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  Newsletters > January 08

Chapman Engineering
January 2008 Newsletter 

New TCEQ Commissioner

Bryan Shaw, Ph.D., an agricultural engineering professor at Texas A & M, was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to be the third commissioner for TCEQ recently.  Dr. Shaw started in the job on November 1, 2007.  Cal Chapman saw him speak in Austin last week.

Dr. Shaw is an air pollution and particulate matter expert, among other areas of interest.  He sounds as if he will continue the general policy of meeting environmental criteria while supporting the growth and stability of the Texas economy.  But Texas is going to see more environmental challenges in the air pollution area, especially in the Houston-Galveston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas, thanks to industrial and vehicle-related air pollution.

Chapman Engineering did a small study several years ago of the Stage I vapor recovery equipment at a number of fuel facilities in the Houston area.  TCEQ air pollution models make the assumption that Stage I controls capture 95 percent of the gasoline vapors being displaced from tanks during fuel deliveries.  Our limited study suggested that this is an extremely optimistic assumption!  Because of bad check valves, bad seals, or tanker drivers not putting the time and effort into their work with hoses and Stage I equipment, we suspect the Stage I performance might be closer to 50 or 60 percent.  This may be a big problem for Houston-Galveston in view of their “State Implementation Plan” with the EPA – the plan that says how that area will stop generating so much ozone over the years . . . because the TCEQ model of how air pollution is happening may not be so accurate.

Cathodic Protection System Testing

Many of our customers are coming up on their annual renewals for pollution liability insurance on UST systems.  So this is the time of year we get lots of calls for report copies, getting testing work done, and so on.  Cathodic protection testing needs to be performed long before the insurance renewal date.  This is because, very often, we find broken wires or other things not functioning right.  By the time the problem is troubleshot and then fixed, this deadline has passed, and you have a very upset insurance company!

Give us all the “lead time” you can, please.  And if you want to call to review what needs to be done for the insurance renewal, we welcome that.

For questions or to refer a friend to us who needs help, please call Mack Brice or myself at 800-375-7747.  And the best in 2008 to all of you!

-Cal Chapman