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LEAD-IN BY HOST: As the Texas legislature faces a budget shortfall, Governor Rick Perry's no new taxes pledge may endanger funding for Houston's clean air plan. David Stiles has more: STORY: The EPA-approved clean air plan is not adequately funded and is 56 tons of ozone pollutants short of compliance with federal clean air standards according to environmental groups, the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The State's clean air plan has two kinds of pollution controls. One set of controls is for pollution sources that are stationary such as factories and the other set of controls is on mobile sources such as diesel trucks. The Texas Emission Reduction Plan would reduce pollution from mobile sources through a fee on out-of-state vehicle registration. A federal court ruled last year that the fee was unconstitutional so the Plan lost nearly all of its funding. When asked if the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is looking into alternatives for compliance with federal standards, TCEQ spokesperson Adria Dawidzik said: "At this point in time we are 56 tons short, and we have not identified yet how we'll come up with that amount. We are hoping that this legislative session can come up with other ways to fund this program." With a state budget shortfall, environmental groups expect some difficulty in getting funding for the plan. John Wilson, of Galveston Houston Area Smog Prevention, explains: "People will be watching this time and they won't just sort of let somebody mess with the bill. Anytime anybody messes with it they will call them on it, and say, remember what happened last time. So I think that it is sort of a case where everybody is going to fight the last war." The Texas Emission Reduction Plan is only one part of the entire state clean air plan and according to both government and community sources, the state's plan has more than just funding problems. John Wilson: "The overall problems with the plan that we're concerned about in terms of regulation of industrial emissions is something that is possible for them to intervene in it. But it would be really difficult for the legislature to get in at that level of detail." Governor Rick Perry's promise to not create new taxes and the legal obstacles to funding could endanger the entire clean air plan according to Larry Nettles, an environmental attorney with Vinson and Elkins: "The TERP needs to be funded. Because if the TERP is not funded, it is clear that the Houston-Galveston plan is inadequate. Many members of the legislature have decreed that there will be no new taxes this session, so that takes several possible sources off the table and leaves selected fee increases as the only possible sources to come up with the necessary funding." The EPA has threatened to withdrawal approval of the state's clean air plan by August of this year if the Texas emission reduction plan does not receive funding. The state would then have to fix the plan by 2004 when the EPA would again review the state's plan. If by 2007, Texas has not implemented a plan that brings the state into compliance with federal clean air laws, the three major penalties are: First, Texas will receive no federal highway funds. Second, Harris county, Texas, and Houston may not use their own funds to construct highways except for reasons of safety. And third, any new source of pollution moving to the state will have to find an existing Texas company that will reduce its own pollution by twice that of the new source. Texas legislators have not proposed any alternate plans to fund the Texas emissions reduction plan or address the 56-ton shortfall in the state clean air plan. Both the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and community groups are waiting to see what this legislative session will or will not offer. E-mail David Stiles at stiles138@yahoo.com . This story was broadcast on January 15, 2003.