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A high end suburb of San Antonio, Texas announced that they will be issuing a $7.5 million in bonds to pay for, among other things, their stormwater drainage plan.
Phase I projects include:
- The purchase of a new ladder truck for the Fire Department.
- Repairs, extensions and improvements to the city’s water and sewer system.
- Street and sidewalk improvements.
- The creation of a stormwater drainage master plan.
- Renovations to the City Hall complex and fire station
- Professional services related to the capital projects.
This plan is the first stage in Alamo Heights’ compliance with the new Phase II regulations passed in Texas 2 weeks ago. MS4s have until Feb 11, 2008 to file their NOIs with the State Agency, the TCEQ.
-Stormwater Guru
alamo heights MS4 Phase II san antonio stormwater taxes Texas
The TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) handed down over $600,000 in fines on August 22.
The Press Release reveals that over $120,000 was fined to INVISTA LLC for industrial violations. If you are an Industrial Facility make sure your paperwork is up to date and your plan is being implemented !!
Buddy Garcia was appointed by governor Rick Perry as the new presiding Chairman. This was his first meeting.
-Stormwater Guru
Technorati Tags: Texas, Fines, Stormwater, Buddy Garcia, Rick Perry, Invista
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buddy garcia Fines Rick Perry stormwater Texas
Yesterday afternoon the Phase II Small MS4 permit (TXR040000) was approved in Texas and went into effect. This will have some major effects on Stormwater Management in the state. Not the least of which is that all of the small MS4s (Texas says 500 but my count puts it closer to 1000) will have to begin putting their own stormwater programs into place.
This Permit was originally supposed to have gone into effect in 2003 but because of a tie up in the Supreme Court, Texas waited for official guidance from the EPA.
The passage can be seen here. It was docket number 73 and is discussed about halfway through the videocast.
One thing I found curious is the commission seemed to think that the NOIs that were going to be submitted were going to be the bulk of the work. I was extremely surprised to not even see a passing mention of the annual reporting requirements, of which there are many.
The Permit has some lofty goals for the permit term and is heavily focused on education. This does not mean that regulatory activity will not increase. These Small MS4s will regulate their cities towns and districts and Texas will in turn regulate the MS4s
In the coming weeks and months, I will document developments as I am able concerning this permit.
-Stormwater Guru
MS4 Permits Phase II stormwater Texas TXR040000
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) , the environmental governing body for Texas, handed down over $800,000 in fines today. The Press Release is as follows:
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) today approved penalties totaling $823,480 against 71 regulated entities for violations of state environmental regulations.
Agreed orders were issued for the following enforcement categories: 17 air quality, eight dry cleaner, one Edwards Aquifer, three field citations, one industrial waste discharge, one licensed irrigator, four multi-media, three municipal solid waste, four municipal waste discharge, 17 petroleum storage tank, three public water system, one sludge, and four water quality. In addition, there were default orders issued for the following categories: one multi-media, and two petroleum storage tank. Penalties were also assessed against a regulated entity following hearings at the State Office of Administrative Hearings for one solid waste violation.
Included in the total fine figure is a penalty of $121,880 against Oxy USA of Kent County. The fines are as a result of five violations found during investigations in September and December, 2006, including failure to prevent unauthorized emissions and failure to meet reporting requirements.
-Stormwater Guru
Fines Oxy USA stormwater Texas Violation
In late June, the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) announced that Citgo was being fined over $500,000. Apparently, Citgo had been skimming oil off of tanks that weren’t supposed to have any oil in them for the last 10 years. The punishment is still in the works, but it shows that industrial water permitting ignorance does not pay.
From the Press Release:
CITGO was convicted on two counts of operating two huge open top tanks, 116 and 117, without installing the proper emission controls required by state and federal regulations at its Corpus Christi East Plant Refinery….
More than 4.5 million gallons of oil were discovered in the tanks during an unannounced inspection by the TCEQ of the plant in March 2002….
CITGO and environmental manager Philip Vrazel were indicted by a federal grand jury in Corpus Christi on Aug. 9, 2006. The indictment charged them with a total of 10 counts of violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The charges were severed and Vrazel and the company will be tried in July for the MBTA counts….
Sentencing is scheduled for October 18, 2007, at which time, CITGO faces fines of up to $500,000 or twice the gross economic gain (whichever is greater) and five years of probation.
Citgo Gas in the Drinking water… fantastic.
-Stormwater Guru
Citgo Fines Industrial stormwater Texas Violation
