By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 2155
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the issuance or amendment of a permit for a solid waste
landfill facility or hazardous waste land disposal unit to be
located in a special flood hazard area.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 361.1232 to read as follows:
Sec. 361.1232. LIMITATION ON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL IN
SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA.
(a) As used in this section, (1) "special flood hazard area"
means the land in a floodplain subject to a 1 percent or greater
chance of flooding in any given year as designated by the director
or administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and
(2) "facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other
appurtenances (including drainage structures, groundwater
monitoring wells, landfill gas probes, gate or scale houses), and
improvements on land used for the storage, processing, management,
or disposal of solid waste.
(b) The commission may not issue a permit for a new
municipal solid waste landfill facility or a lateral expansion of
an existing municipal solid waste landfill facility that is
conditioned on the removal of(1) any part of the planned new
municipal solid waste landfill facility from a special flood hazard
area, or (2) any part of the planned lateral expansion of an
existing municipal solid waste facility from a special flood hazard
area.
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), the commission may
not issue a permit for a new municipal solid waste landfill facility
or for a lateral expansion of an existing municipal solid waste
landfill if any part of the facility is in a special flood hazard
area unless the applicant has obtained from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency a letter of map amendment demonstrating that the
location of the entire facility has been removed from the special
flood hazard area. A conditional letter of map revision issued by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not satisfy the
requirements of this subsection.
(d) The commission by rule may allow a new municipal solid
waste landfill facility, or the lateral expansion of an existing
municipal solid waste landfill facility, to be in a special flood
hazard area, but only if the applicant or permit holder
demonstrates, and the commission is satisfied and finds, that (1)
no other suitable site for the facility outside of the special flood
hazard area exists in the county in which the facility is or would
be located; (2) removing the proposed site for the facility from the
special flood hazard area would be prohibitively expensive; and (3)
the facility is designed and will operate to prevent the washout or
physical transport of any solid waste by a 100-year flood event.
SECTION 2. Section 361.098 of Subchapter C, Chapter 361,
Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) As used in this section, (1) "special flood hazard area"
means the land in a floodplain subject to a 1 percent or greater
chance of flooding in any given year as designated by the director
or administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and
(2) "facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other
appurtenances (including drainage structures, groundwater
monitoring wells, landfill gas probes, gate or scale houses), and
improvements on land used for the storage, processing, management,
or disposal of solid waste.
(b) Except as provided by Subsections (b c) and (c d), the
commission by rule shall prohibit the issuance of a permit for a new
hazardous waste landfill or an areal expansion of such a landfill if
the landfill is to be located in a special flood hazard area [the
100-year floodplain existing before site development, unless the
landfill is to be located in an area with a flood depth of less than
three feet].
(b c) The commission by rule may allow an areal expansion of
a landfill facility in a special flood hazard area [100-year
floodplain] but only if the applicant or permit holder
demonstrates, and the commission is satisfied and finds [if it can
be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the commission]that (1) no
other suitable site for the facility outside of the special flood
hazard area exists in the county in which the facility is or would
be located; (2) removing the proposed site for the facility from the
special flood hazard area would be prohibitively expensive;
and(3)the facility design will prevent the physical transport of
any hazardous waste by a 100-year flood event.
(c d) The commission by rule shall prohibit the issuance of a
permit for a new commercial hazardous waste land disposal unit if
the unit is to be located in a special flood hazard area [100-year
floodplain], but only if the applicant or permit holder
demonstrates, and the commission is satisfied and finds [unless the
applicant can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the commission]
that (1) no other suitable site for the unit outside of a special
flood hazard area exists in the county in which the unit is or would
be located; (2) removing the proposed site for the unit from a
special flood hazard area would be prohibitively expensive;
and(3)the facility design will prevent the physical transport of
any hazardous waste by a 100-year flood event.
(d) The commission by rule shall require an applicant to
provide sufficient information to assure that a proposed hazardous
waste landfill, areal expansion of such landfill, or new commercial
hazardous waste land disposal unit is not subject to inundation of a
100-year flood event. An applicant or any other party may not rely
solely on floodplain maps prepared by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency or a successor agency to determine whether a
hazardous waste landfill, areal expansion of such landfill, or
commercial hazardous waste land disposal unit is subject to such an
inundation.
SECTION 3. Section 361.1232, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act, and Section 361.098, Health and Safety Code, as
amended by this Act, apply only to an application for the issuance
or amendment of a permit for a solid waste landfill facility or
hazardous waste land disposal unit that is pending before the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the effective date
of this Act. A permit for a solid waste landfill facility or
hazardous waste land disposal unit that is issued or amended before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when
the permit was issued or amended, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
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, 2017.