By Junell H.B. No. 2815
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the petroleum storage tank program; providing a
1-3 penalty.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 26.342, Water Code, is amended by adding
1-6 a new Subdivision (8) and redesignating existing Subdivisions (8)
1-7 through (16) as Subdivisions (9) through (17) to read as follows:
1-8 (8) "Operator" means any person in day-to-day control
1-9 of, and having responsibility for the daily operation of, the
1-10 underground storage tank system.
1-11 (9) [(8)] "Person" means an individual, trust, firm,
1-12 joint-stock company, corporation, government corporation,
1-13 partnership, association, state, municipality, commission,
1-14 political subdivision of a state, an interstate body, a consortium,
1-15 joint venture, commercial entity, or the United States government.
1-16 (10) [(9)] "Petroleum product" means a petroleum
1-17 product that is obtained from distilling and processing crude oil
1-18 and that is capable of being used as a fuel for the propulsion of a
1-19 motor vehicle or aircraft, including motor gasoline, gasohol, other
1-20 alcohol blended fuels, aviation gasoline, kerosene, distillate fuel
1-21 oil, and #1 and #2 diesel. The term does not include naphtha-type
1-22 jet fuel, kerosene-type jet fuel, or a petroleum product destined
1-23 for use in chemical manufacturing or feedstock of that
1-24 manufacturing.
2-1 (11) [(10)] "Petroleum storage tank" means:
2-2 (A) any one or combination of aboveground
2-3 storage tanks that contain petroleum products and that are
2-4 regulated by the commission; or
2-5 (B) any one or combination of underground
2-6 storage tanks and any connecting underground pipes that contain
2-7 petroleum products and that are regulated by the commission.
2-8 (12) [(11)] "Regulated substance" means an element,
2-9 compound, mixture, solution, or substance that, when released into
2-10 the environment, may present substantial danger to the public
2-11 health, welfare, or the environment.
2-12 (13) [(12)] "Release" means any spilling including
2-13 overfills, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching, or
2-14 disposing from an underground or aboveground storage tank into
2-15 groundwater, surface water, or subsurface soils.
2-16 (14) [(13)] "Risk-based corrective action" means site
2-17 assessment or site remediation, the timing, type, and degree of
2-18 which is determined according to case-by-case consideration of
2-19 actual or potential risk to public health from environmental
2-20 exposure to a regulated substance released from a leaking
2-21 underground or aboveground storage tank.
2-22 (15) [(14)] "Spent oil" means a regulated substance
2-23 that is a lubricating oil or similar petroleum substance which has
2-24 been refined from crude oil, used for its designed or intended
2-25 purposes, and contaminated as a result of that use by physical or
2-26 chemical impurities, including spent motor vehicle lubricating
2-27 oils, transmission fluid, or brake fluid.
3-1 (16) [(15)] "Underground storage tank" means any one
3-2 or combination of underground tanks and any connecting underground
3-3 pipes used to contain an accumulation of regulated substances, the
3-4 volume of which, including the volume of the connecting underground
3-5 pipes, is 10 percent or more beneath the surface of the ground.
3-6 (17) [(16)] "Vehicle service and fueling facility"
3-7 means a facility where motor vehicles are serviced or repaired and
3-8 where petroleum products are stored and dispensed from fixed
3-9 equipment into the fuel tanks of motor vehicles.
3-10 SECTION 2. Sections 26.346(a) and (c), Water Code, are
3-11 amended to read as follows:
3-12 (a) An underground or aboveground storage tank must be
3-13 registered with the commission unless the tank is exempt from
3-14 regulation under Section 26.344 of this code or the tank is covered
3-15 under Subsection (b) of this section. The commission by rule shall
3-16 establish the procedures and requirements for establishing and
3-17 maintaining current registration information concerning underground
3-18 and aboveground storage tanks. The commission shall also require
3-19 that an owner or operator of an underground storage tank complete
3-20 an annual underground storage tank compliance certification form.
3-21 (c) The commission shall issue to each person who owns or
3-22 operates a petroleum storage tank that is registered under this
3-23 section a registration and compliance confirmation certificate that
3-24 includes a brief description of:
3-25 (1) the responsibility of the owner or operator under
3-26 Section 26.3512 of this code; [and]
3-27 (2) the rights of the owner or operator to participate
4-1 in the petroleum storage tank remediation account and the
4-2 groundwater protection cleanup program established under this
4-3 subchapter; and
4-4 (3) the responsibility of the owner or operator of an
4-5 underground storage tank to accurately complete the part of the
4-6 registration form pertaining to the certification of compliance
4-7 with underground storage tank administrative requirements and
4-8 technical standards.
4-9 SECTION 3. Subchapter I, Chapter 26, Water Code, is amended
4-10 by adding Sections 26.3465 and 26.3467 to read as follows:
4-11 Sec. 26.3465. FAILURE OR REFUSAL TO PROVIDE PROOF OF
4-12 REGISTRATION OR CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE. An owner or operator
4-13 of an underground storage tank who fails or refuses to provide, on
4-14 request of the commission, proof of registration of, or
4-15 certification of compliance for, an underground storage tank is
4-16 liable for a civil penalty under Subchapter D, Chapter 7.
4-17 Sec. 26.3467. SELLER'S DUTY TO ENSURE CERTIFICATION OF TANK
4-18 BEFORE DELIVERY. (a) The seller of a regulated substance that is
4-19 being deposited into an underground storage tank shall ensure that
4-20 a certificate of compliance has been issued for the specific
4-21 underground storage tank into which the substance is to be
4-22 deposited before ordering a contract or common carrier to deliver
4-23 the regulated substance into the underground storage tank.
4-24 (b) A person who violates Subsection (a) commits an offense
4-25 that is punishable as provided by Section 7.156 for an offense
4-26 under that section.
4-27 SECTION 4. Section 7.156, Water Code, is amended by adding a
5-1 new Subsection (c) and redesignating existing Subsection (c) as
5-2 Subsection (d) to read as follows:
5-3 (c) A person commits an offense if the person deposits or
5-4 has deposited any regulated substance into an underground storage
5-5 tank regulated under Chapter 26 unless the underground storage tank
5-6 has been issued a valid, current underground storage tank
5-7 registration and certificate of compliance under Section 26.346.
5-8 (d) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
5-9 SECTION 5. Subchapter E, Chapter 7, Water Code, is amended
5-10 by adding Section 7.1565 to read as follows:
5-11 Sec. 7.1565. PRESUMPTION. If in the exercise of good faith
5-12 a person depositing, or causing to be deposited, a regulated
5-13 substance into an underground storage tank regulated under Chapter
5-14 26 receives a certificate of compliance for that underground
5-15 storage tank under Section 26.346, the receipt of the certificate
5-16 of compliance shall be considered prima facie evidence of
5-17 compliance with this section.
5-18 SECTION 6. Sections 26.3512(g), (h), (i), and (j), Water
5-19 Code, are amended to read as follows:
5-20 (g) If an owner or operator's corrective action plan is
5-21 approved by the commission under Section 26.3572 before June 23,
5-22 1998 [December 23, 1997], the owner or operator shall pay under
5-23 Subsection (b)(1) the amount provided by Subsection (e) for the
5-24 first expenses for corrective action taken for each occurrence.
5-25 (h) If an owner or operator's corrective action plan is not
5-26 approved by the commission under Section 26.3572 before June 23,
5-27 1998 [December 23, 1997], the owner or operator shall pay under
6-1 Subsection (b)(1) the first expenses for corrective action taken
6-2 for each occurrence as follows:
6-3 (1) a person who owns or operates 1,000 or more single
6-4 petroleum storage tanks, the first $40,000;
6-5 (2) a person who owns or operates not fewer than 100
6-6 or more than 999 single petroleum storage tanks, the first $20,000;
6-7 (3) a person who owns or operates not fewer than 13 or
6-8 more than 99 single petroleum storage tanks, the first $10,000; and
6-9 (4) a person who owns or operates fewer than 13 single
6-10 petroleum storage tanks, the first $4,000.
6-11 (i) If an owner or operator has a corrective action plan
6-12 approved by the commission under Section 26.3572 and before
6-13 December 23, 1999 [December 23, 1998], has met the goals specified
6-14 in the plan to be met by that date, the owner or operator shall pay
6-15 under Subsection (b)(1) the amount specified by Subsection (e) for
6-16 the first expenses for corrective action taken for each occurrence.
6-17 (j) If an owner or operator does not have a corrective
6-18 action plan approved by the commission under Section 26.3572 and
6-19 before December 23, 1999 [or, on December 23, 1998], has not met
6-20 the goals specified in the plan to be met by that date, the owner
6-21 or operator shall pay under Subsection (b)(1) the first expenses
6-22 for corrective action taken for each occurrence as follows:
6-23 (1) a person who owns or operates 1,000 or more single
6-24 petroleum storage tanks, the first $80,000;
6-25 (2) a person who owns or operates not fewer than 100
6-26 or more than 999 single petroleum storage tanks, the first $40,000;
6-27 (3) a person who owns or operates not fewer than 13 or
7-1 more than 99 single petroleum storage tanks, the first $20,000; and
7-2 (4) a person who owns or operates fewer than 13 single
7-3 petroleum storage tanks, the first $8,000.
7-4 SECTION 7. Section 26.35731, Water Code, is amended by
7-5 adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
7-6 (c) Not later than the 90th day after the date on which the
7-7 commission receives a completed application for reimbursement from
7-8 the petroleum storage tank remediation account, the commission
7-9 shall send a fund payment report to the owner or operator of a
7-10 petroleum storage tank system that is seeking reimbursement.
7-11 SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
7-12 SECTION 9. The importance of this legislation and the
7-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.