| TO: | Honorable Robert Puente, Chair, House Committee on Natural Resources |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB3570 by Rose (Relating to the regulation of quarries; providing penalties.), As Introduced |
The bill would establish a new permitting program for quarries located over a sole source aquifer and for which an air permit application under was received on or before July 1, 2003 and the corresponding permit was not issued before September 1, 2005. The bill would establish permit application, expiration, amendment, and fee requirements (including implementing report recommendations for the protection of ground and surface water). In addition, the bill would: provide for notice of public officials; require compliance with Texas Department of Transportation rules; require a quarry to maintain blasting records; provide for penalties, injunctive relief, and emergency orders; and establish the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's authority in administering the program.
The bill requires an application fee of $1,000. The TCEQ anticipates receiving only one permit application under this new program, which would result in $1,000 in new revenue in the first 5 years upon enactment. Costs to the TCEQ for implementing the new permitting program are not expected to be signficiant.
The Department of Transportation reports that passage of the bill could increase its costs of obtaining aggregate. However, this estimate assumes that any cost increase for aggregate resulting from the bill's passage would not be significant.
| Source Agencies: | 302 Office of the Attorney General, 582 Commission on Environmental Quality, 601 Department of Transportation
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, WK, TL, KJG
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