"Navigating Texas NSR & Title V Program Permitting
and Compliance Challenges Presented by
Today's TCEQ & Obama's EPA"



Presented by Laura LaValle
Environmental Attorney
Principal - Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.

Industry faces significant uncertainty and challenges in connection with EPA's multiple objections to Texas' NSR and Title V permitting programs. Flexible permitting, qualified facility permitting, and the pollution control project standard permit are among the Texas air program elements at issue. Ms. LaValle will provide an update on TCEQ and EPA air permitting program activity, along with strategies for dealing with new and anticipated changes in Texas NSR and Title V permitting. The presentation will also include a discussion of changes/trends in how those agencies assess compliance with and enforce Texas air permit requirements.

Laura LaValle is a principal in the Austin office of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. Her practice has focused on Clean Air Act matters for the past fifteen years. Ms. LaValle's air quality experience includes advising and representing entities on a broad range of permitting, compliance, and policy issues. Ms. LaValle has represented chemical manufacturing operations, electric utilities, petroleum refineries, municipal solid waste landfills, steel manufacturing facilities, mining operations, municipal waste combustors, trade associations, and other facility types regarding federal and state permitting and compliance issues, including New Source Review and Title V permitting. Ms. LaValle has experience representing individual entities and trade associations on federal and state policy issues. She advises clients regarding compliance audits, provides counsel and representation on enforcement matters, and represents regulated entities in administrative hearings.

Before entering private practice, Ms. LaValle served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Natural Resources Division of the Office of the Attorney General of Texas. She also worked for the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, where she rose from the position of staff attorney in the Air Quality Section to senior attorney. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. LaValle served as a Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force. As a Judge Advocate, she acquired extensive litigation experience prosecuting military criminal trials by court-martial and representing the Air Force in administrative hearings. Her Air Force practice also included providing counsel on environmental issues and assistance with environmental compliance audits at various Air Force bases.

Ms. LaValle is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Florida Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, the American Bar Association, and the Austin Bar Association. She previously served as a member of the State Bar of Texas Public and Administrative Law Council. She studied piano performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music before transferring to Duke University, from which she received a B.A. in political science. She was awarded a J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law, where she was a member of and assistant articles editor for the University of Florida Law Review.