| TO: | Honorable Allan Ritter, Chair, House Committee on Natural Resources |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB340 by Rodriguez, Eddie (Relating to the power of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to authorize certain injection wells that transect or terminate in the Edwards Aquifer.), As Introduced |
The bill would allow the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to authorize, by rule, five types of injection wells that transect or terminate in the saline portion of the Edwards Aquifer that is located inside the boundaries of the Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD). The bill would allow the Saline Edwards Aquifer to be used as a source of water. The saline portion of the aquifer would be defined by the bill as the part of the Aquifer that contains only groundwater with a total dissolved solid concentration (TDS) of more than 1,000 milligrams per liter. The bill would not affect the portion of the Edwards Aquifer that is part of the Edwards Aquifer Authority.
The bill would prohibit the TCEQ from authorizing any type of injection well, other, than the five types authorized by the bill, in the BSEACD or other parts of the Edwards Aquifer,
The TCEQ reports that passage of the bill would not result in a significant fiscal impact to the agency.
| Source Agencies: | 455 Railroad Commission, 582 Commission on Environmental Quality
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| LBB Staff: | UP, SZ, TL
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