HBA-AMW H.B. 3023 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3023 By: Chisum Natural Resources 7/27/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The 76th Legislature enacted legislation that subjects an application for a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) to a contested case hearing if the CAFO is sufficiently close to a sole-source surface drinking water supply (water supply). If the CAFO is not sufficiently close, permit applications are generally subject to a less stringent permitting process. However, prior to the 77th Legislature, confusion existed over the vague meaning of "sufficiently close" and the implementation of stricter regulations for CAFOs near water supplies had been delayed. House Bill 3023 clarifies which CAFOs are sufficiently close to a water supply by requiring the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission to designate a protection zone around a water supply and specifies what constitutes a protection zone. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 26.0286, Water Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 3023 amends the Water Code to require the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) to process an application for authorization to construct or operate a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) as a specified permit if, on the date TNRCC determines that the application is administratively complete, any part of a pen, lot, pond, or other type of control or retention facility or structure of the CAFO is located or proposed to be located within the protection zone of a sole-source surface drinking water supply (water supply). The bill requires the CAFO to be located within the protection zone of a water supply, rather than in the watershed of a water supply and sufficiently close to an intake of a public water supply system in the water supply that contaminants discharged from the CAFO could potentially affect the public drinking water supply. The bill provides that for procedures applicable to permits for CAFOs, a land application area is not considered a control or retention facility. The bill requires TNRCC, when adopting rules to set water quality standards for water in the state, to designate a surface water body as a water supply if that surface water body is identified as a public water supply in rules adopted by TNRCC and is the sole source of supply of a public water supply system, exclusive of emergency water connections. The bill requires TNRCC to designate as a protection zone any area within the watershed of a water supply that is: _within two miles of the normal pool elevation of a body of surface water that is a water supply; _within two miles of that part of a perennial stream that is a tributary of a water supply and within three linear miles upstream of the normal pool elevation of a water supply; or _within two miles of that part of a stream that is a water supply, extending three linear miles upstream from the water supply intake. H.B. 3023 requires TNRCC, not later than the 45th day after the effective date of this bill, by order to identify surface water bodies that are considered "sole-source drinking water supplies" for the purpose of processing an application for authorization to construct or operate a CAFO, and requires TNRCC to designate the protection zones for those identified water bodies. The bill specifies that the order expires on the date on which TNRCC adopts final rules regarding setting water quality standards for water in the state. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.