EPA Approval of Texas Air Plan: RACT Requirements for Houston-Galveston-Brazoria Ozone Nonattainment Area

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving revisions to Texas's State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted on May 13, 2020, addressing Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) requirements for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) area. The HGB area is designated as a 'Serious' nonattainment area under the 2008 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), meaning ozone pollution levels exceed federal health-based thresholds and require stricter regulatory controls. RACT standards mandate that stationary emission sources in nonattainment areas adopt the most stringent emissions controls that are technically and economically feasible. By approving these SIP revisions, the EPA confirms that Texas's proposed control measures meet federal RACT requirements for industrial and commercial sources of VOC and NOx emissions in the HGB region. Additionally, the EPA is approving VOC RACT 'negative declarations' included in the Serious area Attainment Demonstration (AD) SIP revision. Negative declarations indicate that no facilities in certain source categories exist within the HGB area that would require specific RACT controls, effectively documenting the absence of regulated sources in those categories. This approval moves Texas closer to demonstrating that the HGB area can achieve compliance with the 2008 ozone NAAQS, a key milestone in protecting public health and reducing ground-level ozone formation across the greater Houston metro region.

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