Environmental Programs

Why The Concern With Air Quality?

Based on ozone levels measured since 1990, the North Texas region was reclassified in 1998 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a "serious nonattainment" area. The nonattainment area, which is made up of Collin, Denton, Dallas and Tarrant Counties, must come into compliance with the current federal standards for ground-level ozone by 2010. Failure to do so would allow the federal government to take punitive actions against the region as authorized by Congress in the Federal Clean Air Act.

These sanctions could include strict limitations on future industrial growth in the region and a potential loss of billions of dollars in federal transportation funds. The net effect would likely be decreased economic growth, loss of jobs as businesses choose to relocate facilities, and a negative image for the region. Most importantly, failure to comply with the ozone standard would result in poor air quality and its adverse health consequences for North Texas residents.

What Is The Definition Of "Compliance"?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency declares a region to be in compliance with air quality standards when it experiences no more than three exceedances over a consecutive three year period at a single air pollution monitor. An ozone exceedance violation for this region is currently defined by the EPA as any measurement which exceeds its existing standard of 85 parts per billion or more, averaged over a one-hour period.

The EPA has established a deadline of 2010 for the North Texas nonattainment region to attain clean air compliance. To actually achieve attainment in 2010, the D/FW area ozone monitors must show no more than three exceedances of the ozone standard in years 2007, 2008 and 2009. If the region experiences four or more exceedances in a year, we may be reclassified as a "severe" nonattainment area. This reclassification could result in serious negative consequences for the Dallas/Fort Worth region.

What Is The North Texas Clean Air Coalition?

Recognizing the potential negative consequences the region could face if we failed to achieve clean air compliance, several local organizations stepped up to the plate in 1993, forming the North Texas Clean Air Coalition (NTCAC) to help address the issue. The group’s founding members include the North Texas Commission, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Dallas Chamber and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority joined forces with the group shortly thereafter. From the start, the group’s mission has been to promote voluntary actions to improve air quality in North Texas.

In 2002, the North Texas Commission was awarded a $900,000 federal grant to manage an air quality public information program in cooperation with the NTCAC for 2003 and 2004. This is the latest of a series of grants from the federal government to fund public information campaigns in North Texas about air quality. Local corporate sponsors have provided a local match to these funds for a number of years.

Because most of the air emissions in the D/FW nonattainment region come from mobile sources, chiefly automobiles, NTC and NTCAC work to encourage individuals in this region to make changes in their commuting patterns to help solve this problem. The coalition also works to promote employer-organized ridesharing programs such as transit passes, vanpools or carpools or provision of other incentives for employees who participate in trip reduction programs. NTCAC publicizes the benefits which may result from these commuting changes including a healthier environment, savings in auto and insurance costs, improved parking, shorter commutes and tax advantages for employers.

NTCAC Executive Board Members:

  • Chairman: Cathy Lilford Altman, Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P.
  • Immediate PastChairman: Dominick Lampe, Raytheon, Collin County
  • Dan S. Petty - North Texas Commission
  • Jay Barksdale - Greater Dallas Chamber
  • John Hedrick - Denton County Transportation Authority
  • Richard Maxwell - Fort Worth Transit Authority
  • Mindy Mize - North Central Texas Council of Governments
  • Dennis Mochon - Dallas Area Rapid Transit
  • Brinton Payne - Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce
  • Mark Burroughs - Sawko and Burroughs, L.L.P. Denton County
  • Joe Downing II - Bell Helicopter Tarrant County
  • Howard Gilberg - Guida Slavich & Flores, P.C. Dallas County
  • Tim Keleher - Exelon Power Texas At-Large Representative
  • John W. Matthews - Johnson County Western County Subregion
  • Kathy Doyle Thomas - Half Price Books At-Large Representative
  • Judge Ron Harris - Collin County, Ex-officio
  • Judge Margaret Keliher - Dallas County, Ex-officio
  • Judge Tom Vandergriff - Tarrant County, Ex-offico
  • Judge Mary Horn - Denton County, Ex-officio

NTCAC Marketing & Education Committee

The North Texas Clean Air Coalition has a Marketing and Education Committee to help create strategies to promote the air quality issue to North Texas residents and to inform school children and the general public about air quality issues.