| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the issuance of a permit for a municipal solid waste |
|
|
landfill facility located in a special flood hazard area. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety |
|
|
Code, is amended by adding Section 361.1232 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 361.1232. LIMITATION ON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL |
|
|
IN SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA. (a) In this section: |
|
|
(1) "Facility" means all land, improvements on land, |
|
|
structures, and appurtenances, including drainage structures, |
|
|
groundwater monitoring wells, landfill gas probes, and gate or |
|
|
scale houses, that are used for the storage, processing, or |
|
|
disposal of solid waste. |
|
|
(2) "Special flood hazard area" means the land in a |
|
|
floodplain subject to not less than one percent chance of flooding |
|
|
in a year as designated by the director or administrator of the |
|
|
Federal Emergency Management Agency. |
|
|
(b) The commission may not issue a permit for a new |
|
|
municipal solid waste landfill facility or a lateral expansion of |
|
|
an existing municipal solid waste landfill facility that is |
|
|
contingent on the removal of a part of the facility from a special |
|
|
flood hazard area. |
|
|
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), the commission may |
|
|
not issue a permit for a new municipal solid waste landfill facility |
|
|
to be located in a special flood hazard area or for a lateral |
|
|
expansion of an existing municipal solid waste landfill facility if |
|
|
a part of the facility is or will be located in a special flood |
|
|
hazard area unless the applicant has obtained from the Federal |
|
|
Emergency Management Agency a letter of map change demonstrating |
|
|
that the entire facility has been removed from the special flood |
|
|
hazard area. A conditional letter of map amendment issued by the |
|
|
Federal Emergency Management Agency does not satisfy the |
|
|
requirements of this subsection. |
|
|
(d) The commission shall coordinate with all applicable |
|
|
regional and local governments to verify that all required map |
|
|
changes to the Flood Insurance Rate Map have been acquired from the |
|
|
Federal Emergency Management Agency and that all necessary permits |
|
|
have been issued for the facility by the governmental entities or |
|
|
agencies with jurisdiction over the facility under Section 16.235, |
|
|
Texas Water Code, or Chapter 16, Subchapter I, Texas Water Code. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 361.1232, Health and Safety Code, as |
|
|
added by this Act, applies only to an application for the issuance |
|
|
or amendment of a permit for a municipal solid waste landfill |
|
|
facility that is pending before the Texas Commission on |
|
|
Environmental Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. A |
|
|
permit for a municipal solid waste landfill facility that is issued |
|
|
or amended before the effective date of this Act is governed by the |
|
|
law in effect when the permit was issued or amended, and the former |
|
|
law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 3. 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. |