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

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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

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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.