Enrolled Bill Summary

            Previously, Water Code requirements for groundwater conservation district-issued well-drilling or well-producing permits exempted wells for watering livestock or poultry, certain wells supplying the domestic needs of 10 or fewer households, wells incapable of producing more than 25,000 gallons a day, and wells supplying water for hydrocarbon production activities or other purposes and associated with wells permitted by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), but wells for hydrocarbon production, if drilled after September 1, 1997, were subject to a district's spacing requirements.

            House Bill 3587 amends the code to narrow the scope of such exemptions. The bill exempts a well incapable of 25,000 gallons only if it is located on a tract larger than 10 acres and the water is used for domestic purposes or the watering of livestock or poultry. A district may not restrict production from such a well. The bill exempts from permitting the drilling of a well to supply water solely for a drilling rig that is actively engaged in RRC-permitted operations, provided that certain well location criteria are met. The bill also exempts a well drilled to supply water for RRC-permitted mining purposes from permitting, production restrictions, and spacing requirements. A well's RRC exemption may disappear, however, if its contribution to a drilling rig or mining ceases or withdrawals exceed mining-required levels, and in the case of a mining well certain reporting requirements may ensue. Water from a permit-exempt well that is exported from the district remains subject to any applicable production or export fees imposed by the district. Finally, the bill provides that groundwater conservation district general law does not apply to production or injection wells drilled for oil, gas, sulphur, uranium, or brine, or for core tests, or for injection of gas, saltwater, or other fluids, under RRC permits.