This agreement provides funding to the texas commission on environmental quality (tceq)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 awarded $1,589,021 to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) under the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Prevention, Detection, and Compliance Program (CFDA 66.804) effective September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026. This formula grant funds TCEQ's leaking underground storage tank (LUST) prevention program, which delivers comprehensive compliance and enforcement activities including facility inspections, operator training, secondary containment support, delivery prohibition implementation, and public reporting. The primary deliverables include conducting inspections of regulated UST facilities at least once every three years to ensure compliance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, issuing enforcement actions against violators, maintaining appropriate compliance records, and providing UST facility information to the public and EPA in accordance with federal guidelines.

TCEQ subawards a portion of this funding to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), which serves as a subrecipient responsible for conducting investigations at petroleum storage tank facilities regulated under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Through this collaborative arrangement, UTA assists TCEQ in meeting the mandatory three-year inspection cycle requirement for all regulated UST facilities across Texas. Together, these entities work to ensure UST owners and operators properly maintain and monitor their underground storage tanks while developing the state program to operate in lieu of the federal program.

Specifically, the recipient provides funding for the state's leaking underground storage tank (lust) prevention program, which includes leak detection, prevention, and related enforcement activities. The main objectives of the lust prevention program include encouraging owners and operators to properly operate and maintain their underground storage tanks (usts), ensuring owners and operators monitor usts in accordance with regulations, and developing the state program to operate in lieu of the federal program. Activities:lust prevention programs include inspections and other enforcement related activities, operator training, secondary containment support activities, delivery prohibition activities, and public reporting requirements.subrecipient:the tceq subawards this award to the university of texas at arlington (UTA) as a subrecipient. The UTA assists the tceq with conducting UST facility inspections at least once every three years, to ensure all UST facilities that are regulated by the energy policy act of 2005 are investigated to meet the federal requirements. Outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include the following: (1) maintain appropriate records to demonstrate compliance; (2) develop and maintain an inspection strategy to conduct inspections of all UST facilities at least once every three years; (3) issue enforcement actions to UST owners and operators who violate regulations; (4) produce, maintain, and make available to the public, a record of regulated usts in accordance with the environmental protection agency (EPA) guidelines; (5) submit a certification indicating the state has or has not met the requirements of the energy policy act of 2005; (6) state will provide information through interviews, file reviews, and data analysis to assist the EPA in completion of the regional program overview; (7) the state will submit an updated quality management plan (QMP) and the quality assurance project plans (qapp) 60 days prior to expiration of current plans. The expected outcome of this cooperative agreement is the number of inspections completed of the tanks in the state of texas. The primary beneficiaries are the state UST program and state residents.