Proposal Will Help Keep TCEQ Fine Money In EP
by Rachel Abell
EL PASO — City Representative Susie Byrd wants City Manager Joyce Wilson to apply for the position of Third Party Administrator for an environmental program within the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
TCEQ’s Supplemental Environmental Program (SEP) helps funds gathered by TCEQ fines go back to communities.
Companies throughout the state that violate environmental regulations are fined by the agency. The agency then places all funds acquired through fines into a general fund. The SEP allocates a portion of those funds to the communities in which they were issued.
Under the program, violators are given the option to give the fine money to the SEP’s Third Party Administrator, which is the position Byrd wants Wilson to apply for. Wilson would then put the money towards programs that benefit the environment in El Paso.
Byrd said she came up with the idea when she was in Austin recently for a TCEQ hearing on the renewing of ASARCO’s air permit.
Last year, from September 1st to November 30th alone, the TCEQ fined four El Paso companies after they violated regulations. The total amount of the fines was $17,485. Under SEP, that money could have gone towards environmental clean-up projects that would benefit the El Paso community.
Byrd’s proposal will be addressed at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
