By: Gray H.B. No. 2537
73R5561 JJT-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the development and use of land over a closed municipal
1-3 solid waste facility; providing a civil penalty.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, is amended
1-6 by adding Subchapter R to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER R. USE OF LAND OVER MUNICIPAL
1-8 SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS
1-9 Sec. 361.531. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "develop" or
1-10 "development" includes:
1-11 (1) platting lots;
1-12 (2) subdividing land;
1-13 (3) constructing, altering, relocating, enlarging, or
1-14 redeveloping a structure that has a foundation;
1-15 (4) constructing roads;
1-16 (5) excavating land; or
1-17 (6) installing or extending sewer, water, septic, or
1-18 electric utilities.
1-19 Sec. 361.532. PERMIT REQUIRED FOR DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN
1-20 LAND. (a) The owner or lessee of land located over any part of a
1-21 closed municipal solid waste landfill facility may not develop the
1-22 land unless the owner or lessee holds a permit for the development
1-23 issued under this subchapter.
1-24 (b) This subchapter does not apply to activities associated
2-1 with solid waste disposal that are approved by the commission.
2-2 Sec. 361.533. APPLICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT PERMIT. (a) The
2-3 owner or lessee of land located over any part of a closed municipal
2-4 solid waste landfill facility may apply for a permit to develop the
2-5 land. The owner or lessee shall submit to the executive director
2-6 an application for a permit on forms prescribed by the commission
2-7 not later than 45 days before the development begins. The
2-8 application must include a registered professional engineer's
2-9 verified certification that the proposed development is necessary
2-10 to reduce a potential threat to public health or the environment or
2-11 that the proposed development will not increase or create a
2-12 potential threat to public health or the environment. The
2-13 certification must indicate the registered professional engineer's
2-14 determination of whether the proposed development will damage the
2-15 integrity or function of any component of the landfill's:
2-16 (1) final cover;
2-17 (2) containment systems;
2-18 (3) monitoring systems; or
2-19 (4) liners.
2-20 (b) The engineer's certification required under Subsection
2-21 (a) must include documentation of all studies or data on which the
2-22 engineer relied.
2-23 Sec. 361.534. PERMIT HEARING. (a) The commission shall set
2-24 a hearing to be held not later than the 30th day after the date
2-25 that the commission receives an application under this subchapter.
2-26 (b) The commission by mail shall notify the applicant of the
2-27 date, time, and place of the hearing not later than the 15th day
3-1 before the date of the hearing. The commission shall publish
3-2 notice of the hearing in a newspaper that is generally circulated
3-3 in each county in which the property proposed for development is
3-4 located. The published notice must appear at least once a week for
3-5 the two weeks before the date of the hearing.
3-6 Sec. 361.535. ISSUANCE OF PERMIT; PERMIT CONDITIONS. (a)
3-7 The commission may issue a permit for the development of land over
3-8 a closed municipal solid waste landfill facility only if the
3-9 commission finds that the proposed development will not increase or
3-10 create a potential threat to public health or the environment.
3-11 (b) The commission may impose conditions on a permit that
3-12 are designed to prevent a threat to public health or the
3-13 environment. Conditions may include:
3-14 (1) restrictions on building types, construction
3-15 methods, pilings, boring, or digging;
3-16 (2) requiring ventilation, emissions or water quality
3-17 monitoring devices, soil testing, warnings to subsequent owners or
3-18 lessees, maintenance of structures or landfill containment, or the
3-19 placement of additional soil layers or building pads; or
3-20 (3) any other conditions the commission finds to be
3-21 reasonable and necessary to protect the public health or the
3-22 environment or to ensure compliance with rules or conditions
3-23 adopted or imposed under this subchapter.
3-24 Sec. 361.536. REQUIREMENTS FOR STRUCTURES ON CLOSED
3-25 MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL FACILITY. (a) The owner or lessee
3-26 of an existing or new structure that overlies a closed municipal
3-27 solid waste landfill facility shall install automatic methane gas
4-1 sensors approved by the commission and designed to trigger an
4-2 audible alarm if the volumetric concentration of methane in the
4-3 sampled air is greater than one percent.
4-4 (b) In the development of land that overlies a closed
4-5 municipal solid waste landfill facility, a person may not, unless
4-6 approved by the commission:
4-7 (1) drive piling into or through the final cover or a
4-8 liner;
4-9 (2) bore through or otherwise penetrate the final
4-10 cover or a liner; or
4-11 (3) construct an enclosed area under the natural grade
4-12 of the land or under the grade of the final cover of the closed
4-13 landfill.
4-14 (c) The owner or lessee of a structure built over a closed
4-15 municipal solid waste landfill facility shall modify the structure
4-16 as is necessary to comply with commission rules for a new structure
4-17 that overlies a landfill to minimize the effects of, or to prevent,
4-18 gas accumulation. The commission shall adopt rules to allow the
4-19 owner or lessee of a structure a reasonable amount of time to make
4-20 required modifications.
4-21 (d) The commission by rule shall require plans for a new
4-22 structure over a closed municipal solid waste landfill facility to
4-23 prevent or minimize the effects of harmful gas accumulation. At a
4-24 minimum, the commission shall require:
4-25 (1) ventilation or active gas collection systems;
4-26 (2) a low gas-permeable membrane and a vented,
4-27 permeable layer of an open-graded, clean aggregate material
5-1 installed between the area below the slab for the structure and the
5-2 soil of the final cover; and
5-3 (3) automatic methane gas sensors that will sound an
5-4 audible alarm if the sensor detects a methane gas volumetric
5-5 concentration of greater than one percent installed:
5-6 (A) within the venting pipe or permeable layer;
5-7 and
5-8 (B) inside the structure.
5-9 Sec. 361.537. LEASE RESTRICTION; NOTICE TO LESSEE. A person
5-10 may not lease or offer for lease land that overlies a closed
5-11 municipal solid waste landfill facility unless:
5-12 (1) existing development on the land is in compliance
5-13 with this subchapter; or
5-14 (2) the person gives notice to the prospective lessee
5-15 of what is required to bring the land and any development on the
5-16 land into compliance with this subchapter and the prohibitions or
5-17 requirements for future development imposed by this subchapter and
5-18 by any permit issued for the land under this subchapter.
5-19 Sec. 361.538. SOIL TEST REQUIRED BEFORE DEVELOPMENT OF
5-20 CERTAIN LAND. (a) A person may not undertake the development of a
5-21 tract of land that is greater than one acre in area unless the
5-22 person has conducted soil tests, in accordance with commission
5-23 rules, to determine whether any part of the tract overlies a closed
5-24 municipal solid waste landfill facility.
5-25 (b) Tests under this section must be conducted by a
5-26 registered professional engineer.
5-27 (c) If an engineer who conducts a test under this section
6-1 determines that part of the tract overlies a closed municipal solid
6-2 waste landfill facility, the engineer shall notify the following
6-3 persons of the determination:
6-4 (1) each owner and each lessee of the tract;
6-5 (2) the commission; and
6-6 (3) any local governmental official with the authority
6-7 to disapprove an application for development.
6-8 (d) A local governmental official who receives a notice
6-9 under this section shall notify the county clerk of each county in
6-10 which the tract is located of the portion of the tract that
6-11 overlies a closed municipal solid waste landfill facility. The
6-12 county clerk shall record on the deed records of the land formerly
6-13 used as a landfill a description of the pertinent part of the land,
6-14 notice of its former use, and notice of the restrictions on the
6-15 development or lease of the land imposed by this subchapter.
6-16 (e) The owner or lessee of land for which a test is done
6-17 under this section shall send the test results to the executive
6-18 director not later than the 30th day before the development begins.
6-19 Sec. 361.539. NOTICE TO BUYERS, LESSEES, AND OCCUPANTS. (a)
6-20 An owner of land that overlies a closed municipal solid waste
6-21 landfill facility shall cause the county clerk to record on the
6-22 deed records of the land a description of the pertinent part of the
6-23 land, notice of its former use, and notice of the restrictions on
6-24 the development or lease of the land imposed by this subchapter.
6-25 (b) An owner of land that overlies a closed municipal solid
6-26 waste landfill facility shall notify each lessee and each occupant
6-27 of a structure that overlies the site of:
7-1 (1) the land's former use as a landfill; and
7-2 (2) the structural controls in place to minimize
7-3 potential future danger posed by the landfill.
7-4 Sec. 361.540. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A person who violates
7-5 this subchapter is liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000
7-6 for each violation.
7-7 (b) The attorney general or the prosecuting attorney in a
7-8 county in which the closed municipal solid waste landfill facility
7-9 is located may bring suit to recover the penalty imposed by
7-10 Subsection (a).
7-11 (c) A penalty collected under this section shall be
7-12 deposited to the credit of the general revenue fund.
7-13 SECTION 2. (a) The Texas Natural Resource Conservation
7-14 Commission by rule shall require a municipality that has operated
7-15 or contracted with a municipal solid waste landfill facility to
7-16 conduct an inventory of former municipal solid waste landfill
7-17 facilities in the county in which the municipality is located. The
7-18 municipalities subject to the rule that are located in the same
7-19 county shall cooperate to create a single comprehensive inventory.
7-20 (b) The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission shall
7-21 require, at a minimum, the inventory to include the location of the
7-22 former landfill facilities, the current owners of the land on which
7-23 the former landfill facilities were located, and the current use of
7-24 the land.
7-25 (c) The governing board of a municipality, or a person
7-26 designated by the governing board, shall notify the owner of land
7-27 that overlies a former municipal solid waste landfill facility of
8-1 the former use of the land and shall notify the county clerk of a
8-2 county in which the former landfill facility is located of the
8-3 former use. The county clerk shall record on the deed records of
8-4 land formerly used as a municipal solid waste landfill a
8-5 description of the pertinent part of the land, notice of its former
8-6 use, and notice of the restrictions on the development or lease of
8-7 the land imposed by this subchapter.
8-8 (d) The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission may
8-9 grant money from fees collected under Section 361.013, Health and
8-10 Safety Code, to a municipality or association of municipalities for
8-11 the purpose of conducting the inventory required by this section.
8-12 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
8-13 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
8-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.