Discuss, consider and take appropriate action on a commitment by Williamson County to provide funding not to exceed $15,762.00 to support the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) Air Quality Program for fiscal year 2021; and authorize the County Judge to issue a letter to CAPCOG confirming Williamson County’s funding commitment.

Williamson County and the rest of the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown metro area are at risk of violating federal air quality standards and being designated “nonattainment” for the EPA’s ground-level ozone standard. Designation of non-attainment would be devastating to Williamson County and our economy, because it would severely curtail business expansion, and once on the non-attainment list, it takes many years of continuous air quality monitoring to prove a region is back in attainment. Compliance with these standards is considered necessary to protect public health, particularly for children, seniors, and adults with chronic respiratory problems such as asthma. 

In order to address this problem, the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) Clean Air Coalition (CAC) adopted a 2019-2023 regional air quality plan and has funded CAPCOG’s air quality program to help carry out a number of important tasks to support the regional plan, including: 

- Ozone monitoring  (CAPCOG operates 8 of the 10 monitoring sites in the region)
- Analysis of air pollution and meteorological data
- Tracking the implementation of the regional air quality plan through an annual air quality report
- Development of estimates of emissions and modeling of air pollution levels within the region
- Technical and policy advice to Clean Air Coalition members
- Technical assistance to CAC members to implement emission reduction measures
- Other on-going air quality planning activities for the region

Two of CAPCOG’s eight ozone monitors are located in Williamson County. These monitors are particularly important to Williamson County because they are the only ozone monitors located in the County. Even though Travis County might be found in non-attainment, the monitors in Williamson County may prove that our county can still be in attainment, which will only help economic development in our county. 

From 2002 – 2017, CAPCOG’s air quality program was funded primarily from a state grant program that provided regional air quality planning funds for areas that were considered “near-nonattainment” for EPA’s ground-level ozone standards. In the summer of 2017, Governor Abbott vetoed this program. In order to keep CAPCOG’s program in place, the cities and counties in CAPCOG’s CAC agreed to jointly provide funding to CAPCOG based on each jurisdiction’s population. Williamson County has supported this air quality monitoring program ever since. 

In order to ensure that the program can continue to carry out its work in 2021, CAPCOG has requested that each Clean Air Coalition member consider making a “pledge” to continue funding the program in FY 2021. Williamson County's share has been reduced from $45,706 in FY 2020 to $15,762 for FY 2021, which was included in this year's budget already.