Jun. 14—AUSTIN — Legislation filed by State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, to reform the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday. House Bill 4885, which was passed overwhelmingly at every stage of the legislative process and garnered support from the energy industry leaders as well as environmental groups, will officially go into effect on Sept. 1.
"HB 4885 is about leveraging emerging technologies to better clean Texas air without harming Texas industry," Landgraf said in a news release. "It's about improving TERP to keep EPA bureaucrats from over-regulating Texas businesses and workers. This is a win for Texas and I'm thankful to Senator Birdwell, Speaker Phelan, and Governor Abbott for working with me to get this important and timely legislation passed into law."
TERP is a federally required program administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) that provides grants to cut emissions and reduce impacts on the environment in the state's most polluted regions. If Texas fails to administer the program according to its purpose, there is legitimate concern that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will step in and take it over.
"For over two decades, TCEQ's TERP grant program has helped thousands of Texans upgrade their trucking, farming, and construction equipment to newer, cleaner technology to help reduce impacts on the environment," said Governor Abbott. "Yesterday, I signed House Bill 4885 which expands the eligibility of TERP grant recipients to include hydrogen infrastructure, vehicles, and equipment upgrades and adds downstream refining activities to eligible projects under its Advanced Clean Energy Projects Program. Texas is a national and international leader in energy, and this law will continue to help incentivize our state's workforce to use innovative technology while helping hardworking Texans purchase state-of-the-art equipment to keep our state's booming economy the envy of America. I thank Representative Brooks Landgraf and Senator Brian Birdwell for their work to bring this legislation to my desk."
House Bill 4885 revises the initial allocation of money from TERP to allow for more grants for high-demand emissions reducing technologies and requires the TCEQ to establish and administer grants for hydrogen technologies. The changes made by HB 4885 will allow for more grants for operators in upstream and downstream communities.
"This bill is especially important now that the EPA is up to its old tricks again, using out-of-state data to justify an attempt to re-designate the Texas Permian Basin as being in non-attainment for ozone levels," Landgraf continued. "It's all hands on deck, including myself as the chair of the Texas House Environmental Regulation Committee, Governor Abbott and Congressman Pfluger, working to talk some sense into the EPA and avoid this action."