The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA announced that it is approving Texas’ request to administer the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program for discharges from produced water, hydrostatic test water and gas plant effluent or oil and gas discharges, within the state of Texas. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will take over responsibility of permitting authority for the discharges of oil and gas ‎activities, pipelines and natural gas processing plants that formerly were under Railroad Commission of ‎Texas jurisdiction. More information about the NPDES program can be found here.

Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded the Texas Water Development Board $72,632,000 through the Clean Water Act’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund to provide low-interest loans to fund clean water projects in Texas. EPA’s funding provides a capitalization grant to TWDB’s CWSRF program to provide low-interest financing to eligible recipients, including municipalities or nonprofit groups that manage wastewater systems, nonpoint source pollution, or projects to improve water reuse or efficiency. The loans can finance costs associated with the planning, design, and construction of eligible water quality improvement and protection projects. More information on the CWSRF can be found here.