The Central Texas Clean Air Coalition

The Central Texas Clean Air Coalition (CAC) is a voluntary association of organizations that support the regional effort toward improvement of air quality in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which consists of Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties. The purpose of the CAC is to:

  • Develop, adopt, and implement clean-air plans to achieve and maintain compliance with federal ground-level ozone standards
  • Establish and monitor a regional effort toward the improvement of air quality
  • Develop policies and strategies that will provide guidance for each of its independent governing bodies about actions that will achieve clean air in Central Texas
  • Work cooperatively to achieve clean air standards that will protect public health while allowing organizations to select measures best suited to each community's and organization's needs and resources

The CAC includes both "General Members" and "Supporting Members." General members include city and county governments that have made specific commitments to implement measures in support of the region's air quality plan and appoint an elected official to serve as a voting representative at CAC meetings. Supporting members include any organization that takes action to support the purpose of the CAC and reports their actions periodically to the CAC.

The CAC has an advisory committee that consists of staff members from each CAC member organization. 

General Members

Supporting Members

Meetings

The Clean Air Coalition meets at a time, date and place specified by the Coalition Chair, generally the second Wednesday of selected months. Meetings are open to the public and announced on CAPCOG's website once scheduled.

The Advance Program for Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter

In December 2018, the Clean Air Coalition and other stakeholders developed and implemented the 2019-2023 Regional Air Quality Plan designed to help keep Central Texas’ air clean. The regional plan serves as a guide to maintain and improve outdoor air quality; reduce the impact of emissions; and mitigate health, environmental, economic and social impacts of regional air pollution. 

Objectives & Measures

The plan’s two key objectives are:

  1. Maximizing the probability of compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) region-wide; and 
  2. Otherwise minimizing health and environmental impacts of regional air pollution.
    > Learn how air pollution affects your health.

In order to achieve these objectives, the plan calls for: 

  1. Implementation of controls on the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx)
  2. Outreach, education, and technical support to enhance NOx emission reductions;
  3. Outreach and education to reduce public exposure to ambient ground-level ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) when high enough to be considered “moderate” or worse based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Air Quality Index (AQI)
  4. Ambient air monitoring
  5. Other air quality research and planning activities
  6. Policy advocacy

Learn more about the Clean Air Coalition on the CAPCOG website...