House Bill 2819 encouraged the development of plans to combat erosion and storm damage.
House Bill 469 (81R) Carbon Capture and Sequestration Incentives
House Bill 469 creates incentives for the development of carbon capture and sequestration projects in Texas. Specifically, the bill creates a Franchise Tax exemption for qualifying projects that equals the lesser of 10 percent of the total capital cost of the project or $100 million. A qualifying project is defined as the construction of a carbon-fueled electric generating facility that:
- Has a capacity of at least 200 megawatts;
- Uses Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle or other pre-combustion technology;
- Will capture at least 70 percent of the carbon dioxide produced by the facility;
- Is capable of permanently sequestering the captured carbon dioxide in a geological formation; and
- Is capable of supplying the carbon dioxide for use in an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project.
Innovation has long been at the core of the energy industry in Texas. Using innovation is more effective than adopting a punitive approach to environmental concerns, such as carbon emissions.
Key point: House Bill 469 is an important bill that creates incentives for clean energy in Texas. Just as the state has successfully used targeted incentives to develop its wind energy industry, this bill will help make sure that Texas is at the forefront of technological developments that use CO2 in enhanced oil recovery operations (EOR).
House Bill 1796 (81R) Offshore Carbon Storage
H.B. 1796 requires the Land Commissioner to contract with the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin to conduct a study of offshore, submerged land to identify potential sites for an offshore carbon dioxide repository. The bill requires the Land Commissioner to recommend suitable sites to the School Land Board based on the findings of the study.
Upon completion of the study and selection of a site, the bill allows the School Land Board to issue a request for proposals for the lease of permanent school fund land for the construction of any necessary infrastructure for the transportation and storage of carbon dioxide to be stored in the carbon dioxide repository.
House Bill 1796 advances the technological innovation of carbon dioxide injection by directing the state to create a repository for carbon.
Key point: The bill anticipates federal regulations on carbon dioxide and provides a means by which Texas electricity generation facilities and other industries that emit carbon dioxide may continue to operate in the event that stringent federal regulations are enacted.
