This proposal guideline is intended for the use of respondents
in TCEQ enforcement actions. Businesses, nonprofit organizations,
and government entities are eligible to make a respondent proposal.
In order for the executive director’s staff to begin its
evaluation of a proposed SEP, the information specified below is
required. A respondent must be willing and able to provide detailed
documentation to substantiate all statements made in a proposal
within one week of a follow-up request from TCEQ staff.
The guideline is available in two versions; one is for proposals
relating to pre-approved SEPs, while the other is for custom
proposals. If you have questions regarding the guideline for
pre-approved SEPs, please contact Melissa Keller by phone at
512/239-1768 or by e-mail at olssep@tceq.state.tx.us.
Regarding the guideline for custom SEPs, please contact the SEP
coordinator, Sharon Blue, by phone at 512/239-3400 or by e-mail at
olsadmin@tceq.state.tx.us.
Several documents linked from this page are in Portable Document
Format (PDF) or Microsoft Word format.
(Help with PDF.) (Help
with Downloading
Files.)
If you are interested in proposing a SEP, you may:
- download the application forms for a respondent—
— or —
- request a copy of the SEP guidance document, a SEP proposal
guideline, and other materials from the SEP coordinator, a
Litigation Division attorney, or Enforcement Division staff.
What to Include
- Enforcement Action—Indicate the name of the entity
and the location of the site associated with the enforcement
action. Include the city and county as well as the applicable
watershed or nonattainment area.
- Regulatory Information—Briefly summarize all
environmental enforcement orders, including compliance status,
relating to the site. For on-site projects, provide all TCEQ and
EPA
permit and account numbers related to this facility for all
media.
- Name of Project
- Project Implementer—Give the name, mailing address,
telephone number, and fax number for the project director, the
organization conducting the project, and the person who will be
responsible for submitting status reports (if different from the
project director). If the project will be conducted by a third
party to the TCEQ enforcement action, the proposal should be
accompanied by a letter or resolution from the appropriate board,
governing body, or executive staff expressing the
organization’s commitment to the project if approved.
- TCEQ Contact Person—Give the name, division, and
telephone number of any TCEQ staffer who has assisted with the
development of this project.
- Geographical Area to Benefit from Project—Identify
cities, counties, watersheds, and nonattainment areas that would be
affected.
- Type of Project—See the list
below.
- Project Description—Describe the project, including
why it is needed, the availability of other similar services or
projects in the area, and tasks required for its implementation,
such as changes in technology, operations, or processes.
- Expected Environmental Benefits—Explain the
expected environmental benefits of this project and quantify the
environmental benefits to the extent practical.
- For projects to prevent or reduce
pollution—Quantify the reduction expected for each
pollutant beyond the level required for environmental compliance.
Specify the media (air, water, land) to be affected.
- For projects of all other types—Quantify the number
of participants, programs offered, sites cleaned, types of
contamination contained or removed, acres restored or affected,
etc.
- Budget—Project initial and annual costs with
specific subcategories. Costs must be clearly and solely
attributable to the proposed SEP.
- Rate-of-Return Analysis—Supply an analysis of
annual financial returns on the project.
- Project Schedule—Supply a proposed schedule that
addresses project implementation and the submission of status
reports to the TCEQ. Project implementation must not commence until
after the commission has approved the agreed order that includes
this SEP.
- Accounting—Describe how SEP contributions will be
accounted for if a third party is the proposed project
implementer.
- Reporting—Describe the information and
documentation that would be included in project status reports.
Project reports must include sufficient information for the TCEQ to
monitor project implementation, to verify and document the proper
expenditure of SEP funds, and to evaluate the effectiveness and
benefits of the SEP. Reports must include the quantified
environmental benefits.
- Prior Commitments and Regulatory
Requirements—
- Identify any applicable local, state, or federal regulations
that would require implementation of this project or any part of
it.
- Identify any binding private commitments to implement this
project or any part of it.
- Identify whether this project is part of:
- a pollution prevention commitment identified in a plan
developed pursuant to the state’s Waste Reduction Policy
Act;
- a commitment made under the Clean Texas program;
or
- EPA’s Project
XL
or any other incentive or regulatory
flexibility program.
- Indicate the time frame for implementation of the project under
any identified commitments.
- Certification of Expenditures—Certify separately
that the proposed SEP is solely attributable to the settlement of
the current enforcement action and that no funding has been
budgeted to the project prior to the approval of the project, nor
is the proposed project funded by grants, donations, low-interest
loans, or other sources not attributable to the respondent’s
normal budgetary process. Also certify that the proposed project is
not being carried out, nor will receive credit, as part of an
environmental incentive or awards program.
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SEP Categories
Commission policy identifies the five types of projects listed
below as appropriate SEPs. The inclusion of any particular proposed
SEP and related conditions in an agreed order presented to the
commission is subject to the executive director’s discretion.
The executive director has delegated the authority to accept SEPs
to the director of the Litigation Division. The final decision
regarding the approval of any such agreed order rests wholly with
the commission. For additional guidance on SEPs, please
consult—
SEPs: Putting
Fines to Work Closer to Home (publication GI-352, May 2006)
Appropriate SEPs
The following types of projects would be appropriate
SEPs:
- projects to prevent or reduce pollution;
- environmental-restoration projects that go beyond repair to the
enhancement of the environment in the vicinity of the violating
facility;
- environmental education (the respondent may only offset 33% of
the payable penalty if undertaking this kind of project);
- projects to fund public works for a neighboring municipality or
county that will benefit the environment in a way that is beyond
ordinary compliance with the law; and
- projects to clean up illegal municipal and industrial
solid-waste dumps where no responsible party can be found.
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