The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved penalties totaling $2,005,457 against 84 regulated entities for violations of state environmental regulations, according to an Aug. 12 news release from the agency.
Commissioners approved $1,823,148 in penalties against 40 regulated entities at the commission’s Aug. 12 agenda meeting, the release said. In addition, the agency’s executive director approved penalties totaling $182,309 against 44 entities on Aug. 11.
Agreed orders were issued in a range of enforcement categories, according to the release: 15 air quality, two industrial hazardous waste, three multi-media, seven municipal wastewater discharge, three public water system, one sludge, one waste disposal well and two water quality cases.
Default orders, issued when an entity does not respond to enforcement action, covered one Edwards Aquifer, one municipal solid waste, one municipal wastewater discharge, one petroleum storage tank, one public water system and one water quality case, the agency said.
Agenda items from the meeting can be viewed on the TCEQ website, and meetings are streamed live on the agency’s agenda meeting webcasts page, with archived meetings available on the TCEQ YouTube channel. The commission’s next agenda meeting is scheduled for Aug. 26, when enforcement actions will again be up for consideration.