88R13544 JAM-F
By: Guillen H.B. No. 4119
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to procedural requirements for uranium mining production
area authorizations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 27.0513(c) and (d), Water Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(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
or amended authorization exceeds the range listed in the permit
range table such that it falls above the upper limit of the range,
the value within the permit range table must be used [or a major
amendment to the permit range table must be obtained, subject to an
opportunity for 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 or an amendment to an
authorization that allows the permit holder to conduct mining and
restoration activities in production zones within the boundary
established in the permit is an uncontested matter not subject to a
contested case hearing or the hearing requirements of Chapter 2001,
Government Code, unless the application or amendment would
authorize [if]:
(1) the use of groundwater from a well that was not
previously approved in the permit for supplemental production water
[authorization is for a production zone located within the boundary
of a permit that incorporates a range table of groundwater quality
restoration values used to measure groundwater restoration by the
commission];
(2) expansion of the permit boundary [the application
includes groundwater quality restoration values falling at or below
the upper limit of the range established in Subdivision (1)]; or
[and]
(3) application monitoring well locations that exceed
well spacing requirements or reduce the number of wells required by
commission rule [the authorization is for a production zone located
within the boundary of a permit that incorporates groundwater
baseline characteristics of the wells for the application required
by commission rule].
SECTION 2. Sections 27.0513(e), (f), and (g), Water Code,
are repealed.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an application for an authorization that is submitted to the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the effective
date of this Act. An application for an authorization 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.