January 7, 2010
On January 7th, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a proposal to lower the federal eight-hour ozone standard to between 60 and 70 parts per billion (ppb). This announcement comes only 18 months after EPA lowered the standard to 75 ppb in March 2008. With this new, stricter standard, more areas of the state such as Austin, San Antonio and Longview-Marshall could fall into nonattainment, and areas such as Houston and Dallas will have an even more difficult task reaching attainment. To view the full release, click on the following link: EPA News Release.
There will be a public hearing on the proposal in Houston on February 2, 2010. TCC will be actively engaged in both the hearing and submitting comments on this proposal. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mike McMullen at (512) 646-6404 or mmcmullen@txchemcouncil.org.
November 5, 2009
On November 5th, President Obama and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the appointment of Dr. Alfredo “Al” Armendariz from Southern Methodist University as EPA Region 6 Administrator. This region encompasses Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and 66 Tribal Nations.
Regional Administrators are responsible for managing the Agency’s regional activities under the direction of the EPA Administrator.
Dr. Alfredo “Al” Armendariz is an Associate Professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he has taught environmental and civil engineering. For the past 15 years, Armendariz has worked in a variety of research and academic positions and has published several research papers. After college, he worked as a research assistant at the MIT Center for Global Change Science at their Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory in Massachusetts. He later joined Radian Corporation in North Carolina as a chemical engineer and in 2002 he joined the faculty at Southern Methodist University and also spent a summer on special assignment to EPA’s Dallas office as an Environmental Scientist.