Environmental & TCEQ Compliance Risks

Many small Texas manufacturers really struggle to manage environmental and TCEQ rules, regulations and laws.

Unfortunately this not only puts the environment and local community at risk, but also the company at risk for major TCEQ and EPA environmental fines and penalties that can run into the $hundreds of thousands of dollars, and can exceed a $million in some cases.

We recently conducted a brief environmental assessment for a Texas manufacturer and identified the following compliance failures and risks. This summary information is a great reference guide for Texas manufacturers concerned about their environmental compliance condition:

Environmental Related Risks:

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) registration review:
- No Storm Water Permit or Authorizations: Virtually all manufacturing SIC codes trigger a Storm Water Permit and Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)
- No Surface Coating Permit By Rule authorization: Paint booths often trigger this PBR and the following maintenance requirements:

- - Maintain records of all paint usage
  - Emissions calculations to ensure not exceeding PBR lbs. per hour and annual tons per year
  - Control requirements, such as routine filter change-outs, use of 95% efficient filters
  - Identify if any “HAPS’ (hazardous Air Polluants)
  - Opacity: no visible emissions
  - If using ovens for drying, there are other requirements.
- Hazardous Waste Management:
  - EPA and State ID#’s not current or deactivated
  - Waste determination for all wastes not created
  - Drum Labeling issues
- Waste water discharge to drain: Company was illegally dumping wastes down the drain without authorization.
- TRI: No assessment conducted to determine if TRI or Tier II reporting required
- SPCC plan:
  - Is the total aggregate capacity of above ground oil storage containers greater than 1,320 gallons of oil? (Do not include containers less than 55 gallons, permanently closed container, motive power containers, or storage containers used exclusively for wastewater treatment.) Do include transformers, belly tanks in generators, cooking oils, hydraulic fluid, lubes, fuels (gasoline/kerosene), oils, etc. if they are 55 gallons or greater.
Employee training:
- DOT Hazardous Materials: Companies who ship any hazardous materials, including any quantity of hazardous waste, must conduct this employee training
- RCRA: Small Quantity Generators and Large Quantity Generators must conduct routine waste training
- Storm Water: Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans require extensive employee training requirements

Click here to learn more about TCEQ and EPA environmental compliance requirements in Texas.

Are you a small Texas manufacturer worried about your environmental, TCEQ or EPA compliance condition?

Call 512-457-0374 or Click Here To Schedule Your Free Consultation

By Russell Carr|2022-03-21T12:46:32-05:00April 26th, 2016|Hazardous Waste Management, Texas Environmental Regulations, Texas Hazardous Materials Regulations|Comments Off

About the Author: Russell Carr

How A Sales Guy Transformed Into An Environmental, Health & Safety Expert & Advocate For Small Businesses I've spent my entire 30+ year career working within the manufacturing and “industrial services” sectors. The first 15 years of my career focused on sales of hazardous materials related products and services to the manufacturing sector, then for the last 16+ years transitioned into entrepreneurship, founding 3 small industrial services related contracting businesses. As you’ll see below, running these companies eventually lead me to found yet a 4th business, but more on that in a minute…. Here’s a brief description of the first 3 companies: Berg Environmental Services, Inc.: hazardous waste disposal & transportation services, founded in August of 2003 3rd party wind energy operations & maintenance services provider to utility scale wind farms throughout the US, founded in September 2007 3rd party oil & gas exploration & production services provider, founded in August of 2011 Each of these companies operated in extremely dangerous working conditions and exposed my employees to a wide range of serious health & safety hazards on a daily basis. To complicate matters, 2 of the companies also exposed the environment to significant potential harm. In other words, I learned very early the critical importance of managing environmental, health and safety issues so as to ensure the safety of our employees and the environment, as well as minimizing related risks. But I also learned how incredibly difficult and challenging this endeavor can be due to the wide range of complicated and continually changing environmental, health and safety rules and regulations that impacted the companies. To summarize the challenges: First I had to determine which regulations applied to each company, then I had to build compliance programs to meet those regulations, and finally I had to ensure that the programs were being managed and followed by our staff on a daily basis. All while trying to run and grow 3 profitable businesses…. It was overwhelming and I always struggled to keep up. To make matters worse, throughout this time I also witnessed the devastating price that companies, management and ownership can pay for failing to manage EHS compliance. This included seeing one of my hazardous waste management clients get sent to jail over environmental issues, another client’s management team threatened with jail time, a direct competitor get fined $378,000 by OSHA fine after an employee was nearly killed, and many others face major fines and penalties. Full disclosure, one of my companies got fined by OSHA at one point, & another was cited by TCEQ, so I know how it feels. In summary, I learned first hand how incredibly difficult it is for small companies to manage EHS compliance due to a common lack of the critical expertise, time and resources that are needed to keep up, and how this situation then ends up exposing them to these potentially catastrophic risks that can literally destroy lives and businesses. This later inspired me to found my 4th company, Berg Compliance Solutions in 2012, which is dedicated to helping other small businesses, and business owners, to manage EHS compliance and risk. Education BA, Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, December, 1990. Summary of Professional Experience & Qualifications: 30+ years serving the manufacturing & industrial services sectors 30+ years of sales and marketing experience 16+ years as small business owner & entrepreneur: Founded and operated 4 small businesses since 2003. Environmental, Health & Safety Compliance & Program Related: 19 plus years of hazardous waste management including EPA, TCEQ & RCRA regulations 8 years of DOT/FMCSA compliance experience, including hazardous materials transportation 8 years of combined experience implementing and managing OSHA health and safety compliance programs for 2 high risk energy services businesses Successfully implemented and gained ISO 9001 Quality Management Certification and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Advisory Service) Certification for wind energy maintenance business. Regulatory Enforcement Related Experience: Served as expert witness in criminal environmental compliance enforcement cases Superfund-CERCLA OSHA enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in following industries: industrial services, manufacturing & construction. TCEQ enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in manufacturing.

Environmental & TCEQ Compliance Risks