By: Hughes, et al. S.B. No. 502
(Darby, Morales of Maverick)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the treatment, recycling for beneficial use, or
disposal of drill cuttings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 123.001(2) and (3), Natural Resources
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(2) "Drill cuttings" means bits of rock or soil cut
from a subsurface formation by a drill bit during the process of
drilling an oil or gas well and lifted to the surface by means of the
circulation of drilling mud. The term includes any associated
sand, silt, drilling fluid, spent completion fluid, workover fluid,
debris, water, brine, oil scum, paraffin, or other material cleaned
out of the wellbore.
(3) "Permit holder" means a person who holds a permit
from the commission to operate a stationary commercial solid oil
and gas waste recycling facility or a commercial oil and gas waste
disposal facility.
SECTION 2. Section 123.003, Natural Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 123.003. RESPONSIBILITY IN TORT. Unless otherwise
provided by a contract or other written agreement, a [A] person who
generates drill cuttings and transfers the drill cuttings in an
arm's length transaction to an unaffiliated third-party [a] permit
holder under a contract that requires [with the contractual
understanding] that the drill cuttings [will] be used in connection
with road building or another beneficial use or disposed of is not
liable in tort for a consequence of the subsequent use or disposal
of the drill cuttings by the permit holder or by another person if:
(1) the person who generates the drill cuttings has
the legal and contractual right to transfer the drill cuttings to
the permit holder;
(2) the method and location of the use or disposal are
not prohibited by law, contract, or other written agreement; and
(3) the consequence was caused solely by the permit
holder.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of
this Act. A cause of action that accrues before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before that
date, and that 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, 2023.