Emissions Experts

RGGI V25 : 27.96WA Carbon Allowance W25 : 73.50WA Offset : 66.15CA Carbon Allowance W25 : 29.57CA Carbon Offset 0 DEBS : 26.00CA Carbon Offset 0 : 16.35CA Carbon Offset 8 : 15.56CA LCFS : 51.75OR Clean Fuel Program : 154.00D3 RIN : 2.44D4 RIN : 1.08D5 RIN : 1.08D6 RIN : 1.08WREGIS REC CRS Wind V25 : 3.25CT REC Class 1 : 38.75CT REC Class 2 : 25.25CT REC Class 3 : 28.50WA Clean Fuel Standard : 31.00
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Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB)

MECT NOx and HRVOC

The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria non-attainment area (HGB) is an 8-county region in greater Houston, TX.  Within HGB, the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) operates two cap-and-trade programs to reduce air pollution.  Industry voluntarily partnered with TCEQ to institute these programs to improve air quality beyond what was required by the US EPA under the Clean Air Act. 

The Mass Emissions Cap and Trade (MECT) program requires annual compliance for any operating facilities located in the HGB area with uncontrolled design capacity to emit 10 tons of NOx. Compliance is due March 1st following each calendar year and the last day for procuring MECT NOx allowances for the previous year’s compliance is January 30th.

The Highly Reactive VOC Emissions Cap and Trade (HECT) program requires annual compliance for any operating facilities located in HGB area with uncontrolled design capacity to emit 10 tons of HRVOC.  A subset of volatile organic compounds (VOC), the highly reactive variants (HRVOC) are chemical compounds that are particularly prone to react with NOx and form ground-level ozone.  Ozone, while beneficial in the upper atmosphere, is harmful to human health and is not naturally present in significant concentrations at the ground level.   HRVOC is a small cap-and-trade program that regulates facilities only in Harris County. 

2023 MECT Facilities: 332
2023 HECT Facilities: 51
2023 MECT Emissions: 31,667 tons
2023 HECT Emissions: 1,693 tons

Effective Jan 1, 2002, NOx emitters were originally given a free allocation of allowance perpetuities (casually referred to as perps) that renews every year.  If a company was allocated 1,000 MECT NOx perpetuities, they would have had 1,000 vintage 2001 allowances that could be used to offset their NOx emissions for calendar year 2001.  Each year, their account would show 1,000 single-year allowances.  The TCEQ automatically removes allowances equal to a facility’s reported emissions each year.  If a balance remains, those roll over as “vintage” allowances & may be used to offset the next year’s emissions.  After another year passes, the allowances expire and may not be used for a 3rd year.  While the price of perpetual MECT NOx allowances is typically very expensive, single-year credits are relatively cheap.  Some companies

have chosen to sell their perps for a substantial windfall and buy annually.  HECT works in the same way, but HECT is a much smaller market due to the number of facilities. 

Emissions Experts provides annual allowances to facilities which are usually delivered in January.  In many cases, we contract with facilities who lock in their price and notify us of their actual emissions (and therefore their purchase volume) in January.

HGB Non-attainment Counties:  Harris, Galveston,Brazoria, Chambers, Liberty Montgomery, Fort Bend, and Waller