Focus of the Review
On Dec. 5, 2003, the TCEQ's executive director announced that
the agency would undertake a comprehensive review of its
enforcement functions to ensure that the agency is enforcing
environmental laws fairly, effectively, and swiftly. She appointed
a steering committee of agency staff to oversee the review and make
recommendations.
The review focused on:
- How the agency's use of criteria to decide whether to pursue
enforcement action could be improved;
- Enforcement consistency across regions and programs;
- How the agency's implementation of the new compliance history
requirements is working, and how the agency's use of compliance
history information could be improved;
- Maximizing compliance in enforcement policies; and
- Maximizing benefit to the environment in the agency's
enforcement policies.
The committee established priorities and goals for the agency's
enforcement program and identify issues with current enforcement
practices. Three broad categories were identified for review:
- compliance history
- the enforcement process
- penalties and corrective action
Additional topics were identified through agency staff and
public input. The committee categorized the issues and provided
discussion for commission consideration on priority and
significance of the issues identified.
Staff met regularly with the executive director and
commissioners at commission work sessions to discuss progress of
the review, issues raised at public meetings, and other
enforcement-related topics of interest to the commissioners.
Public Participation
The agency encouraged participation by the public and other
parties interested in this review to help ensure that a full and
fair discussion of the issues occurs. Obtaining a variety of
perspectives improved the quality of the recommendations provided
to the executive director and the commission.
We collected public comments through public meetings in
Arlington, Midland, Harlingen and Houston; sought comments through
existing advisory committees and by letter; and collected comments
at commission work sessions and through a questionnaire. The agency
collected comments on the recommendations contained in the
Enforcement Process Review Report.
