Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Richard A. Hyde, Executive Director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

At issue in this case is whether Texas Tax Code Section 11.31 gives the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality discretion to deny an ad valorem tax exemption for heat recovery steam generators, devices the Legislature has deemed "pollution control property." The court of appeals held that the Commission does have that discretion. We disagree; thus, we reverse the court of appeals' judgment and remand the case to the Commission for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

Because this case involves tax exemptions for a particular type of property, we begin with a…