87R7210 JXC-D
 
  By: Leman, Goldman, Landgraf, Darby, H.B. No. 3381
      King of Uvalde
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the authority of the Railroad Commission of Texas to
  contract for the treatment of and sell drill cuttings.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Section 91.115, Natural Resources
  Code, is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 91.115.  FIRST LIEN ON EQUIPMENT AND STORED
  HYDROCARBONS OR DRILL CUTTINGS.
         SECTION 2.  Section 91.115, Natural Resources Code, is
  amended by amending Subsections (a), (e), (f), and (g) and adding
  Subsections (f-1) and (f-2) to read as follows:
         (a)  If a responsible person fails to clean up a site or
  facility that has ceased oil and gas operations under the
  commission's jurisdiction on or before the date the site or
  facility is required to be cleaned up by law or by a rule adopted or
  order issued by the commission, the state has a first lien, superior
  to all preexisting and subsequent liens and security interests, on
  the responsible person's interest in any hydrocarbons or drill
  cuttings stored at the site or facility and in any equipment that
  is:
               (1)  located at the site or facility; and
               (2)  used by the responsible person in connection with
  the activity that generated the pollution.
         (e)  The lien is extinguished as to any stored hydrocarbons
  or drill cuttings or items of equipment that are lawfully removed by
  any person other than the operator or a nonoperator according to a
  lien, lease, judgment, written contract, or security agreement
  before the commission enters into a cleanup contract. An item of
  equipment may not be removed from an abandoned site or facility if
  the removal will cause the release of a substance that may cause
  pollution unless the substance is lawfully disposed of.
         (f)  Equipment or stored hydrocarbons or drill cuttings
  subject to a lien under this section are presumed to have been
  abandoned on the date the commission enters into a contract to clean
  up the site or facility on which the equipment, [or] hydrocarbons,
  or drill cuttings are located.
         (f-1)  The commission may dispose of the abandoned equipment
  or stored hydrocarbons in accordance with the provisions of
  Sections 89.085, 89.086, and 89.087 [of this code] for the
  disposition of well-site equipment and hydrocarbons.
         (f-2)  The commission may dispose of the abandoned stored
  drill cuttings by contracting with a person to treat the drill
  cuttings at the site or facility for a subsequent beneficial use and
  selling the treated drill cuttings at a public auction or a public
  or private sale. Sections 89.085(c)-(i), 89.086, and 89.087 apply
  to the disposition of drill cuttings under this subsection in the
  same manner as those sections apply to the disposition of
  hydrocarbons. 
         (g)  In this section:
               (1)  "Drill cuttings" has the meaning assigned by
  Section 123.001. 
               (2)  "Responsible ["responsible] person" has the
  meaning assigned by Section 91.113 [of this code].
               (3)  "Treat" means to use a manufacturing, mechanical,
  thermal, or chemical process other than sizing, shaping, diluting,
  or sorting.
         SECTION 3.  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, 2021.