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.