FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2000


TNRCC REVISES AIR QUALITY PLANS FOR DFW, BEAUMONT
AREAS
Agency Executive Director Sends Recommendations to Commission

The Executive Director of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
(TNRCC) has recommended to the three-member Commission a comprehensive
package of aggressive plans for metropolitan areas, widespread regional industrial
controls and statewide rules designed to improve air quality in Texas.

The recommendations were first proposed in December 1999 and have been
revised following an extensive public comment period. The next step is
consideration by the Commission on April 19.

Commissioners will consider and are expected to vote on proposed plans to help
the Dallas-Fort Worth and the Beaumont-Port Arthur areas meet the federal
standard for ground-level ozone. The plans also are expected to improve air
quality in areas that currently comply with federal air quality standards.

"The TNRCC is committed to clean air," TNRCC Executive Director Jeff Saitas
said. "These aggressive steps will meet that goal."

The proposals for the Dallas-Fort Worth area are based upon recommendations
from local leaders. "We worked very hard with the community to draw up a set
of proposals that we believe will be fair to everyone," Saitas said. "For this plan
to work, everyone has to work together and do their part. We are all part of the
problem, so we all have to be part of the solution."

The following proposals have been recommended to Commissioners by Saitas:

1) Revisions to the air quality plan for the Dallas-Fort Worth nonattainment area
which include:

A more effective vehicle emissions testing program expanded from Dallas
and Tarrant counties to Denton, Collin, Kaufman, Ellis, and Rockwall
counties;
An 88 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from power
plants in Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin counties;
Speed limit reductions in a nine-county area;
Electrification of ground-support equipment at DFW International Airport,
Love Field, Meacham Field and Alliance Airport or alternative equivalent
reductions;
Cleaner diesel fuel;
Energy conservation and transportation control measures in nine counties;
An ozone season ban on early-morning operation of heavy-duty
construction equipment and requiring accelerated purchase of Tier 2 and 3
cleaner construction equipment in Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, Collin, Parker,
and Johnson counties. Contractors can substitute equivalent reductions for
these requirements.

2) Revisions to the plan for the three-county Beaumont-Port Arthur
nonattainment area which include NOx emission reductions, primarily from new
controls on major industrial sources. A revised plan is due to the EPA by April
30.

3) Rules to establish pollution controls on major sources of NOx emissions,
including cement kilns, outside the nonattainment areas. Power plants with current
state permits are expected to reduce NOx emissions by about 50 percent;
cement kilns are expected to reduce NOx emissions by about 30 percent.

4) By 2002, only water heaters with low-NOx emissions could be sold in Texas.

Saitas did not recommend adoption of the California Low Emission Vehicle
standard for the DFW SIP. If the Cal LEV proposal is not adopted, only cars
and trucks that meet federal Tier II emission standards could be sold in Texas.

The recommendations are available on the TNRCC website at
www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/oprd/991216.html.

All TNRCC news releases are available at
www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/exec/media/press/