Bill Text: TX HB1717 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to wind energy conversion systems and facilities and the rights of owners of land on which the systems and facilities are located; providing an administrative penalty.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-05 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB1717 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB1717-Introduced.html
  85R2452 JXC-F
 
  By: Canales H.B. No. 1717
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to wind energy conversion systems and facilities and the
  rights of owners of land on which the systems and facilities are
  located; providing an administrative penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Title 11, Natural Resources Code, is amended by
  adding Chapter 212 to read as follows:
  CHAPTER 212. WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS AND FACILITIES
         Sec. 212.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Commission" means the Railroad Commission of
  Texas.
               (2)  "Wind energy conversion system" means a system
  that converts wind energy into electric energy through the use of a
  wind turbine generator and includes a turbine, blade, tower, base,
  and pad transformer, if any.
               (3)  "Wind energy facility" means an electric
  generating facility that consists of one or more wind energy
  conversion systems under common ownership or operating control and
  the substations, meteorological data towers, aboveground and
  underground electric transmission lines, transformers, control
  systems, and other buildings or facilities used to support the
  operation of the facility.
               (4)  "Wind energy lease agreement" means an agreement
  that: 
                     (A)  provides for the operation of a wind energy
  conversion system or wind energy facility at least partially on the
  property of a landowner who is not the owner or operator of the
  system or facility; and
                     (B)  requires the owner or operator of the system
  or facility to pay the landowner for the use of the property to
  generate electric energy from the conversion of wind energy based
  on the amount of electric energy produced from the conversion of
  wind energy.
         Sec. 212.002.  APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to
  a wind energy conversion system or wind energy facility:
               (1)  the primary purpose of which is to supply electric
  energy to an off-site customer; and
               (2)  that is the subject of a wind energy lease
  agreement.
         Sec. 212.003.  RULES. The commission may adopt rules to
  accomplish the purposes of this chapter.
         Sec. 212.004.  RIGHT OF LANDOWNER TO ACCESS RECORDS. (a)  An
  owner or operator of a wind energy conversion system or wind energy
  facility shall, on request from the landowner who entered into the
  wind energy lease agreement, provide the landowner access to the
  records of the owner or operator relating to the system or facility
  for the purpose of confirming the accuracy of payments made to the
  landowner. A landowner may not request access to the records more
  frequently than once each year.
         (b)  An owner or operator that receives a request under
  Subsection (a) shall provide the landowner access to all records
  necessary for the landowner to confirm the accuracy of payments
  made to the landowner, including documents, data, and other
  information, or copies of the records, documents, data, or
  information. The records are subject to any confidentiality
  requirements in the wind energy lease agreement between the
  landowner and the owner or operator.
         (c)  The owner or operator shall comply with the landowner's
  request to access the records within a reasonable time.
         (d)  The owner or operator shall:
               (1)  provide access to the records in a reasonable
  location and manner that affords the landowner reasonable access to
  the records during normal business hours; and
               (2)  allow the landowner a reasonable period of time to
  examine the records.
         (e)  A landowner may not cause undue disruption to the
  operations of an owner or operator when examining records under
  this section.
         (f)  Not later than the 10th day before the date an owner or
  operator of a wind energy conversion system or wind energy facility
  enters into a wind energy lease agreement with a landowner, the
  owner or operator must send to the landowner, by first class mail or
  otherwise, a written statement that the landowner will be entitled
  to access the records of the owner or operator for the purpose of
  confirming the accuracy of payments made to the landowner.
         (g)  The statement required by Subsection (f) must be made in
  a document that is separate from the wind energy lease agreement.
         Sec. 212.005.  FINANCIAL ASSURANCE; DECOMMISSIONING. (a)  
  The commission by rule shall require each owner or operator of a
  wind energy conversion system or wind energy facility who enters
  into a wind energy lease agreement to file with the commission a
  bond or other form of financial assurance to ensure decommissioning
  of the system or facility. The commission may accept under this
  subsection a surety bond, a collateral bond, an escrow account,
  another form of financial assurance the commission determines to be
  adequate, or a combination of those types of assurance.  The bond or
  financial assurance must be in an amount and in a form provided by
  commission rules.
         (b)  The bond or financial assurance must be conditioned on
  the owner or operator of the system or facility complying with the
  commission's rules adopted under this section regarding
  decommissioning. The bond or other financial assurance must be
  accompanied by an agreement by which the owner of the land on which
  the system or facility is installed or is to be installed grants to
  the owner or operator of the system or facility, and to the
  commission or its agents in case the commission undertakes
  decommissioning under Subsection (g), permission to enter onto the
  land to decommission the system or facility and restore the land to
  the condition of the land immediately before the system or facility
  was installed.
         (c)  The owner or operator of a system or facility at the
  owner's or operator's expense shall decommission the system or
  facility in accordance with commission rules not later than the
  first anniversary of the end of the system's or facility's useful
  life.  The system's or facility's useful life is presumed to be at an
  end if the system or facility has not generated electricity for a
  continuous period of one year, unless the commission has approved
  the owner's or operator's plan to return the system or facility to
  service.
         (d)  The commission's rules governing decommissioning a
  system or facility must provide that the owner or operator:
               (1)  shall remove all material related to the installed
  system or facility to a depth of at least 48 inches beneath the soil
  surface;
               (2)  shall restore the area disturbed by the
  installation or removal of the system or facility to substantially
  the same physical condition of the land immediately before the
  system or facility was installed, including by grading and
  reseeding, except as provided by rules adopted under Subdivision
  (3); and
               (3)  is not required to restore access roads or other
  features not directly related to the system or facility that the
  landowner requests in writing remain unrestored.
         (e)  In addition to the bond or other financial assurance
  required under Subsection (a), the commission may require a
  performance bond to ensure that decommissioning activities are
  properly conducted. The commission may accept under this
  subsection a surety bond, a collateral bond, an escrow account,
  another form of financial assurance the commission determines to be
  adequate, or a combination of those types of assurance.
         (f)  The commission by rule may adopt requirements for
  performance bonds described by Subsection (e). The rules may
  include methods for determining the amount of a bond, for updating
  estimated decommissioning costs and bond amounts over time, and for
  ensuring that money will be available for a decommissioning
  project. In determining the amount of a performance bond, the
  commission may consider:
               (1)  the anticipated length of a decommissioning
  project; 
               (2)  the estimated decommissioning costs, including
  restoration costs;
               (3)  the anticipated manner in which the
  decommissioning project will be conducted; and
               (4)  other factors the commission determines are
  relevant. 
         (g)  If the owner or operator of a system or facility does not
  complete the decommissioning of the system or facility, the
  commission may take any necessary action to complete the
  decommissioning, including requiring forfeiture of a bond or other
  financial assurance required under this section.
         (h)  A wind energy lease agreement may contain provisions for
  decommissioning or restoration that are more restrictive than the
  provisions of this chapter or a rule adopted under this chapter.
         Sec. 212.006.  ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY. (a) A person who
  violates a provision of this chapter or a rule or order issued by
  the commission under this chapter may be assessed an administrative
  penalty by the commission. 
         (b)  The penalty may not exceed $1,000 a day for each
  violation. Each day a violation continues may be considered a
  separate violation for purposes of penalty assessments.
         (c)  In determining the amount of the penalty, the commission
  shall consider the person's history of previous violations, the
  seriousness of the violation, any hazard to the health or safety of
  the public, and the demonstrated good faith of the person charged. 
         (d)  The commission may impose an administrative penalty
  under this section in the manner provided by Sections
  81.0532-81.0534.
         Sec. 212.007.  ENFORCEMENT BY COMMISSION AND ATTORNEY
  GENERAL. (a) If it appears that a person has been or is violating
  this chapter or a rule of the commission adopted under this chapter,
  the commission may institute a civil suit in a district court for
  injunctive relief to restrain the person from continuing the
  violation.
         (b)  On application for injunctive relief and a finding that
  a person has violated or is violating this chapter or a rule of the
  commission under this chapter, the district court shall grant the
  injunctive relief that the facts warrant.
         (c)  At the request of the commission, the attorney general
  shall institute and conduct a suit under this section in the name of
  the state.
         SECTION 2.  (a)  Sections 212.004(f) and (g) and 212.005,
  Natural Resources Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a wind
  energy lease agreement entered into on or after February 1, 2018. A
  wind energy lease agreement entered into before February 1, 2018,
  is governed by the law as it existed immediately before that date,
  and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         (b)  The Railroad Commission of Texas shall prioritize the
  adoption of rules to implement Chapter 212, Natural Resources Code,
  as added by this Act, so that the commission may begin requiring
  bonds or other financial assurance under those rules not later than
  January 31, 2018.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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