EPA Approves El Paso County’s Air Quality Maintenance Plan

El Paso improves carbon monoxide levels in the air, submit plan for keeping attainment levels in place. Also, Fluor contracted for offshore work in Mexico. CB&I awarded LNG expansion work in China.

El Paso Air-Quality Efforts Pay Off

Efforts over the past four years toward improved air quality in El Paso are seeing results as the Environmental Protection Agency recently approved a revision to the Texas State Implementation Plan, or SIP, to incorporate an air-maintenance plan for El Paso County.

Mark Smith. (Courtesy of PHA)

The plan’s purpose is to ensure continued attainment of the eight-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard for 10 years after the effective designation date of June 15, 2004.

The State of Texas, through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, submitted the eight-hour ozone NAAQS maintenance plan for El Paso County to the EPA on in January 2006. EPA approved the maintenance plan SIP revisions for the county as meeting requirements of the Clean Air Act and consistent with EPA guidance.

"Carbon monoxide had been a problem there,” Jeff Riley, environmental scientist with the EPA air programs section, told Texas Construction. “But the area was effectively re-designated for attainment for that standard."

"It is an official measure on the part of EPA showing that we're giving them credit for actually improving the air quality to the point of meeting that national air standard for carbon monoxide."

Officials in El Paso had to put forth a maintenance plan that effectively laid out a strategy demonstrating that they reached attainment and how they would stay at attainment, Riley says.

TCEQ works to develop the strategy and lay it out and the EPA reviewed it, deeming it satisfactory and beneficial for maintaining the air level, he adds.

The Clean Air eight-hour Ground-level Ozone rule is an EPA action designating areas whose air quality does not meet the health-based standards established in 1997 for ground-level ozone pollution.

A designation is a legal status such as attainment or non-attainment relating to whether an area violates a national ambient air-quality standard or contributes to a nearby violation.

The designation process plays a key role in letting the public know whether air quality is healthy. Once non-attainment designations take effect, the state and local governments generally have three years to develop implementation plans designed to meet the standards by reducing air pollutant emissions contributing to ground-level ozone concentrations.

"The distinction there is that in 2004 the area was designated at attainment for the eight-hour ozone," Riley says. "All they needed to do was to submit a maintenance plan showing the means of laying out how they intend to follow the measures to maintain and continue to improve their air quality."

It is important, Riley adds, to have plans in place to demonstrate that the area is prepared for the possibility of an emergency and demonstrating that there is a contingency plan.

"They have to show us that on a local scale - if there is an issue - they are prepared to improve the air quality in the case of an unexpected air quality emergency," he says.

Only one SIP exists for each state. For Texas, the document was initially approved in May 1972. Rather than re-writing the entire SIP regularly, parts of the SIP are revised as needed. Revisions, which must be approved by the EPA, are necessary when new federal or state requirements are enacted, new data improves modeling techniques, a specific area's attainment status changes or when an area fails to reach attainment.

ICA Fluor Gets $51 Million Contract for Offshore Platforms in Mexico

Irving-based Fluor Corp.'s Mexico-based industrial construction joint venture company ICA Fluor was awarded a $51 million contract by Mexico-based Pemex Exploration and Production for the construction of two lightweight offshore platforms for the Cantarell production field in the Gulf of Mexico.

ICA Fluor and its subsidiary Industria del Hierro will be responsible for the procurement, construction, testing and load out of the wellhead recovery structures. The new offshore platforms will be connected to the existing Akal-R and Akal-L production platforms. The goal of the additional infrastructure it to help Pemex maintain heavy oil and associated gas production levels at the Cantarell field and to help mitigate the impact of crude oil decrease at the reservoir.

PHA Commission Approves $9.5 Million in New Contracts

The Port Commission of The Port of Houston Authority recently approved a $5 million multiyear service contract supporting its Houston Ship Channel and Beneficial Use Sites work as well as a $4.5 million to fund final design work for Bayport Container Terminal gate expansion.

The commission approved a contract to a joint venture, Houston-based TCB Inc., which is changing its name to AECOM, and Gahagan & Bryant Associates Inc. of Houston for engineering and design services, construction management services, project coordination team representation, geotechnical services, surveying marsh management and other general assistance for five years for $5 million.

As the local sponsor for the Houston-Galveston Navigation Channels project to deepen and widen the Houston Ship Channel, the PHA has been involved with all facets of the project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and will be involved in future phases of the project.

PHA also authorized $4.5 million for the final design component of a professional services contract with Klotz Associates of Houston for the Bayport Container Terminal gate expansion.

The project will include inbound and outbound lanes, buildings, canopies and associated infrastructure for Bayport's ultimate build-out. PHA staff has negotiated with Klotz Associates Inc. to complete the design and prepare construction documents for the final gate configuration. Klotz's scope of work will also include a geotechnical investigation, surveying, architecture, engineering design and construction-phase services. Items added to the project since its inception include expanding the drainage investigation, modeling to ensure the gate electrical system is fully compatible with the existing Bayport electrical system as well as future expansion of the electrical system, 3D modeling of underground utilities to avoid utility conflicts, extension of southern berm and the telecommunications and security system.

CB&I Awarded Contract for LNG Expansion Project in China

Houston-based CB&I was awarded a contract recently for an import terminal expansion project in Fujian Province, China by CNOOC Fujian LNG Co. Ltd. - a co-investment of China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Fujian Investment and Development Corp. - for an undisclosed amount.

CB&I's scope of work includes engineering, procurement and construction of two additional 160,000-cu-meter full containment LNG storage tanks. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

The initial phase of the LNG terminal first received gas in April. It has a capacity of 2.6 million tons of LNG per year and includes two 160,000-cu-meter LNG storage tanks.

State Approves Funding for Terrell Municipal Airport

The Texas Transportation Commission recently approved $3.1 million in funding for the Terrell Municipal Airport for planned pavement and fencing improvements at the airport.

A contract for the project is expected to be awarded later this year. Project costs will be funded through TxDOT's Aviation Facilities Grant Program and the city of Terrell.

The grant program preserves and improves the state's general aviation system.

TxDOT expects to provide approximately $60 million in funding for planning, constructing and maintaining community airports in 2009. Approximately 275 community airports in Texas are eligible for funding.

Port of Houston Names New Police Chief, Acting Executive Director

Veteran law enforcement officer Mark Smith joined the Port of Houston Authority as its new police chief. As the senior law enforcement official in the port police, Smith is responsible for the planning and execution of the department's maritime security and law enforcement functions.

Smith brings more than 27 years of police experience and comes to PHA after serving as the director of safe and secure schools for Clear Creek ISD and previously served as the chief of police for the Galveston ISD and city of Crandall. Smith retired from the Dallas Police Department after 23 years of service.

Managing Director Wade Battles will serve as the acting executive director of PHA while the commission conducts a national search for a permanent executive director. The action follows the recent announcement of PHA Executive Director H. Thomas Kornegay's intention to retire early February after 37 years of service.

A longtime maritime professional, Battles has served as managing director for PHA since June 1999. In that position, Battles oversaw PHA's administrative and operational departments.

Kornegay has served as PHA's executive director for nearly 17 years of his 37-year tenure, a record for that position. He is stepping down for family reasons.