By: Zwiener H.B. No. 4382
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the issuance by the Railroad Commission of Texas of a
certificate of convenience and necessity for certain common carrier
pipelines.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter I, Chapter 111,
Natural Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER I. CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY FOR
CERTAIN COMMON CARRIER [COAL] PIPELINES
SECTION 2. Section 111.301, Natural Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 111.301. CERTIFICATE REQUIRED. A person that is a
common carrier under Sections 111.002(1)-(6), or a common carrier
of natural gas or other commodities under Section 2.105 of the
Texas Business Organizations Code,[Subsection (5), Section 111.002
of this code] must apply for and be issued a certificate of public
convenience and necessity from the commission pursuant to the
commission's authority to issue certificates under Section 111.302
[of this code] if the commission finds after a hearing that the
public convenience and necessity will be served by the construction
and operation of the pipeline.
SECTION 3. Sections 111.302(a), (c), and (d), Natural
Resources Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission is further authorized, empowered, and
directed to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity
to common carrier pipelines [transporting coal in whatever form or
mixture for hire] in Texas if the commission finds that the public
convenience and necessity will be served in that existing
facilities will not be able to provide the transportation as
economically or efficiently as the proposed pipeline.
(c) The commission shall not issue a permit, certificate, or
any authority to any common carrier [applicant] whose rates and
charges are not regulated by government authority, either state or
federal, and that state or federal regulations insure to the public
[and to the ultimate electric consumer] that the contracts, rates,
and charges shall be just and reasonable, nondiscriminatory, and
offering no preference or advantage to any person, corporation,
entity, or group.
(d) The commission shall not issue a permit, certificate, or
any authority for a common carrier pipeline [to any applicant whose
pipeline transporting coal in whatever form] unless the pipeline
[transporting coal in whatever form] is to be buried at least 36
inches below the surface, except in such instances in which the
commission specifically exempts the 36-inch depth requirement and
unless the pipeline [transporting coal in whatever form] conforms
to all applicable state or federal regulations concerning the
operation, maintenance, and construction of that [same] pipeline.
SECTION 4. Sections 111.303 and 111.305, Natural Resources
Code, are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 111.303. CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE. (a) A person that
applies for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a
common carrier [The coal] pipeline under this subchapter
[applicant] shall publish, in accordance with regulations
promulgated by the commission and existing law, a notice that it has
filed the [an] application [for a certificate of public convenience
and necessity under this Act] in a newspaper of general circulation
in each county in which the project will be located. The notice
shall, among other things, specify to the extent practicable the
land which would be subject to the power of eminent domain.
(b) The commission shall then conduct public hearings in
areas of the state along the prospective pipeline right-of-way as
it shall determine shall be necessary to give all property owners
identified by the common carrier along the proposed pipeline
right-of-way an opportunity to be heard. The commission is vested
with authority and discretion to alter the right-of-way to meet
with local objections.
Sec. 111.305. OTHER AGENCIES. (a) The commission shall
seek and act on the recommendations of the Texas [Natural Resource
Conservation] Commission on Environmental Quality, the Governor's
Energy Advisory Council, or their successors responsible for
environmental determinations and shall specify the proper use and
disposal of nondischargeable water.
(b) Neither the authority conveyed to the commission by this
subchapter to issue certificates and to promulgate rules governing
common carrier pipelines [transporting coal in whatever form] nor
the powers and duties conveyed on those pipelines by this chapter
shall affect, diminish, or othe
rwise limit the jurisdiction and
authority of the Texas Water Development Board and the Texas
[Natural Resource Conservation] Commission on Environmental
Quality to regulate by applicable rules the acquisition, use,
control, disposition, and discharge of water or water rights in
Texas.
SECTION 5. Section 111.304, Natural Resources Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.