By: Guillen (Senate Sponsor - Parker) H.B. No. 4119
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 2023;
  May 10, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
  Resources & Economic Development; May 18, 2023, reported favorably
  by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 18, 2023, sent to
  printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to procedural requirements for uranium mining production
  area authorizations.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 27.0513(d), Water Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (d)  Notwithstanding Sections 5.551, 5.556, 27.011, and
  27.018, an application for an authorization or an amendment to an
  authorization that allows the permit holder to conduct mining and
  restoration activities in production zones within the boundary
  established in the permit is an uncontested matter not subject to a
  contested case hearing or the hearing requirements of Chapter 2001,
  Government Code, if:
               (1)  the authorization is for a production zone located
  within the boundary of a permit that incorporates, for each
  production zone addressed in the application, a range table of
  groundwater quality restoration values used to measure groundwater
  restoration by the commission;
               (2)  the application includes, for each production zone
  addressed in the application, groundwater quality restoration
  values falling at or below the upper limit of the range established
  in Subdivision (1); and
               (3)  the authorization is for a production zone located
  within the boundary of a permit that incorporates groundwater
  baseline characteristics of the wells for the application required
  by commission rule.
         SECTION 2.  Sections 27.0513(f) and (g), Water Code, are
  repealed.
         SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to an application for an authorization or an amendment to an
  authorization that is submitted to the Texas Commission on
  Environmental Quality on or after the effective date of this Act.
  An application for an authorization or an amendment to an
  authorization that was submitted to the commission before the
  effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the
  time the application or amendment was submitted, and the former law
  is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
 
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