By: Smith, Guillen, Kleinschmidt, et al. H.B. No. 1079
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the procedural requirements for action by the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality on applications for production
area authorizations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 27.0513(a), (c), (d), (e), and (f),
Water Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission may issue a permit pursuant to Section
27.011 that authorizes the construction and operation of two or
more similar injection wells within a specified area for mining of
uranium. An application for a new permit issued pursuant to Section
27.011, a major amendment of such a permit, or a renewal of such a
permit for mining of uranium is subject to the public notice
requirements and opportunity for contested case hearing provided
under Section 27.018. A new, amended, or renewal area permit must
incorporate a table of pre-mining low and high values representing
the range of groundwater quality within the area of review, as
provided by commission rule, for each water quality parameter used
to measure groundwater restoration in a commission-required
restoration table. The values in the area permit range table must
be established from all available wells within the area of review,
including those in the existing or proposed area permit boundary
and existing or proposed production area. Wells used for this
purpose are limited to those that have documented completion depths
and screened intervals that correspond to a uranium production zone
aquifer identified within an area permit boundary.
(c) The commission may issue a holder of a permit issued
pursuant to Section 27.011 for mining of uranium an authorization
that allows the permit holder to conduct mining and restoration
activities in production zones within the boundary established in
the permit. The commission by rule shall establish application
requirements, technical requirements, including the methods for
determining restoration table values, and procedural requirements
for any authorization. If a restoration table value for a proposed
authorization exceeds the range listed in the area permit range
table, such that it falls above the upper limit of the range, the
value within the area permit range table must be used or a major
amendment to the area permit range table must be made, subject to a
contested case hearing or the hearing requirements of Chapter 2001,
Government Code.
(d) Notwithstanding Sections 5.551, 5.556, 27.011, and
27.018, an application for an authorization [submitted after
September 1, 2007,] is an uncontested matter not subject to a
contested case hearing or the hearing requirements of Chapter 2001,
Government Code, if:
(1) the authorization is located within a permit that
incorporates a range of groundwater quality restoration values used
to measure groundwater restoration by the commission;
(2) the application includes groundwater quality
restoration values within the range established in Subdivision (1);
and
(3) the authorization is located within a permit that
incorporates groundwater monitoring characteristics of the
monitoring wells for the application required by commission rule
[unless the authorization seeks any of the following:
[(1) an amendment to a restoration table value;
[(2) the initial establishment of monitoring wells for
any area covered by the authorization, including the location,
number, depth, spacing, and design of the monitoring wells, unless
the executive director uses the recommendation of an independent
third-party expert chosen by the commission; or
[(3) an amendment to the type or amount of bond
required for groundwater restoration or by Section 27.073 to assure
that there are sufficient funds available to the state for
groundwater restoration or the plugging of abandoned wells in the
area by a third-party contractor].
(e) The range of restoration values in the range table used
for Subsection (d) must be established from all available well
sample data collected in the area of review [The executive director
may use an independent third-party expert if:
[(1) the expert meets the qualifications set by
commission rules for such experts;
[(2) the applicant for the authorization agrees to pay
the costs for the work of the expert; and
[(3) the applicant for the authorization is not
involved in the selection of the expert or the direction of the work
of the expert].
(f) As an alternative to Subsection (d), the first
application for an authorization issued under Subsection (c)
located within a permit issued under Subsection (a) is subject to
the requirements of Chapter 2001, Government Code, relating to
opportunities for contested case hearings. The first application
must contain the provisions listed in Subsections (d)(1)-(3). If a
first authorization has previously been issued within a permit,
that authorization is effective for the purposes of this
subsection. A subsequent application for an authorization located
within the same permit boundary is not subject to a contested case
hearing or the hearing requirements of Chapter 2001, Government
Code, unless the subsequent application would authorize the
following:
(1) the use of groundwater from an aquifer outside the
production zone aquifer for supplemental production water that was
not previously approved in the permit;
(2) expansion of the permit boundary; or
(3) application monitoring well locations that exceed
well spacing requirements or reduce the number of wells required by
commission rule [An application seeking approval under Subsections
(d)(1)-(3) is subject to the public notice and contested hearing
requirements provided in Section 27.018].
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an application for an authorization or a new, amended, or renewal
permit that is submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. An application
that was submitted to the commission before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the
application was submitted, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. 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, 2013.