Texas Legislature Adjourns

Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. - Texas Environmental Update, May 2007

The Texas Legislature has now adjourned following unsuccessful eleventh-hour attempts to unseat House Speaker Tom Craddick and tense debate relating to, among other things, the budget and water issues.  In the end, the Legislature succeeded in passing various environmental bills of note, including significant measures addressing water resources issues (including environmental flows) and air quality issues such as the Texas Emissions Reduction Program. 

In addition, the Governor has signed the following environmental bills which are now law: 

• HB 1956 requiring owners and operators of petroleum storage tanks to dispose of tank contents within ninety days of termination of issuance, requiring insurers to notify TCEQ when coverage ceases and clarifying that TCEQ may order the owner or operator of a tank that fails to maintain acceptable evidence of financial responsibility to place a tank out of service; and

• SB 1673 allowing certain preconstruction air quality permits to undergo permit renewal review, if the applicant has no objection, at the same time as the review of a major amendment application filed within three years of the permit’s expiration date.

Significant bills adopted by the Legislature that have been or will be sent to the Governor for signature include:

• HB 3 creating advisory groups and procedures to ensure protection of instream flows and freshwater inflows to bays and estuaries and addressing Edwards Aquifer Authority pumping limits;

• HB 4 establishing a water conservation advisory council, encouraging water conservation through voluntary land stewardship, requiring adoption of water conservation plans by certain retail public utilities and providing for a statewide water conservation education program to be implemented by the Texas Water Development Board, if funded by the Legislature.

• HB 1526 creating incentives for the use of alternative leak detection technologies for air contaminants;

• HB 2541 authorizing TCEQ to use funds to respond to or remediate fires or other emergencies at solid waste facilities including recycling and composting facilities and imposing additional requirements on certain recycling facilities storing combustible materials;

• HB 2654 authorizing the issuance of a general permit for injection wells for nonhazardous brine from desalination operations;

• HB 2714 creating the Manufacturer Responsibility and Consumer Convenience Computer Equipment Collection and Recovery Act; 

• HB 3220 changing certain provisions of the dry cleaning corrective action program including clarifying who may participate in the fund;

• HB 3837 clarifying the Railroad Commission’s authority relating to uranium exploration activities;

• HB 3838 clarifying TCEQ’s jurisdiction over in situ uranium wells;

• HB 3554 extending the TCEQ’s petroleum storage tank remediation program and requiring the use of risk-based corrective action;

• SB 3 relating to the development, management and preservation of water resources and addressing environmental flows, water conservation and planning, unique reservoir sites and sites of unique ecological value, Edwards Aquifer authority pumping limits and certain water districts;

• SB 12 addressing various air quality issues including the Texas Emissions Reduction Program, Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance Program and certain energy efficiency measures.  It also adds certain notice requirements for concrete batch plant applications and limits TCEQ’s ability to include in formal enforcement actions certain violations reported pursuant to Title V of the Federal Clean Air Act; 

• SB 1037 requiring TCEQ to regulate commercial groundwater evaporation pits not regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas; and

• SB 1604 transferring certain radioactive substance jurisdiction to TCEQ from the Department of State Health Services.

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