In the Beginning: Focusing on North Texas Air
TBCA Foundation was born as the educational sister organization to the TBCA PAC that fought TXU's plans to build coal-fired power plants.  Its founders, who are located in Dallas, originally focused their efforts on the threat to air quality in North Texas.

The nine-county DFW area is out of compliance with federal Clean Air Act requirements for ozone levels, and the state is under an order to come up with a plan to bring it back into compliance by June 15, 2010. The plan for achieving compliance - the region's revision of the State Implementation Plan, or the "DFW SIP" - was proposed in December 2006 and adopted by the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) in May 2007. On July 1, 2008, the EPA proposed conditional apoproval of the DFW SIP.

Learn more about the SIP process

If the DFW SIP fails to improve air quality to meet federal requirements, the EPA has the power to impose draconian penalties that would strike a devastating blow to economic development in North Texas. Those penalties include the loss of all federal funding for transportation projects - both roadways and mass transit. TBCA's activities since the Legislative session have been focused on making sure that doesn't happen.

Learn more about our activities

TBCA's interest in air quality does not stop at the limits of the DFW area, however, so the search began for an Executive Director to lead its transformation into a statewide organization. 

TBCA Foundation: Expanding our reach statewide
In September, 2007 TBCA hired as its Executive Director Judge Margaret Keliher, who, in her former role as Dallas County Judge, became an expert in the subject of air quality in Texas. As County Judge she served as co-chair of the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee, the group charged with helping the state develop the DFW SIP. She shares the founders' philosophy that there is no conflict between promoting clean air and business interests, but rather a natural alliance between the two.

Under the leadership of Judge Keliher, TBCA Foundation is expanding its influence beyond North Texas, educating the public and opinion leaders around the state about our win-win vision: cleaning the air, meeting our energy needs, attracting cutting-edge technology industries and good jobs to Texas, and creating a healthier environment for Texas families.

Priorities will be established and resources focused on achieving cleaner air in areas like Houston that are in non-attainment as well as areas like Austin, San Antonio and Waco that are threatened with non-attainment status.

In all of its educational work, TBCA Foundation is guided by this core principle:

Clean air is good for Texas business and good for Texas families.