The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Emissions Banking and Trading (EBT) programs facilitate the trading of emission products within the State of Texas. For the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) region, consisting of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty Montgomery, and Waller* counties, the EBT Program consists of two cap-and-trade programs and two generating/offset programs:
- Highly Reactive Volatile Organic Compound (HRVOC) Emissions Cap and Trade (HECT) is an annual compliance program that caps the emissions of HRVOC emissions from specific sources in Harris county;
- Mass Emissions Cap and Trade Program (MECT) is an annual compliance program that caps emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) for sites with greater than 10-tons of NOx potential to emit (PTE);
- Emission Reduction Credits (ERC) is a program for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that requires sites in the HGB to offset emissions based on the current non-attainment designation as well as capital project PTE; and
- Discrete Emission Reduction Credit (DERC) is a program where discrete emission reductions comply with various Federal and State requirements.
*Waller is not included in the 2015 counties for attainment status.