For the past several months, there has been significant attention paid to EPA’s activities as the new administration’s priorities have taken shape and the initial decisions indicate how the agency will proceed with deregulation. This has also resulted in several of the legal cases initiated last year that have been tracked and discussed in this forum are now paused for foreseeable future as EPA starts the administrative reconsideration process.
While we wait for EPA to continue to make progress, TCEQ has taken the next step on some key regulatory changes initiated after the 88th Legislative Session in 2023. TCEQ has prepared draft guidance to help implement the Aboveground Storage Vessel Safety (ASVS) Program and published proposed rule updates for compliance history calculations.
Quick refresher about the ASVS Program – TCEQ will require petrochemical plants, refineries, and bulk storage terminals to register all ASVs with a capacity of at least 21,000 gallons and certify whether the vessels comply with applicable industry safety standards, e.g. API Standard 2350 or NFPA 30, by September 1, 2027. TCEQ will also require regulated entities to pay an administrative fee based on the number and size of the vessels at a facility. The draft guidance provides details about the registration process, certification process, exemptions and waivers, lists the specific standards that will be considered, recordkeeping expectations, and fee schedules. TCC provided an initial set of comments for the agency’s consideration at the end of July and will continue taking advantage of public engagement opportunities. Working with the agency by providing feedback on this new program’s guidance will be instrumental to ensure industry is provided certainty in the implementation phase.
Regarding compliance history, this is another major milestone for TCEQ in completing regulatory projects based on its last sunset review. Specifically, the legislature charged TCEQ with updating the agency’s compliance history rating formula to ensure it accurately reflects a regulated entity’s record of violations and allowed for comparison between similarly complex facilities. The agency was also tasked with establishing criteria to better characterize repeat violators. These compliance history calculations are important because receiving an unsatisfactory classification can result in higher enforcement penalties, stricter permit conditions, or the inability to obtain a new permit or renew an existing permit.
There are three major changes proposed by TCEQ:
1) An entity’s compliance history will be calculated twice a year (March 1 and September 1)
2) The compliance history formula will no longer rely on NAICS codes and instead will rely on the number of complexity points—15+ complexity points identifies a “complex” entity.
3) Regarding repeat violators, TCEQ will consider all major, moderate, and minor violations of the same nature and same environmental media and then assign repeat violator points. An entity with 150+ points will be Matt Zdun| July 30, 2025designated a “repeat violator.”
TCC is continuing to review the proposed changes to ensure the compliance history formula properly takes into consideration the complexity of our members’ facilities and enforcement remains equitable. TCC intends on submitting comments at the end of the month.