89R9222 ANG-D
By: Hughes S.B. No. 1763
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the production and ownership of brine.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle D, Title 3, Natural Resources Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 124 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 124. OWNERSHIP OF BRINE MINERALS
Sec. 124.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "brine
minerals" means the interstitial particles and solutes suspended,
dissolved, or otherwise contained in brine, including bromine,
magnesium, potassium, lithium, boron, chlorine, iodine, calcium,
strontium, sodium, sulfur, barium, sodium chloride, and other
minerals, chemical elements, compounds, or products produced with
or extracted from brine.
Sec. 124.002. OWNERSHIP OF BRINE MINERALS. Except as
otherwise expressly provided by a conveyance, contract, deed,
reservation, exception, limitation, lease, assignment, or other
binding obligation, the owner of the mineral estate of the land owns
the brine minerals below the surface of the land as real property
and is responsible for protecting the correlative rights of other
owners.
SECTION 2. Section 27.002, Water Code, is amended by adding
Subdivision (26) to read as follows:
(26) "Brine" means a subterranean liquid or semiliquid
of varying salinities and the interstitial particles and solutes
suspended, dissolved, or otherwise contained in the liquid or
semiliquid, including the brine minerals, as defined by Section
124.001, Natural Resources Code. The term does not include
groundwater, as defined by Section 36.001(5), surface water, as
described by Section 11.021(a), fluid oil and gas waste, as defined
by Section 122.001, Natural Resources Code, or oil, gas, or a
product of oil or gas, as defined by Section 85.001, Natural
Resources Code.
SECTION 3. Sections 27.036(a) and (d), Water Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) In this section:
(1) "Brine mining" means the production of brine,
including naturally occurring brine and brine extracted by the
solution of a subsurface salt formation, for the purpose of
extracting from a subsurface formation brine minerals, elements,
salts, interstitial particles and solutes in the liquid or produced
from the liquid, or other useful substances[, not including:
[(A) oil, gas, or any product of oil or gas as
defined by Section 85.001, Natural Resources Code; or
[(B) fluid oil and gas waste, as defined by
Section 122.001, Natural Resources Code].
(2) "Class V brine injection well" means a well that
injects spent, naturally occurring brine produced by a brine mining
operation into the same formation from which it was withdrawn after
the processing and extraction of brine minerals, elements, salts,
interstitial particles and solutes in the liquid or produced from
the liquid, or other useful substances, including halogens or
halogen salts.
(d) The railroad commission shall adopt rules that are
necessary to administer and regulate brine mining, including rules
establishing reporting requirements for operators of brine
production wells and injection wells used for brine mining.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.