By: Smith, Ashley H.B. No. 1454
73R4554 MI-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the prohibition against issuing permits for municipal
1-3 and hazardous waste landfills in certain locations.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 361.101, Health and Safety Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 361.101. PROHIBITION ON PERMIT FOR FACILITY ON RECHARGE
1-8 ZONE OF FRESHWATER <SOLE SOURCE> AQUIFER. The commission by rule
1-9 shall prohibit the issuance of a permit for a new municipal or
1-10 hazardous waste landfill, land treatment facility, surface
1-11 impoundment, or waste pile, or areal expansion of such a facility,
1-12 if the facility is to be located on the recharge zone of a
1-13 freshwater <sole source> aquifer.
1-14 SECTION 2. Section 361.1011, Health and Safety Code, is
1-15 amended to read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 361.1011. PROHIBITION ON PERMIT FOR FACILITY WITHIN
1-17 3,000 FEET OF <AFFECTED BY> FAULT. (a) The commission by rule
1-18 shall prohibit the issuance of a permit for a new municipal or
1-19 hazardous waste landfill or for the areal expansion of a municipal
1-20 or hazardous waste landfill if any part of the landfill or areal
1-21 expansion will lie within 3,000 feet of a fault or fault line.
1-22 (b) The commission may not approve an application for a
1-23 permit for a new municipal or hazardous waste landfill or for the
1-24 areal expansion of a municipal or hazardous waste landfill unless
2-1 the application includes a certified statement by a licensed
2-2 geologist that no part of the proposed site or expansion is within
2-3 3,000 feet of a fault or fault line <If a fault exists within two
2-4 and one-half miles from the proposed or existing wellbore of a
2-5 Class I injection well or the area within the cone of influence,
2-6 whichever is greater, or if a fault exists within 3,000 feet of a
2-7 proposed hazardous waste management facility other than a Class I
2-8 injection well or of a capacity expansion of an existing hazardous
2-9 waste management facility, the burden is on the applicant, unless
2-10 previously demonstrated to the commission or to the United States
2-11 Environmental Protection Agency, to show:>
2-12 <(1) in the case of Class I injection wells, that the
2-13 fault is not sufficiently transmissive or vertically extensive to
2-14 allow migration of hazardous constituents out of the injection
2-15 zone; or>
2-16 <(2) in the case of a proposed hazardous waste
2-17 management facility other than a Class I injection well or for a
2-18 capacity expansion of an existing hazardous waste management
2-19 facility, that:>
2-20 <(A) the fault has not had displacement within
2-21 Holocene time, or if faults have had displacement within Holocene
2-22 time, that no such faults pass within 200 feet of the portion of
2-23 the surface facility where treatment, storage, or disposal of
2-24 hazardous wastes will be conducted; and>
2-25 <(B) the fault will not result in structural
2-26 instability of the surface facility or provide for groundwater
2-27 movement to the extent that there is endangerment to human health
3-1 or the environment>.
3-2 SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
3-3 Code, is amended by adding Section 361.1021 to read as follows:
3-4 Sec. 361.1021. PROHIBITION ON PERMIT FOR MUNICIPAL OR
3-5 HAZARDOUS WASTE LANDFILL OVER CERTAIN PITS OR QUARRIES. The
3-6 commission by rule shall prohibit the issuance of a permit for a
3-7 new municipal or hazardous waste landfill or for the areal
3-8 expansion of a municipal or hazardous waste landfill if any part of
3-9 the landfill or areal expansion is to be located over:
3-10 (1) a sand or gravel pit from which the sand or gravel
3-11 deposit has not been completely removed; or
3-12 (2) a limestone or sandstone quarry.
3-13 SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply to an
3-14 application for a permit for a municipal or hazardous waste
3-15 landfill or an areal expansion of a municipal or hazardous waste
3-16 landfill under Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code,
3-17 that is:
3-18 (1) pending before the Texas Water Commission or its
3-19 successor on the effective date of this Act; or
3-20 (2) submitted to the Texas Water Commission or its
3-21 successor on or after the effective date of this Act.
3-22 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-27 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-1 passage, and it is so enacted.