By: Creighton (Senate Sponsor - Nichols) H.B. No. 444
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 7, 2011;
April 20, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
Natural Resources; May 4, 2011, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 4, 2011, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to notification of applications for permits for certain
injection wells.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 27.017, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 27.017. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM OTHER ENTITIES. (a) The
executive director shall submit to the [Texas] Department of State
Health Services and to other persons which the commission may
designate copies of every application received in proper form.
These entities may make recommendations to the commission
concerning any aspect of the application within 30 days.
(b) If an application is received in proper form for a
permit for an injection well to dispose of industrial and municipal
waste and the proposed location of the injection well is in the
territory of a groundwater conservation district, the executive
director shall submit a copy of the application to the governing
body of the groundwater conservation district.
SECTION 2. Section 27.018, Water Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) In addition to the requirements of Subsection (c),
before any testimony is heard in a contested case regarding an
application for a permit for an injection well to dispose of
industrial and municipal waste that is proposed to be located in the
territory of a groundwater conservation district, the record of the
proceeding must include evidence that:
(1) a copy of each draft permit proposed by the
executive director was provided to the governing body of the
groundwater conservation district; and
(2) notice of the contested case hearing was mailed to
the governing body of the groundwater conservation district.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only in
regard to the provision of copies of and proceedings on an
application for a permit for an injection well to dispose of
industrial and municipal waste that is proposed to be located in the
territory of a groundwater conservation district that is received
in proper form by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on
or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
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