Derek Seals Up TCEQ General Counsel Job

Environmental Insider News, June 15, 2005

Derek Seal has been named as General Counsel at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Seal, who has been serving as Executive Assistant to TCEQ Chairman Kathleen Hartnett White, formerly served as General Counsel for the House Environmental Regulations Committee, then headed by state representative Warren Chisum [R], Pampa).

Seal, who began working for Rep. Chisum while a sophomore at the University of Texas (where he earned a B.A. in economics in 1991), hails from tiny Wellington (Collingsworth County), where he is known as the local high school's most famous graduate. Called "the master of disaster" for his ability to find points of order where no one else could during his days in the state legislature, Seal appears on the fast track to bigger things. The married father of one is a 1996 graduate of St. Mary's University School of Law; he has been at TCEQ since November 2002.

Outgoing General Counsel Duncan Norton, whose tenure included coping with the difficult legislative sunset legislative package and the recent enforcement process review, will continue his 20-year career in environmental law with the Austin firm Lloyd Gosselink Blevins Rochelle and Townsend, P.C.

LIRAP Legislation

Of the numerous environment-related bills awaiting final action by Governor Rick Perry, one [House Bill 1611, Chisum] will soon have significant impacts upon residents of El Paso County. The main thrust of HB 1611, however, is to bolster the Texas Emissions Reduction Program by siphoning off up to $6.0 million a year of the money collected for the Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance, Retrofit, and Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Program for TERP projects.

Chisum explained that his goal was to improve the operation and efficiency of LIRAP based upon the experience gained during the last 2 years and to utilize funds generated by the program for additional air quality programs primarily in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston ozone nonattainment areas. Since the program began in November 2002, the DFW LIRAP program has repaired over 7,500 vehicles and retired over 380 vehicles; similar results were obtained in the Houston area. On average, vehicles repaired under LIRAP have achieved better than a 70% reduction in nitrogen oxides emissions.

Under HB 1611, up to $20 million a year from LIRAP fees may be transferred into a newly created subaccount of Clean Air Account No. 151, with 70% of those funds to be used by counties participating in the vehicle inspection and maintenance (I/M) program for various purposes, including call center management, application oversight, invoice analysis, education, outreach, and advertising. These monies would be excess collections above what local LIRAP programs are using for vehicle repair, retrofit, or replacement.

This could include public awareness work, even with faith-based groups or other groups which assist individuals eligible for the LIRAP program to choose to participate; expansion of the AirCheck Texas repair and replacement assistance program; development of programs that remotely determine vehicle emissions and notify the operator or of projects to implement TCEQ's smoking vehicle program, coordinate with local law enforcement officials to reduce use of counterfeit state inspection stickers, or enhance transportation system improvements; research, development, and implementation of new air control strategies designed to assist local areas to comply with state and federal air quality rules; or using local money to leverage federal dollars.

A key provision of the legislation, culled from another bill [House Bill 2843] which Rep. Chisum had filed on behalf of El Paso state representative Norma Chavez, will require El Paso County to participate in the I/M program even if the county is designated as in attainment for ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter. At agenda, Rep. Chavez noted that El Paso had the state's first I/M program and that keeping this program alive will help the city attract new businesses.

The presumption is that El Paso would also participate in the LIRAP program, even though significant portions of the monies paid by El Paso residents would be going to air quality projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston areas. [Editor's Note: We assume that Travis and Williamson County residents will also soon be subsidizing TERP projects in the two larger metroplexes, assuming that the two counties go forward with their LIRAP programs.]

Dr. Groat Comes Home to Austin

The University of Texas at Austin has scored yet another coup, as retiring U.S. Geological Survey Director Dr. Charles G. Groat will be resuming his academic career where he completed his Ph.D. work in geology way back in 1970. Dr. Groat will occupy the Jackson Chair in Mineral and Energy Resources in the Jackson School of Geosciences. He will also be the founding director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University. Among his jobs will be directing graduate research for the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering and for the LBJ School of Public Affairs.