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The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) regulates water quality, air quality, and waste management in the State of Texas.
The agency employs a staff of about 2,800, most of whom are professionals trained in science, technology, engineering, computer science, or related fields.
TCEQ maintains a central office in Austin and 16 regional offices around Texas.
Programs
- Office of Compliance and Enforcement: Enforces compliance with state environmental laws, responds to emergencies and natural disasters, oversees dam safety, and monitors air quality within Texas.
- Office of Air: Offers grants in an effort to reduce air pollution; oversees air permitting activities; runs initiatives with local and federal partners; and tracks progress toward environmental goals.
- Office of Waste: Regulates trash dumps, industrial waste, low-level radioactive waste, and underground storage tanks; oversees the cleanup of contaminated sites; sets training requirements for licenses for various professions, such as underground storage tank contractors and wastewater operators.
- Office of Water: Monitors public drinking water, groundwater protection, wastewater and storm water, and animal feeding operation permitting.
Funding
TCEQ has an annual budget of $483 million (FY 2023), including $249 million in revenue from program fees, $38 million from the federal government, and $16 million from the state’s general revenue fund.
A key sources of revenue is the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, which includes five fees and surcharges assessed on the sale, registration and inspection of vehicles, as well as a surcharge on the rental or purchase of diesel equipment in the state.
Additional fees include the Petroleum-Product Delivery Fee, Air Emissions Fee, Solid-Waste Disposal Fee, Motor-Vehicle Safety-Inspection Fee, Consolidated Water Quality Fee, and Lead Acid Battery Fee.
Governance
TCEQ is governed by a three-member board of full-time commissioners appointed by the governor. They are responsible for the overall direction and policy of the agency. They also make final decisions on contested permitting and enforcement matters.
The commissioners are appointed for six-year terms with the advice and consent of the Texas Senate. A commissioner may not serve more than two six-year terms, and the terms are staggered so that a different member’s term expires every two years.
History
TCEQ has its origins in a variety of natural resource programs that were established in Texas at the turn of the 20th century, motivated initially by concerns over the management of water resources and water rights.
In parallel with developments in the rest of the nation, and at the federal level, state natural-resource efforts broadened at mid-century to include the protection of air and water resources, and later to the regulation of generating hazardous and non-hazardous waste.
During the 1990s, the Texas Legislature moved to make natural-resource protection more efficient by consolidating programs. This culminated in the creation of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission in 1993.
Sunset legislation passed by the Texas Legislature in 2001 changed the agency’s name to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Address and Contact
- Main Office: 12100 Park 35 Circle, Austin, TX 78753
- Mailing Address: PO Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711-3087
- https://www.tceq.texas.gov/
- Phone: 512-239-1000
