|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the establishment of a program by the Department of |
|
Agriculture to make grants to encourage the construction of |
|
facilities that generate electrical energy with certain types of |
|
agricultural residues, waste, debris, or crops. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Title 2, Agriculture Code, is amended by adding |
|
Chapter 22 to read as follows: |
|
CHAPTER 22. AGRICULTURAL BIOMASS AND LANDFILL DIVERSION |
|
INCENTIVE PROGRAM |
|
Sec. 22.001. POLICY AND PURPOSE. It is the policy of this |
|
state and the purpose of this chapter to reduce air pollution, |
|
improve air quality, protect public health, help this state |
|
diversify its energy supply, and divert waste from landfills |
|
through new incentives to encourage the construction of facilities |
|
to generate electrical energy with certain types of agricultural |
|
residues, urban wood waste, forest wood waste, storm-generated |
|
biomass debris, and energy-dedicated crops. |
|
Sec. 22.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: |
|
(1) "Diverter": |
|
(A) means: |
|
(i) a person or facility that qualifies for |
|
an exemption under Section 361.111 or 363.006, Health and Safety |
|
Code; |
|
(ii) a handler of nonhazardous industrial |
|
waste that is registered or permitted under Chapter 361, Health and |
|
Safety Code; or |
|
(iii) a facility that separates recyclable |
|
materials from a municipal solid waste stream and that is |
|
registered or permitted under Chapter 363, Health and Safety Code, |
|
as a municipal solid waste management facility; and |
|
(B) does not include a facility that uses biomass |
|
to generate electrical energy. |
|
(2) "Farmer" means the owner or operator of an |
|
agricultural facility that produces qualified agricultural |
|
biomass. |
|
(3) "Forest wood waste" includes residual tops and |
|
limbs of trees, unused cull trees, thinnings, and wood or debris |
|
from noncommercial tree species, slash, or brush. |
|
(4) "Logger" means a harvester of forest wood waste, |
|
regardless of whether the harvesting occurs as a part of the |
|
harvesting of merchantable timber. |
|
(5) "Qualified agricultural biomass" means: |
|
(A) agricultural residues that are of a type that |
|
historically have been disposed of in a landfill, relocated from |
|
their point of origin and stored in a manner not intended to enhance |
|
or restore the soil, burned in open fields in the area from which |
|
they are derived, or burned in fields and orchards that continue to |
|
be used for the production of agricultural goods, and includes: |
|
(i) field or seed crop residues, including |
|
straw from rice or wheat; |
|
(ii) fruit or nut crop residues, including |
|
orchard or vineyard prunings and removals; and |
|
(iii) urban wood products or forest wood |
|
products; and |
|
(B) a crop grown and used specifically for its |
|
energy generation value, including a crop consisting of a |
|
fast–growing tree species. |
|
(6) "Storm-generated biomass debris" means |
|
biomass–based residues that result from a natural weather event, |
|
including a hurricane, tornado, or flood, that would otherwise be |
|
disposed of in a landfill or burned in the open. The term includes: |
|
(A) trees, brush, and other vegetative matter |
|
that has been damaged or felled by severe weather but that would not |
|
otherwise qualify as forest wood waste; and |
|
(B) clean solid wood waste that has been damaged |
|
by severe weather but that would not otherwise qualify as urban wood |
|
waste. |
|
(7) "Urban wood waste" means: |
|
(A) solid wood waste material, other than |
|
pressure-treated, chemically treated, or painted wood waste, that |
|
is free of rubber, plastic, glass, nails, or other inorganic |
|
material; and |
|
(B) landscape or right-of-way trimmings. |
|
Sec. 22.003. GRANT PROGRAM. (a) The department shall |
|
develop and administer an agricultural biomass and landfill |
|
diversion incentive program to make grants to farmers, loggers, and |
|
diverters who provide qualified agricultural biomass, forest wood |
|
waste, urban wood waste, or storm-generated biomass debris to |
|
facilities that use biomass to generate electrical energy in order |
|
to provide an incentive for the construction of facilities for that |
|
purpose and to: |
|
(1) promote economic development; |
|
(2) encourage the use of renewable sources in the |
|
generation of electrical energy; |
|
(3) reduce air pollution caused by burning |
|
agricultural biomass, forest wood waste, urban wood waste, or |
|
storm-generated biomass debris in open fields; and |
|
(4) divert waste from landfills. |
|
(b) Subject to Section 22.005, a farmer, logger, or diverter |
|
is entitled to receive a grant in the amount of $20 for each |
|
bone-dry ton of qualified agricultural biomass, forest wood waste, |
|
urban wood waste, or storm-generated biomass debris provided by the |
|
farmer, logger, or diverter in a form suitable for generating |
|
electrical energy to a facility that: |
|
(1) is located in this state; |
|
(2) was constructed on or after June 30, 2008; |
|
(3) generates electrical energy sold to a third party |
|
by using qualified agricultural biomass, forest wood waste, urban |
|
wood waste, or storm-generated biomass debris; |
|
(4) uses the best available emissions control |
|
technology, considering the technical practicability and economic |
|
reasonableness of reducing or eliminating the air contaminant |
|
emissions resulting from the facility; |
|
(5) maintains its emissions control equipment in good |
|
working order; and |
|
(6) is in compliance with its operating permit issued |
|
by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality under Chapter 382, |
|
Health and Safety Code. |
|
(c) The commissioner by rule may authorize a grant to be |
|
made for providing each bone-dry ton of a type or source of |
|
qualified agricultural biomass, forest wood waste, urban wood |
|
waste, or storm-generated biomass debris in an amount that is |
|
greater than the amount provided by Subsection (b) if the |
|
commissioner determines that a grant in a greater amount is |
|
necessary to provide an adequate incentive to use that type or |
|
source of qualified agricultural biomass, forest wood waste, urban |
|
wood waste, or storm-generated biomass debris to generate |
|
electrical energy. |
|
(d) The Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas |
|
Commission on Environmental Quality shall assist the department as |
|
necessary to enable the department to determine whether a facility |
|
meets the requirements of this section for purposes of the |
|
eligibility of farmers, loggers, and diverters for grants under |
|
this chapter. |
|
(e) To receive a grant under this chapter, a farmer, logger, |
|
or diverter must file an application with the department on a form |
|
prescribed by the department. The form must require the applicant |
|
to provide the information necessary to determine whether the |
|
applicant is entitled to receive a grant and to determine the amount |
|
of the grant to which the applicant is entitled. |
|
(f) The department shall provide for the distribution of |
|
grant money under this chapter to eligible farmers, loggers, and |
|
diverters. Grant money must be distributed to eligible farmers, |
|
loggers, and diverters in the order in which applications for the |
|
grants are received. The department shall make grants not less |
|
often than quarterly, subject to appropriations. |
|
(g) The department may contract with and provide for the |
|
compensation of private consultants, contractors, and other |
|
persons to administer the agricultural biomass and landfill |
|
diversion incentive program. |
|
Sec. 22.004. AGRICULTURAL BIOMASS AND LANDFILL DIVERSION |
|
INCENTIVE PROGRAM ACCOUNT. (a) The agricultural biomass and |
|
landfill diversion incentive program account is an account in the |
|
general revenue fund. The account is composed of: |
|
(1) legislative appropriations; |
|
(2) gifts, grants, donations, and matching funds |
|
received under Subsection (b); and |
|
(3) other money required by law to be deposited in the |
|
account. |
|
(b) The department may solicit and accept gifts in kind, |
|
donations, and grants of money from the federal government, local |
|
governments, private corporations, or other persons to be used for |
|
the purposes of this chapter. |
|
(c) Money in the account may be appropriated only to the |
|
department for the purpose of implementing and maintaining the |
|
agricultural biomass and landfill diversion incentive program. |
|
(d) Income from money in the account shall be credited to |
|
the account. |
|
(e) The account is exempt from the application of Section |
|
403.095, Government Code. |
|
Sec. 22.005. LIMITATION ON GRANT AMOUNT. The total amount |
|
of grants awarded under this chapter during each state fiscal year |
|
may not exceed $30 million. |
|
Sec. 22.006. ELIGIBILITY OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY-GENERATION |
|
FACILITIES FOR GRANTS. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a |
|
facility that uses biomass to generate electrical energy is not |
|
eligible to receive a grant under this chapter or under any other |
|
state law for the generation of electrical energy with qualified |
|
agricultural biomass, forest wood waste, urban wood waste, or |
|
storm-generated biomass debris for which a farmer, logger, or |
|
diverter has received a grant under this chapter. |
|
(b) A facility that uses biomass to generate electrical |
|
energy may receive a grant under this chapter for generating |
|
electrical energy with qualified agricultural biomass, forest wood |
|
waste, urban wood waste, or storm-generated biomass debris that |
|
arrives at the facility in a form unsuitable for generating |
|
electrical energy and that the facility processes into a form |
|
suitable for generating electrical energy. |
|
(c) The provisions of this chapter governing grants to |
|
farmers, loggers, and diverters, including the provisions |
|
governing the amount of a grant, apply to a grant under Subsection |
|
(b) to a facility that uses biomass to generate electrical energy. |
|
Sec. 22.007. RULES. The commissioner, in consultation with |
|
the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Commission on |
|
Environmental Quality, shall adopt rules to implement this chapter. |
|
Sec. 22.008. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. Notwithstanding any |
|
other provision of this chapter, the department is not required to |
|
administer this chapter or adopt rules under this chapter until |
|
funds are appropriated for those purposes. |
|
Sec. 22.009. EXPIRATION OF PROGRAM AND CHAPTER. The |
|
agricultural biomass and landfill diversion incentive program |
|
terminates on August 31, 2022. On September 1, 2022: |
|
(1) any unobligated funds remaining in the |
|
agricultural biomass and landfill diversion incentive program |
|
account shall be transferred to the undedicated portion of the |
|
general revenue fund; and |
|
(2) this chapter expires. |
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007. |