By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 2155

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the issuance or amendment of a permit for a solid waste landfill facility or hazardous waste land disposal unit to be located in a special flood hazard area.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Section 361.1232 to read as follows: Sec. 361.1232. LIMITATION ON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL IN SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA.

(a) As used in this section, (1) "special flood hazard area" means the land in a floodplain subject to a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year as designated by the director or administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and (2) "facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances (including drainage structures, groundwater monitoring wells, landfill gas probes, gate or scale houses), and improvements on land used for the storage, processing, management, or disposal of solid waste.

(b) The commission may not issue a permit for a new municipal solid waste landfill facility or a lateral expansion of an existing municipal solid waste landfill facility that is conditioned on the removal of(1) any part of the planned new municipal solid waste landfill facility from a special flood hazard area, or (2) any part of the planned lateral expansion of an existing municipal solid waste facility from a special flood hazard area.

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), the commission may not issue a permit for a new municipal solid waste landfill facility or for a lateral expansion of an existing municipal solid waste landfill if any part of the facility is in a special flood hazard area unless the applicant has obtained from the Federal Emergency Management Agency a letter of map amendment demonstrating that the location of the entire facility has been removed from the special flood hazard area. A conditional letter of map revision issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not satisfy the requirements of this subsection.

(d) The commission by rule may allow a new municipal solid waste landfill facility, or the lateral expansion of an existing municipal solid waste landfill facility, to be in a special flood hazard area, but only if the applicant or permit holder demonstrates, and the commission is satisfied and finds, that (1) no other suitable site for the facility outside of the special flood hazard area exists in the county in which the facility is or would be located; (2) removing the proposed site for the facility from the special flood hazard area would be prohibitively expensive; and (3) the facility is designed and will operate to prevent the washout or physical transport of any solid waste by a 100-year flood event.

SECTION 2. Section 361.098 of Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) As used in this section, (1) "special flood hazard area" means the land in a floodplain subject to a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year as designated by the director or administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and (2) "facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances (including drainage structures, groundwater monitoring wells, landfill gas probes, gate or scale houses), and improvements on land used for the storage, processing, management, or disposal of solid waste.

(b) Except as provided by Subsections (b c) and (c d), the commission by rule shall prohibit the issuance of a permit for a new hazardous waste landfill or an areal expansion of such a landfill if the landfill is to be located in a special flood hazard area [the 100-year floodplain existing before site development, unless the landfill is to be located in an area with a flood depth of less than three feet].

(b c) The commission by rule may allow an areal expansion of a landfill facility in a special flood hazard area [100-year floodplain] but only if the applicant or permit holder demonstrates, and the commission is satisfied and finds [if it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the commission]that (1) no other suitable site for the facility outside of the special flood hazard area exists in the county in which the facility is or would be located; (2) removing the proposed site for the facility from the special flood hazard area would be prohibitively expensive; and(3)the facility design will prevent the physical transport of any hazardous waste by a 100-year flood event. (c d) The commission by rule shall prohibit the issuance of a permit for a new commercial hazardous waste land disposal unit if the unit is to be located in a special flood hazard area [100-year floodplain], but only if the applicant or permit holder demonstrates, and the commission is satisfied and finds [unless the applicant can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the commission] that (1) no other suitable site for the unit outside of a special flood hazard area exists in the county in which the unit is or would be located; (2) removing the proposed site for the unit from a special flood hazard area would be prohibitively expensive; and(3)the facility design will prevent the physical transport of any hazardous waste by a 100-year flood event.

(d) The commission by rule shall require an applicant to provide sufficient information to assure that a proposed hazardous waste landfill, areal expansion of such landfill, or new commercial hazardous waste land disposal unit is not subject to inundation of a 100-year flood event. An applicant or any other party may not rely solely on floodplain maps prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or a successor agency to determine whether a hazardous waste landfill, areal expansion of such landfill, or commercial hazardous waste land disposal unit is subject to such an inundation.

SECTION 3. Section 361.1232, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, and Section 361.098, Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to an application for the issuance or amendment of a permit for a solid waste landfill facility or hazardous waste land disposal unit that is pending before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. A permit for a solid waste landfill facility or hazardous waste land disposal unit that is issued or amended before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the permit was issued or amended, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. 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, 2017.