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Stakeholders push TCEQ for incentives and verification to boost Notices of Termination filings
Summary
Stakeholders and TCEQ staff discussed widespread failure to submit Notices of Termination (NOTs) at the end of construction authorizations and floated ideas — fees, inspections, automatic lists, and incentives — to increase NOT submission rates; TCEQ said it will consider suggestions and already maintains an expiration list used at renewal.
Multiple stakeholders told TCEQ staff that many operators fail to submit Notices of Termination (NOTs) when construction stabilizes and authorizations should end, leaving many outdated active authorizations in the system. TCEQ staff acknowledged the problem and solicited ideas to increase NOT submission rates.
The issue: Mariana Rivas Varela told attendees there are roughly 25,000 active authorizations as of May 2026. Benjamin Dixon and Rebecca Vialva said many of those should have terminated but instead simply expired, and that creates administrative and compliance difficulties for both operators and the agency.
Suggested approaches: Participants proposed a range of ideas during the meeting and public comment period:
- Financial incentives/penalties: Several commenters suggested holding a credit card on file, charging an annual fee until NOT is submitted, or collecting an upfront refundable fee that is returned when the NOT is filed. McKenna Wheeler (Small Business, TCEQ) suggested charging an additional fee and refunding it upon NOT submission as one mechanism to encourage compliance.
- Inspector verification: Lillian Butler and others recommended having inspectors or MS4s check for NOT submission during routine compliance inspections or using MS4 inspection reports as corroborating documentation.
- Automatic outreach: Staff noted the renewal process generates a list of authorizations that automatically expired when the prior permit term ended; they suggested TCEQ could follow up with those operators to ask whether coverage is still needed and require an NOI to continue coverage.
Staff response: TCEQ said it is exploring low‑cost, implementable options and is cautious about complex IT or financial system changes. Vialva noted that some ideas would require coordination with financial and information‑technology teams and legal review before being implemented.
Next steps: TCEQ asked stakeholders to submit specific proposals and examples during the two‑week informal comment period and said staff will consider comments as they prepare the draft for formal public notice. No formal enforcement policy or fee was adopted at the meeting.
