Texas cleaners have chance to comment on
cleanup law
Texas drycleaners will have a chance to
offer their thoughts on the state’s environmental
remediation program to the Texas Commission of Environmental
Quality at a meeting on Friday, May 7 in Austin.
The commission wants to identify all the
outstanding issues surrounding the cleanup fund and determine
which can be resolved through rulemaking, which can be handled
through TCEQ policymaking and which might need to go back to
the legislature for statutory changes, said Larry Soward, TCEQ
commissioner.
Soward said some issues have already been
addressed. For example, Texas drycleaners can make quarterly
payments on their annual registration fees instead of paying
the entire year’s fee in one lump sum in advance.
He also said the commission is suspending
collections of the $1,000 fee for drop stores pending a
possible legislative review. The commission won’t bill
for any amount over $250 until that portion of the law has been
reviewed. The legislature, which convenes next January, could
change the fee structure. If it doesn’t, however,
cleaners would still owe the fee.
The commission and interested drycleaners
will work over the summer to develop proposals to submit to
lawmakers on any issues that would need attention from the
legislature, Soward said.
He also noted that a lawsuit filed by a
group of Texas cleaners seeking to halt collection of the fees
has been postponed until June 2005. The case had been set for
trial this spring. The postponement will give an opportunity to
resolve issues without going to court, Soward said.
“It’s better to spend the time
and money productively to address these issues than go to
court,” Soward commented.
The May 7 meeting will replace the regular
meeting of the public advisory committee scheduled for April.
The committee includes three drycleaning industry
representatives, two public representatives and one
“urban” representative.
All cleaners are invited to attend the May
7 meeting, which will be held at TCEQ headquarters in Austin.
The law gives drycleaners relief from
liability for contamination and assistance with cleanups.
Cleaners must pay fees based on sales volume and solvent
purchases and comply with performance standards in their
cleaning operations.
The cleanup fund will be built primarily
on the fees charged to solvent purchases. Solvent fees are set
at $15 per gallon of perc and $5 per gallon for other solvents,
with liquid carbon dioxide exempt. The annual registration fees
are based on sales volume — $2,500 for plants with annual
receipts of more than $100,000 and $250 for those under
$100,000.
The law also establishes performance
standards including the use of dikes or other containment
structures around drycleaning machines that use perc and where
perc is stored; closed, direct-coupled delivery systems (when
those systems have become generally available); and forbids
discharge of wastewater to a sanitary sewer or septic tank.
Information about the and development of
regulations is available on the TCEQ web site: www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/permitting/remed/vcp/dryclean.html.
TCEQ has also established an e-mail
service to provide information about upcoming meetings, new
information about the program and updates of the web site
concerning the program. To sign up for the e-mail service, send
a blank e-mail to: join-dryclean@listserv.tceq.state.tx.us with
no subject or message.
Cleaners with questions or comments about
the e-mail service can send e-mail to dryclnrs@tceq.state.tx.us
or call the Drycleaner Hotline at (512) 239-1011.
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