This website will be unavailable from Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 29, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
By: Hardcastle H.B. No. 2766
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the permitting and collection of fees for Geophysical
and Geochemical exploration on state property alongside Texas
highways.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle Z, Title 6, Transportation Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 473 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 473. GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL EXPLORATION PERMIT ON
TEXAS HIGHWAY RIGHT OF WAYS
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the
Texas Highway Right of Way Exploration Act.
Sec. 002. LEGISLATIVE INTENT AND CONSTRUCTION. (a) to
protect the interests of state property along Texas Highways, as
well as adjacent landowners, by establishing proper procedures and
permitting requirements for the Geophysical and Geochemical
exploration along the Right of Ways alongside Texas highways.
Sec. 003. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Adjacent Property" shall mean property which is
located adjacent to the Right of Way as defined in this subchapter
and is within a quarter mile of Geophysical or Geochemical
exploration activity.
(2) "Geophysical exploration" means a survey or
investigation conducted to discover or locate oil and gas prospects
using magnetic, gravity, seismic, and/or electrical techniques.
(3) "Geochemical exploration" means a survey or
investigation conducted to discover or locate oil and gas prospects
using techniques involving soil sampling and analysis.
(4) "Right of Way" means land dedicated by the
constitution or laws of this state which act as a Right of Way to the
State Highways under the "State highway system" meaning the
highways in this state included in the plan providing for a system
of state highways prepared by the director under Section 201.103.
For the purposes of this subchapter, "Right of Way" shall also
include the land within a county road under the authority of a
county commissioner's court as defined in Chapter 251 of the
Transportation Code.
(5) "Permit" means a license issued by the Commission
authorizing geophysical and/or geochemical exploration on Right of
Way.
(6) "Permittee" means the holder of a permit.
Sec. 004. Permit Required for Exploration. (a) Except for
a person who has a valid oil and gas lease on Right of Way land
authorized by this chapter, a person may not conduct geophysical or
geochemical exploration on Right of Way land unless the person
obtains a permit from the Commission.
(b) Every person who is authorized to conduct a geophysical
or geochemical exploration on Right of Way land shall comply with
the Commission's rules relating to such exploration. Any person
with a valid oil and gas lease on land subject to this chapter must
comply with the Commission's rules concerning exploration.
(c) Nothing in this title shall prohibit the conduct of
airborne geophysical exploration.
Sec. 005. APPLICATION FOR PERMIT. (a) The person
responsible for conducting a geophysical or geochemical
exploration is the person who must apply for a permit.
(b) An application for a permit shall be made on a form
prescribed by the Commission and shall state the name and address of
each person for whom the exploration is being conducted as well as
any other information required by the Commission.
Sec. 006. Authority of Commission
(c) The Commission:
(1) as a condition of issuing a permit, shall collect
reasonable fees from the applicant in an amount determined by the
Commission. Such reasonable fees will be split accordingly:
(A) 75 percent of the collected fee will go to the
State's General Revenue Fund
(B) 25 percent of the collected fee will go to the
adjacent landowner. Should there be more than one adjacent
landowner, the fee will be distributed proportionately according to
each owners' interest in the adjacent property.
(C) Only one fee will be collected per
geophysical or geochemical activity location.
(D) The Commission shall by rule determine how to
most equitably split such fees in the event of multiple adjacent
properties.
(2) may require a permittee to furnish to the
Commission, upon the Commission's request, copies of maps, plats,
reports, data, and any other information in the possession of the
permittee that relates to the progress or results of an exploration
under a permit; provided however, the Commission shall not require
a permittee to furnish any of its interpretive data;
(3) shall by rule require a permittee to restore land
explored under the permit as nearly as is practicable to its
condition immediately prior to the exploration;
(4) shall by rule determine the procedure for
receiving compensation for damages to the surface of Right of Way
land except land with a mineral classification under Subchapter F
of Title 2 of the Natural Resources Code; and
(5) may make any other rules relating to geophysical
or geochemical explorations, permits, or permittees the Commission
considers appropriate.
(d) The Commission shall by rule require a permittee to
obtain and demonstrate permission for a proposed geophysical or
geochemical exploration:
(1) from all landowners adjacent property to the Right
of Way; and
(2) from all landowners of drinking water wells or oil &
gas wells within 700 feet of proposed exploration site.
(e) If a permittee violates a rule of the Commission or a
term of a permit, the Commission may cancel the permit.
(f) If by authority of Subsection (a)(2) of this section the
Commission acquires information concerning a permittee's
geophysical or geochemical exploration, the Commission shall
consider the information to be confidential and may not disclose
it, except by authority of a court order, to the public or any other
agency of this state.
Sec. 007. PERMITTEE'S FAILURE TO COMPLY. (a) If a
permittee fails to restore land in accordance with Section
006(a)(3) of this code and the rules of the Commission, the
Commission and any surface lessee may maintain an action against
the permittee for actual damages to the land, or to the
improvements, growing crops, or domesticated animals on the land
that were caused by the geophysical or geochemical exploration.
(b) If a permittee violates this subchapter, the provisions
of a permit issued by authority of this subchapter, or a rule of the
Commission, the permittee commits an offense. An offense under
this subsection is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less
than $100 nor more than $1,000. Each day that a violation occurs is
a separate offense.
Sec. 008. COUNTY ROADS. (a) For all such geophysical or
geochemical exploration activity which takes place in the Right of
Way of county roads as defined and outlined in Chapter 251 of this
Code but beyond the jurisdiction of the Commission, the county
commissioner's court shall have the same power and authority to
administer the requirements outlined in this subchapter and collect
the fees outlined in this subchapter as the Commission would for
such geophysical or geochemical exploration activity taking place
in a Right of Way within the state highway system.
(b) The 75 percent of the fee listed above in section
006(a)(1)(A) as going to the General Revenue fund will go to the
county when the geophysical or geochemical exploration activity
takes place in the Right of Way of county roads as defined and
outlined in Chapter 251 of this Code but beyond the jurisdiction of
the Commission.
(c) A county will notify the Commission when such a
geophysical or geochemical exploration activity has been permitted
to take place in the Right of Way of one of its county roads.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.