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Understanding The Texas Emissions Reduction Plan
from:The Texas emissions reduction plan or TERP is a highly focused government based programs designed to lower the amount of harmful emissions and carbon produced by poorly functioning or older heavy vehicles on the road. The Texas emissions reduction plan is administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and is one of the many environmental protection programs offered throughout the state to help improve the quality of the environment.
The premise of the Texas emissions reduction plan is that older heavy vehicles or those heavy vehicles and engines that are in poor repair or maintenance are more likely to inefficiently burn fuel, resulting in higher carbon and other harmful emissions. The Texas emissions reduction plan is also available for stationary motors and specific types of off road equipment, although recreational or competition type vehicles are not eligible for the program. The program itself is actually a series of grants that are offered at different types throughout the year as funds become available.
Anyone that owns, operates or leases the equipment that meets the criteria for the specific open grants through the Texas emissions reduction plan is eligible to submit an application for the various grants. Each county participating in the project is then allocated a specific amount of funding based on a pre-determined schedule. Typically the counties involved in the Texas emissions reduction plan are around the major centers in the state including Dallas Ft. Worth in central Texas, Tyler and Longview in east Texas, as well as Austin, Houston and San Antonio which are more southern in location within the state.
Examples of heavy equipment eligible for the grants include all types of buses, delivery trucks, fuel trucks and general hauling trucks. The other types of motors and equipment eligible include tractors, loaders, pavers, cranes, backhoes, forklifts, locomotive, drilling rig engines and stationary generators and compressors. Equipment may be owned by companies, government agencies, businesses or by private individuals, all are equally eligible for the grant program.
The application forms for the Texas emissions reduction plan are all available online, as are the calculators to allow applicants to accurately measure how large the reduction in emissions would be with the upgrade to their equipment. Various types of engines will have greater amounts of emission reduction per upgrade, so the evaluators look at which applications will result in the greatest amount of environmental impact. Grant recipients are then notified of the status of their application and the funds are dispersed to allow the necessary upgrades to make the equipment more environmentally friendly and reduce emissions.
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