2025S0100-1 02/13/25
By: Dean H.B. No. 5410
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to responsibility in tort for the treatment of fluid oil
and gas waste for beneficial use.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 122.002, Natural Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 122.002. OWNERSHIP OF FLUID OIL AND GAS WASTE
TRANSFERRED FOR TREATMENT AND [SUBSEQUENT] BENEFICIAL USE. Unless
otherwise expressly provided by an oil or gas lease, a surface use
agreement, a contract, a bill of sale, or another legally binding
document:
(1) when fluid oil and gas waste is produced and used
by or transferred to a person who takes possession of that waste for
the purpose of treating the waste for a [subsequent] beneficial
use, the waste is considered to be the property of the person who
takes possession of it for the purpose of treating the waste for
[subsequent] beneficial use until the person transfers the waste or
treated waste to another person for disposal or use; and
(2) when a person who takes possession of fluid oil and
gas waste for the purpose of treating the waste for a [subsequent]
beneficial use transfers possession of the treated product or any
treatment byproduct to another person for the purpose of
[subsequent] disposal or beneficial use, the transferred product or
byproduct is considered to be the property of the person to whom the
material is transferred.
SECTION 2. Section 122.003(a), Natural Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person who
produces fluid oil and gas waste and supplies that waste to a
treatment facility that produces from that waste a treated product
or who takes possession of fluid oil and gas waste and[,] produces
from that waste a treated product [generally considered in the oil
and gas industry to be suitable for use in connection with the
drilling for or production of oil or gas, and transfers the treated
product to another person with the contractual understanding that
the treated product will be used in connection with the drilling for
or production of oil or gas] is not liable in tort for a consequence
of the beneficial [subsequent] use of that treated product [by the
person to whom the treated product is transferred or by another
person].
SECTION 3. Section 101.023, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) This section applies to an action brought under Section
122.003, Natural Resources Code.
SECTION 4. A cause of action that accrues before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.