Bill Text: TX HB873 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to air quality permits for aggregate production operations and concrete batch plants.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HB873 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB873-Introduced.html

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By: Wilson H.B. No. 873

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to air quality permits for aggregate production operations
and concrete batch plants.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 382, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Sections 382.051991 and 382.051992 to
read as follows:
Sec. 382.051991. USE OF STANDARD PERMIT FOR AGGREGATE
PRODUCTION OPERATIONS AND CONCRETE BATCH PLANTS: PUBLIC HEARING OR
MEETING. (a) This section applies only to a public hearing or
meeting regarding an authorization to use a standard permit under
this chapter for:
(1) the production of aggregates, as defined by
Section 28A.001, Water Code; or
(2) the operation of a concrete plant that performs
wet batching, dry batching, or central mixing.
(b) The commission shall accept written questions about the
facility from the public until the 15th day before the date of the
hearing or meeting.
(c) Not later than the 14th day before the date of the
hearing or meeting, the commission shall notify the following
entities of the date, time, and place of the hearing or meeting:
(1) the Texas Department of Transportation;
(2) each groundwater conservation district with
jurisdiction over the area in which the facility is located or
proposed to be located;
(3) if no groundwater conservation district has
jurisdiction over the area in which the facility is located or
proposed to be located, the Texas Water Development Board;
(4) any state agency with jurisdiction over a topic
raised in a written question submitted to the commission under
Subsection (b); and
(5) each municipality and county in which the facility
is located or proposed to be located.
(d) Each entity other than a municipality or county that
receives notice of a hearing or meeting under Subsection (c) shall
send a representative of the entity to attend the hearing or
meeting.
Sec. 382.051992. ADDITIONAL STANDARD PERMIT REQUIREMENTS
FOR AGGREGATE PRODUCTION OPERATIONS AND CONCRETE BATCH PLANTS. (a)
This section applies only to the use of a standard permit under this
chapter for:
(1) the production of aggregates, as defined by
Section 28A.001, Water Code; or
(2) the operation of a concrete plant that performs
wet batching, dry batching, or central mixing.
(b) The commission may not authorize the use of a standard
permit for or renew a standard permit authorization for a facility
unless the applicant indicates on the application that the
applicant:
(1) has complied with the requirements of Subsection
(c); and
(2) will comply with any Texas Department of
Transportation requirements for the construction or alteration of
driveways as provided by Subsection (j).
(c) In addition to requirements in any other applicable
provision of this chapter, a person authorized to use a standard
permit must:
(1) install equipment to monitor noise levels from the
facility:
(A) at the point on the perimeter of the property
on which the facility is located that is closest to the nearest
building in use as a single-family or multifamily residence,
school, place of worship, or commercial enterprise; and
(B) at two other points on the perimeter of the
property on which the facility is located equidistant from the
point described by Paragraph (A);
(2) ensure that outdoor lighting installed at the
facility complies with standards adopted by the Illuminating
Engineering Society;
(3) obtain computer-controlled blasting technology to
minimize the effect of seismic forces on adjacent property caused
by blasting at the facility;
(4) either:
(A) use water for the facility only from a
metered source or under a permit from a groundwater conservation
district; or
(B) implement commission-approved methods of
water recirculation to ensure efficient use of groundwater for the
facility;
(5) provide to the commission a plan to ensure that the
area on which the facility operates will be safe and useful after
operations cease, including a description of how the person will:
(A) resolve potential safety and environmental
problems;
(B) minimize fugitive dust from areas the person
does not plan to revegetate; and
(C) control erosion by revegetating barren
areas; and
(6) provide to the commission a performance bond or
other form of financial assurance to ensure payment of the costs of
executing the plan required by Subdivision (5).
(d) The commission is not required to inspect a facility
solely to verify compliance with Subsection (c). The commission
shall inspect a facility for compliance with Subsection (c) during
regular inspections under this chapter and Chapter 28A, Water Code.
(e) The commission shall publish a list of monitoring
equipment that a person may use to meet the requirements of
Subsection (c)(1).
(f) The person shall maintain records of monitoring data
from the equipment required by Subsection (c)(1) until the fifth
anniversary of the date on which the data was collected.
(g) The person authorized to use a standard permit shall
ensure that noise created by the permitted facility does not
exceed:
(1) 70 decibels at the points at which monitors are
installed under Subsection (c); or
(2) 65 decibels at the perimeter of a property that is:
(A) used as a residence; and
(B) located within 880 yards of the permitted
facility.
(h) If the commission receives a complaint about noise
created by a permitted facility, the commission shall require the
person authorized to use the permit to submit to the commission all
relevant available monitoring data from the monitoring equipment
required by Subsection (c)(1) collected for a time period beginning
30 days before the date that is the subject of the complaint and
ending 30 days after that date. The commission shall analyze the
data before determining whether the complaint is valid.
(i) The commission is authorized to:
(1) receive funds as the beneficiary of a financial
assurance mechanism required under Subsection (c); and
(2) expend funds from the financial assurance
mechanism to ensure that the area on which the permitted facility
operated is safe and useful.
(j) If the Texas Department of Transportation determines
that activities at a facility necessitate the construction or
modification of driveway access to or from a state highway,
including to meet any applicable requirements under Chapter 133,
Natural Resources Code, the person authorized to use a standard
permit for the facility shall enter into a donation agreement with
the department for the donation of costs or property needed by the
state to facilitate the construction or alteration.
SECTION 2. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, the changes in law made by this Act apply only to a permit
or an authorization to use a permit for which an application is
submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or
after the effective date of this Act. A permit or an authorization
to use a permit for which an application was submitted to the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before the
effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act apply to a permit or
an authorization to use a permit for which an application for
renewal is submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality on or after January 1, 2027.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2026.