87R7210 JXC-D
By: Leman H.B. No. 3381
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of the Railroad Commission of Texas to
contract for the treatment of and sell drill cuttings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 91.115, Natural Resources
Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 91.115. FIRST LIEN ON EQUIPMENT AND STORED
HYDROCARBONS OR DRILL CUTTINGS.
SECTION 2. Section 91.115, Natural Resources Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a), (e), (f), and (g) and adding
Subsections (f-1) and (f-2) to read as follows:
(a) If a responsible person fails to clean up a site or
facility that has ceased oil and gas operations under the
commission's jurisdiction on or before the date the site or
facility is required to be cleaned up by law or by a rule adopted or
order issued by the commission, the state has a first lien, superior
to all preexisting and subsequent liens and security interests, on
the responsible person's interest in any hydrocarbons or drill
cuttings stored at the site or facility and in any equipment that
is:
(1) located at the site or facility; and
(2) used by the responsible person in connection with
the activity that generated the pollution.
(e) The lien is extinguished as to any stored hydrocarbons
or drill cuttings or items of equipment that are lawfully removed by
any person other than the operator or a nonoperator according to a
lien, lease, judgment, written contract, or security agreement
before the commission enters into a cleanup contract. An item of
equipment may not be removed from an abandoned site or facility if
the removal will cause the release of a substance that may cause
pollution unless the substance is lawfully disposed of.
(f) Equipment or stored hydrocarbons or drill cuttings
subject to a lien under this section are presumed to have been
abandoned on the date the commission enters into a contract to clean
up the site or facility on which the equipment, [or] hydrocarbons,
or drill cuttings are located.
(f-1) The commission may dispose of the abandoned equipment
or stored hydrocarbons in accordance with the provisions of
Sections 89.085, 89.086, and 89.087 [of this code] for the
disposition of well-site equipment and hydrocarbons.
(f-2) The commission may dispose of the abandoned stored
drill cuttings by contracting with a person to treat the drill
cuttings at the site or facility for a subsequent beneficial use and
selling the treated drill cuttings at a public auction or a public
or private sale. Sections 89.085(c)-(i), 89.086, and 89.087 apply
to the disposition of drill cuttings under this subsection in the
same manner as those sections apply to the disposition of
hydrocarbons.
(g) In this section:
(1) "Drill cuttings" has the meaning assigned by
Section 123.001.
(2) "Responsible ["responsible] person" has the
meaning assigned by Section 91.113 [of this code].
(3) "Treat" means to use a manufacturing, mechanical,
thermal, or chemical process other than sizing, shaping, diluting,
or sorting.
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, 2021.