Are you confused about state and federal environmental regulations that affect your business or local government? Did you know that you may need to follow drinking water rules, or file for an air authorization or a stormwater permit to conduct business? Or, that you must notify the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality if you’re generating waste?
To help small businesses and local governments, TCEQ provides free, confidential environmental compliance assistance on air, water, waste, and pollution prevention issues without the threat of enforcement. In addition, its helpful website, texasenvirohelp.org, serves as an informational hub with useful links to air, water, waste, and industry requirements.
TCEQ offers assistance through its Small Business and Local Government Assistance Program. Businesses and local governments can request one-on-one assistance and free, on-site environmental compliance assessments—and all information remains confidential from TCEQ’s enforcement process.
In addition, recognizing that the needs of rural communities differ from those of other areas of the state, the agency created a rural ombudsman position. Jason Robinson has been selected as the agency’s first rural ombudsman. He will use his 12 years of experience working for a small community to link small, local governments with TCEQ assistance programs, regulators, and other associations and state agencies. He will also bring specific concerns to the attention of agency leaders and rule makers to facilitate better communication and compliance.
By visiting texasenvirohelp.org you can find a number of compliance assistance tools, regulatory guidance leaflets, and easy-to-follow checklists for various industries, such as auto body shops, metal finishers, dry cleaners, automotive repair facilities, surface coaters, and auto salvage yards. In addition, you can find air, water, and waste requirements for small businesses. For example, texasenvirohelp.org offers guidance on calculating your air emissions, explains how to manage hazardous waste, and includes stormwater pollution prevention plan templates, wastewater tools, and public drinking water resources.
Feel free to call TCEQ’s TexasEnviroHelp hotline for more information about these programs, as well as free and confidential assistance with environmental regulatory questions. Call Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 1-800-447-2827. For more information on TCEQ’s program and tools, visit www.texasenvirohelp.org.
