Bill Text: TX HB2827 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Engrossed


Bill Title: Relating to the permitting of and performance of annual soil tests for certain concentrated animal feeding operations by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-12 - Referred to Natural Resources & Economic Development [HB2827 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB2827-Engrossed.html
  88R4472 MP-F
 
  By: Burns, Slawson, Spiller, Rogers H.B. No. 2827
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the permitting of and performance of annual soil tests
  for certain concentrated animal feeding operations by the Texas
  Commission on Environmental Quality.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 26.503, Water Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a), (b), and (f) and adding Subsection (g) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  The commission may authorize the construction or
  operation of a new concentrated animal feeding operation, or an
  increase in the animals confined under an existing operation, only
  by a new or amended general [individual] permit.
         (b)  The general [individual] permit issued or amended under
  Subsection (a) must:
               (1)  provide for management and disposal of waste in
  accordance with Subchapter B, Chapter 321, Title 30, Texas
  Administrative Code;
               (2)  require that 100 percent of the collectible manure
  produced by the additional animals in confinement at an expanded
  operation or all of the animals in confinement at a new operation
  must be:
                     (A)  disposed of or used outside of the watershed;
                     (B)  delivered to a composting facility approved
  by the executive director;
                     (C)  applied as directed by the commission to a
  waste application field owned or controlled by the owner of the
  concentrated animal feeding operation, if the field is not a
  historical waste application field;
                     (D)  put to another beneficial use approved by the
  executive director; or
                     (E)  applied to a historical waste application
  field that is owned or operated by the owner or operator of the
  concentrated animal feeding operation only if:
                           (i)  results of representative composite
  soil sampling conducted at the waste application field and filed
  with the commission show that the waste application field contains
  200 or fewer parts per million of extractable phosphorus (reported
  as P); or
                           (ii)  the manure is applied, with commission
  approval, in accordance with a detailed nutrient utilization plan
  approved by the commission that is developed by:
                                 (a)  an employee of the United States
  Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation
  Service;
                                 (b)  a nutrient management specialist
  certified by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural
  Resources Conservation Service;
                                 (c)  the State Soil and Water
  Conservation Board;
                                 (d)  the Texas A&M AgriLife
  [Agricultural] Extension Service;
                                 (e)  an agronomist or soil scientist on
  the full-time staff of an accredited university located in this
  state; or
                                 (f)  a professional agronomist or soil
  scientist certified by the American Society of Agronomy.
         (f)  This section does not limit the commission's authority
  to include in a [an individual or] general permit under this chapter
  provisions necessary to protect a water resource in this state.
         (g)  This subsection applies only to an operator of a
  concentrated animal feeding operation. The commission by rule or
  as a condition of a general permit issued under this section:
               (1)  may not require an operator to receive training on
  animal waste management; and
               (2)  shall require an operator to retain and submit to
  the commission on request a record of:
                     (A)  the amount of manure, litter, or wastewater
  from the operation applied to a third-party waste application
  field, including the location of the application and the name of the
  third party; and
                     (B)  the results of a testing analysis of a soil
  sample performed on behalf of the operator.
         SECTION 2.  Section 26.504, Water Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
  follows:
         (a)  The commission shall collect one or more representative
  composite soil samples from each permitted waste application field
  associated with a concentrated animal feeding operation. The
  commission shall perform the sampling under this subsection not
  less often than once every 12 months. Sampling results obtained by
  the commission shall be used by the permitted concentrated animal
  feeding operator to satisfy any annual sampling of permitted waste
  application fields required by commission rule or general
  [individual] permit.
         (f)  A general permit described by Section 26.503(g):
               (1)  must specify that required soil samples be taken
  at depths of zero to six inches;
               (2)  must require soil sample results to be included in
  the annual report provided to the commission; and
               (3)  may not require soil sampling of a third-party
  waste application field.
         SECTION 3.  The following provisions of the Water Code are
  repealed:
               (1)  Section 26.503(d); and
               (2)  Section 26.504(c).
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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