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Senate Bill 1387 |
Senate Author: Seliger |
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Effective: 9-1-09 |
House Sponsor: Crownover |
Senate Bill 1387 amends the Water Code and Natural Resources Code to establish a regulatory framework for the implementation of projects involving the capture, injection, sequestration, or geologic storage of carbon dioxide. The bill establishes that the Railroad Commission of Texas has jurisdiction over the administration of geologic storage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in, and the injection of carbon dioxide into, a reservoir that is initially or may be productive of oil, gas, or geothermal resources or a saline formation directly above or below that reservoir, subject to legislative review based on recommendations made in a preliminary report prepared jointly by the commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), in consultation with the Bureau of Economic Geology of The University of Texas at Austin. The bill requires a similar report from the General Land Office, specifies the type of information to be included in the reports, and requires the report to be filed with the legislature not later than December 1, 2010. The bill establishes the railroad commission's jurisdiction over a well used for the geologic storage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide regardless of whether the well was initially completed for that purpose or a different purpose and subsequently converted to the purpose described above, but provides that the commission does not have jurisdiction over the injection of fluid through the use of certain injection wells defined by federal law for the primary purpose of enhanced recovery operations.
Senate Bill 1387 requires the railroad commission to adopt rules and procedures to carry out its regulatory powers, specifies that such rules and procedures must be consistent with federal requirements, and authorizes the railroad commission to collect fees and penalties to enforce the rules. The fees collected are to be deposited to the credit of the newly created anthropogenic carbon dioxide storage trust fund. The bill sets forth the authorized uses of the fund. The bill prohibits a person from drilling or operating an anthropogenic carbon dioxide injection well for geologic storage or constructing or operating a regulated geologic storage facility without a permit issued by the railroad commission, and sets forth provisions for the permitting process and the imposition of fees. The bill requires the applicant for a permit to provide to the railroad commission a letter from the executive director of TCEQ stating that drilling and operating the injection well will not injure any freshwater strata in that area and that the formation or stratum to be used for the geologic storage facility is not freshwater sand, and it requires other environmental protections to be met before the railroad commission issues a permit. The bill requires the applicant to provide to the railroad commission satisfactory evidence of financial responsibility each year and sets forth provisions relating to a performance bond or other form of financial security an applicant may be required to maintain.
Senate Bill 1387 sets out provisions relating to the railroad commission's authority to adopt rules that authorize multiple or alternative uses of injection wells, including the conversion of a well from its authorized purpose to a new or additional purpose, and provisions relating to the ownership of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide.