By: Zwiener H.B. No. 4957
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation by the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality of the discharge of preproduction plastic.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 26, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 26.0481 to read as follows:
Sec. 26.0481. REGULATION OF DISCHARGE OF PREPRODUCTION
PLASTIC. (a) In this section:
(1) "Facility" means a facility where preproduction
plastic is manufactured, handled, or transported.
(2) "Preproduction plastic" means plastic resin
pellets, flakes, fibers, and powders, and powdered coloring for
plastics.
(3) "Zero discharge or release" means zero
preproduction plastics discharged or released to a body of water or
to land outside the property line of a facility.
(b) The commission by rule shall adopt and implement a
program to:
(1) ensure zero discharge or release from point and
nonpoint sources at facilities; and
(2) require the prompt and environmentally
responsible containment and cleanup of discharged or released
preproduction plastic.
(c) Rules adopted under this section must require any permit
issued or renewed under the Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System program to prohibit the discharge or release of
preproduction plastic from the permitted location.
(d) A permit issued or renewed for a facility under the
Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program must:
(1) prohibit:
(A) any discharge of preproduction plastic by
stormwater or wastewater to a body of water outside the property
line of a facility; and
(B) any release of preproduction plastic to land
outside the property line of a facility; and
(2) require a permittee to promptly clean up any
plastic presumed to have been discharged or released from the
facility in a manner that cleans up the most plastic possible
without causing harm to the ecosystem or, if the facility contests
that the plastic was discharged or released from the facility,
immediately contain the plastic to prevent further spread of the
plastic.
(e) Any preproduction plastic matching the preproduction
plastic produced by the facility found outside the property line of
a facility is presumed to have been released or discharged by that
facility. A facility must be given an opportunity to prove that
preproduction plastic found outside the property line of the
facility did not originate from the facility, provided that the
facility complies with the requirements of Subsection (d)(2).
(f) Except as provided by Subsection (g), the program
adopted under this section must require a facility to adopt and
implement:
(1) monitoring and reporting practices for the
discharge of preproduction plastic from point and nonpoint sources
at the facility; and
(2) best management practices with respect to:
(A) a written maintenance program and schedule to
ensure that all containment systems are functioning properly;
(B) measures to contain preproduction plastic
during storage, handling, or transfer of the plastic, including the
use of:
(i) sealed containers that will not rupture
under typical loading and unloading activities;
(ii) capture devices under all transfer
valves and devices used in loading, unloading, or otherwise
transferring preproduction plastic;
(iii) vacuums or vacuum-type systems for
the quick cleanup of fugitive preproduction plastic; and
(iv) a source control and inspection
program for all transportation of plastics off site;
(D) updates in science and technology or advances
in detection and treatment technologies; and
(E) other good housekeeping measures as
determined by the commission.
(g) The commission may exempt a facility from the
requirements of Subsection (f) if the facility satisfies the
criteria for a no exposure certification under 40 C.F.R. Section
122.26. The commission shall:
(1) require a facility exempted under this subsection
to submit a no exposure certification to the commission not less
than once every five years; and
(2) include criteria for submitting a no exposure
certification in all permit applications related to authorized
discharges from a facility.
(h) Before approving an exemption under Subsection (g), the
commission must:
(1) conduct an on-site inspection to confirm that the
conditions at a facility requesting the exemption meet the criteria
for a no exposure certification; and
(2) inspect an off-site area at least 50 feet in all
directions of all stormwater and wastewater outfalls of the
facility for the presence of off-site preproduction plastic.
(i) The monitoring and reporting requirements under
Subsection (f)(1) must require a facility to:
(1) conduct monitoring:
(A) outside the property line of the facility and
in any receiving waters for wastewater or stormwater discharges of
preproduction plastic, including an area of at least 50 feet in all
directions from all release or discharge points;
(B) not less than once every month;
(C) within eight hours of each rainfall event at
the facility; and
(D) at other times and places when plastic is
most likely to be released or discharged;
(2) submit to the commission, not less than once every
quarter, a report of the regular monitoring results gathered by the
permittee or the permittee's agent under Subdivision (1); and
(3) submit to the commission, not less than two
working days after a violation of Subsection (d)(1), a report of the
violation, including:
(A) photographs and global positioning system
information of the location of all discharged or released plastic;
and
(B) an estimate of the amount and location of
plastic discharged or released based on a method that:
(i) counts the number of pellets in a short
period of time; and
(ii) estimates the geographic area over
which the pellets spread.
(j) A containment system required under Subsection
(f)(2)(A) must use a device or series of devices that:
(1) are properly designed and maintained to capture
preproduction plastic that floats or sinks in stormwater; and
(2) have a designed treatment capacity of not less
than the peak flow rate resulting from a 100-year, 24-hour storm and
taking into consideration any wash water that is regularly added by
the facility operator to the system.
(k) The commission may establish additional requirements
regarding the regulation of discharges and releases of
preproduction plastic from facilities into water or onto land in
the state.
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than January 1, 2024, the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt rules necessary to
implement Section 26.0481, Water Code, as added by this Act.
(b) Not later than January 1, 2025, a facility subject to
Section 26.0481, Water Code, as added by this Act, must be in
compliance with that section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.