Watershed Protection Plan - Lower Rio Grande Valley Development ...

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
managing projects across the state. TWRI links
academic expertise with agencies and stakeholders to
provide research-derived, science-based information
to help answer diverse water questions and to produce
communications materials to convey critical information
and to gain visibility for its cooperative programs. The
ACW Partnership anticipates working closely with TWRI
to implement the ACW Protection Plan .
Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA)
The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) regulates
agricultural pesticide use in Texas by ensuring that
regulated products are used in a manner that is safe to
health and environment through licensing, inspection
and testing. TDA also ensures the quality of consumer
products before they are sold and provides fi nancial
assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers and
value-added enterprises.
The TDA’s Pesticide Programs Division
encompasses worker protection, registration,
certifi cation and training; endangered species; risk
assessment and toxicology; compliance and program
development; and laboratory services. The TDA’s Rural
Economic Development (RED) division is committed
to rural economic and agribusiness development. TDA
works closely with the Offi ce of the Governor, Economic
Development and Tourism, Texas Cooperative
Extension Service (TCE) and many other public and
private partners to increase opportunities for rural and
agribusiness development and to promote and assist
rural communities. TDA has several programs that work
to assist and promote value-added production and
the processing and marketing of agricultural products
.
Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality (TCEQ)
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
(TCEQ) is responsible for regulating the discharge of
contaminants to surface water, groundwater, soil and air
through a wide variety of programs and conducts public
E&O in support of these programs. The TCEQ also
monitors and assesses the health of surface waters
to determine compliance with state’s Surface Water
Quality Standards. Additionally, the TCEQ conducts
CWA Section 401 certifi cation reviews of CWA Section
404 permit applications sent to the USACE for the
State-federal agency meeting on Aeration structures
discharge of dredged or fi ll material into waters of the
United States, including wetlands. These certifi cation
reviews determine whether a proposed discharge or
other permit action will comply with state’s Surface
Water Quality Standards.
The TCEQ administers several programs designed
to fund environmental improvements, including the
Supplemental Environmental Project Program and the
Urban Nonpoint Source Grant Program, which can
be used to fund a wide variety of activities including
wetland protection and restoration .
Texas General Land Office (GLO)
In Texas, near-shore waters below the mean hightide
mark belong to the state. Texas state law delegates
regulation of activities conducted in coastal areas on
state-owned lands such as the construction of marinas,
piers, docks, etc., to the Texas General Land Offi ce
(GLO). Although federal regulations also apply in most
of these circumstances, GLO review of construction
permits provides an additional level of scrutiny of
impacts to state waters and the public. Any lands that
accumulate as a result of activities within waters over
state-owned lands generally revert to the state. The
General Land Offi ce administers several important
coastal conservation and resource management
programs that affect planning and management of
resources in the Arroyo Colorado watershed, including
Coastal Texas 2020, the Coastal Management Program
.
Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan 68 January 2007