By: Hardcastle H.B. No. 3732
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to implementing ultraclean energy projects in this state.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Section 382.003, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subdivisions (4-a), (4-b), and (12-a) to read as
follows:
             (4-a)  "Clean coal technology" means any technology or
processes, including technologies or processes applied at the
precombustion, combustion, or postcombustion stage, at a new or
existing facility that will achieve a 97 percent reduction of
sulfur dioxide emissions, an emission rate for oxides of nitrogen
of 0.08 pounds per million British thermal units, and significant
reductions in mercury emissions, associated with the utilization of
coal in the generation of electricity, process steam, or industrial
products, including the creation of liquid fuels, hydrogen for fuel
cells, and other coproducts.  The technology used must comply with
applicable federal law regarding mercury emissions and must render
carbon dioxide capable of capture, sequestration, or abatement.  
Examples of clean coal technology include atmospheric or
pressurized fluidized bed combustion, integrated gasification
combined cycle, magnetohydrodynamics, direct and indirect
coal-fired turbines, and integrated gasification fuel cells.
             (4-b)  "Coal" has the meaning assigned by Section
134.004, Natural Resources Code.
             (12-a)  "Ultraclean energy project" means a project,
for which an application for a permit under this chapter is received
by the commission on or after September 1, 2008, and before
September 1, 2020, which involves the utilization of coal in the
generation of electricity, process steam, or industrial products,
including gasification and the creation of liquid fuels, hydrogen
for fuel cells, and other coproducts, and which is capable of
achieving a 99 percent reduction of sulfur dioxide emissions, a 95
percent reduction of mercury emissions, and an emission rate for
oxides of nitrogen of 0.05 pounds per million British thermal units
and renders carbon dioxide capable of capture, sequestration, or
abatement.
       SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 382, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 382.0566 to read as follows:
       Sec. 382.0566.  ULTRACLEAN ENERGY PROJECT PERMITTING
PROCEDURE.  (a)  As authorized by federal law, not later than one
year after declaring administratively complete an application for a
permit under this chapter for an ultraclean energy project, the
commission shall issue a final order issuing or denying the permit.
       (b)  The permit process authorized by this section is subject
to the requirements relating to a contested case hearing under this
chapter, Chapter 5, Water Code, or Subchapters C-G, Chapter 2001,
Government Code, as applicable.
       (c)  Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted as
requiring an applicant for an air quality permit to prove, as part
of a best available control technology analysis, that clean coal
technology or ultraclean energy technology being proposed has
already been demonstrated to be feasible in a commercial operation.
       SECTION 3.  Section 26.045, Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
       Sec. 26.045. ROLLBACK RELIEF FOR POLLUTION CONTROL
REQUIREMENTS.  (a)  The rollback tax rate for a political
subdivision of this state is increased by the rate that, if applied
to the total current value, would impose an amount of taxes equal to
the amount the political subdivision will spend out of its
maintenance and operation funds under Section 26.012(16), Tax Code,
to pay for a facility, device, or method for the control of air,
water, or land pollution that is necessary to meet the requirements
of a permit issued by the Texas [Natural Resource Conservation]
Commission on Environmental Quality.
       (b)  In this section, "facility, device, or method for
control of air, water, or land pollution" means any land,
structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery,
equipment, or device, and any attachment or addition to or
reconstruction, replacement, or improvement of that property, that
is used, constructed, acquired, or installed wholly or partly to
meet or exceed rules or regulations adopted by any environmental
protection agency of the United States or this state for the
prevention, monitoring, control, or reduction of air, water, or
land pollution.
       (c)  To receive an adjustment to the rollback tax rate under
this section, a political subdivision shall present information to
the executive director of the Texas [Natural Resource Conservation]
Commission on Environmental Quality in a permit application or in a
request for any exemption from a permit that would otherwise be
required detailing:
             (1)  the anticipated environmental benefits from the
installation of the facility, device, or method for the control of
air, water, or land pollution;
             (2)  the estimated cost of the pollution control
facility, device, or method; and
             (3)  the purpose of the installation of the facility,
device, or method, and the proportion of the installation that is
pollution control property.
       (d)  Following submission of the information required by
Subsection (c), the executive director of the Texas [Natural
Resource Conservation] Commission on Environmental Quality shall
determine whether [if] the facility, device, or method is used
wholly or partly as a facility, device, or method for the control of
air, water, or land pollution. If the executive director
determines that the facility, device, or method is used wholly or
partly to control pollution, the director shall issue a letter to
the political subdivision stating that determination and the
portion of the cost of the installation that is pollution control
property.
       (e)  The Texas [Natural Resource Conservation] Commission on
Environmental Quality may charge a political subdivision seeking a
determination that property is pollution control property an
additional fee not to exceed its administrative costs for
processing the information, making the determination, and issuing
the letter required by this section. The commission may adopt rules
to implement this section.
       (f)  The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall
adopt rules establishing a predetermined list of pollution control
equipment, which must include:
             (1)  coal cleaning facilities;
             (2)  atmospheric or pressurized and bubbling or
circulating fluidized bed combustion systems and gasification
fluidized bed combustion combined cycle systems;
             (3)  ultra-supercritical pulverized coal systems;
             (4)  flue gas recirculation components;
             (5)  syngas purification systems and gas-cleanup
units;
             (6)  enhanced heat recovery systems;
             (7)  exhaust heat recovery boilers;
             (8)  heat recovery steam generators;
             (9)  superheaters and evaporators;
             (10)  enhanced steam turbine systems;
             (11)  coal combustion or gasification byproduct and
coproduct handling, storage, or treatment facilities;
             (12)  biomass cofiring storage, distribution, and
firing systems;
             (13)  coal cleaning or drying processes such as coal
drying/moisture reduction, air jigging, precombustion
decarbonization, and coal flow balancing technology;
             (14)  oxy-fuel combustion technology, amine or chilled
ammonia scrubbing, fuel or emission conversion through the use of
catalysts, enhanced scrubbing technology modified combustion
technology such as chemical looping, and cryogenic technology; and
             (15)  any other equipment designed to capture, abate,
or monitor oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds,
particulate matter, mercury, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, or
any criteria pollutant.
       (g)  The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall
update the predetermined list of pollution control equipment by
rule at least once every three years.  An item may not be removed
from the list unless the commission finds compelling evidence to
support the conclusion that the item does not render pollution
control benefits.
       (h)  Not later than the 30th day after receiving the
information required by Subsections (c)(2) and (3) and without
requiring information described under Subsection (c)(1), the
executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
shall make a determination that equipment matching the description
of equipment listed in Subsection (f) is being used wholly to
control pollution and shall issue a letter to the political
subdivision stating that determination.
       (i)  A political subdivision of the state seeking an
adjustment in its rollback tax rate under this section shall
provide to its tax assessor a copy of the letter issued by the
executive director of the Texas [Natural Resource Conservation]
Commission on Environmental Quality under Subsection (d) or (h).  
The tax assessor shall accept the copy of the letter from the
executive director as conclusive evidence that the facility,
device, or method is used wholly or partly as pollution control
property and shall adjust the rollback tax rate for the political
subdivision as provided for by Subsection (a).
       SECTION 4.  Subsection (b), Section 313.024, Tax Code, as
effective January 1, 2008, is amended to read as follows:
       (b)  To be eligible for a limitation on appraised value under
this subchapter, the entity must use the property in connection
with:
             (1)  manufacturing;
             (2)  research and development;
             (3)  a clean coal project, as defined by Section 5.001,
Water Code;
             (4)  an ultraclean energy [a gasification] project, as
defined by Section 382.003, Health and Safety Code [for a coal and
biomass mixture]; or
             (5)  renewable energy electric generation.
       SECTION 5.  Not later than January 1, 2008, the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt rules required
under Section 382.0566, Health and Safety Code, as added by this
Act, and Subsection (f), Section 26.045, Tax Code, as amended by
this Act.
       SECTION 6.  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, 2007.