H.B. No. 3838

	AN ACT
	relating to regulation of injection wells used for in situ uranium
	recovery by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 27.002, Water Code, is amended by
	amending Subdivisions (1) and (2) and adding Subdivisions (16),
	(17), and (18) to read as follows:
	(1)  "Commission" means the Texas Commission on
	Environmental Quality [Natural Resource Conservation Commission].
	(2)  "Executive director" means the executive director
	of the commission [Texas Natural Resource Conservation
	Commission].
	(16)  "Production well" means a well used to recover
	uranium through in situ solution recovery, including an injection
	well used to recover uranium.  The term does not include a well used
	to inject waste.
	(17)  "Monitoring well" means a well that is used to
	measure or monitor the level, quality, quantity, or movement of
	subsurface water.
	(18)  "Area permit" means a permit that authorizes the
	construction and operation of production and monitoring wells used
	in operations and restoration associated with in situ recovery of
	uranium.
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 27, Water Code, is amended
	by adding Sections 27.023 and 27.024 to read as follows:
	Sec. 27.023.  JURISDICTION OVER IN SITU URANIUM APPLICATION
	DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS. (a) The commission has exclusive
	jurisdiction over and shall regulate wells used during the
	development of permit applications to obtain required premining
	geologic, hydrologic, and water quality information.
	(b)  The commission shall require a well described by
	Subsection (a) to be registered with the commission.  A well
	described by Subsection (a) is not subject to the commission's
	permitting, notice, and hearing requirements.
	(c)  If a well described by Subsection (a) is included in an
	area permit issued by the commission:
	(1)  the registration status of the well ceases; and
	(2)  the well is subject to all rules applicable to the
	area permit, including notice and hearing requirements.
	Sec. 27.024.  SHARING OF GEOLOGIC, HYDROLOGIC, AND WATER
	QUALITY DATA. (a) After a person developing an application for an
	area permit for an area located in a groundwater conservation
	district has identified a permit boundary, the person shall provide
	to that district:
	(1)  information regarding wells encountered by that
	person during the development of the area permit application that
	are not recorded in the public record;
	(2)  a map showing the locations of wells that are
	located within one-quarter mile of the location for the proposed
	permit and that are recorded in the public record;
	(3)  premining water quality information collected
	from wells described by Section 27.023(a);
	(4)  on a monthly basis, the amount of water produced
	from the wells described by Section 27.023(a); and
	(5)  a record of strata as described by Section 27.053,
	except confidential information described by Section 131.048,
	Natural Resources Code.
	(b)  A person may take not more than 90 days after the person
	receives the final information described by Subsection (a) to
	perform standard quality control and quality assurance procedures
	before the person submits the information to the groundwater
	conservation district.
	SECTION 3.  Section 27.053, Water Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 27.053.  RECORD OF STRATA.  The commission or railroad
	commission may require a person receiving a permit or authorization
	by rule under this chapter to keep and furnish a complete and
	accurate record of the depth, thickness, and character of the
	different strata penetrated in drilling an [the] injection well,
	monitoring well, or production well.
	SECTION 4.  Section 27.054, Water Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 27.054.  ELECTRIC OR DRILLING LOG.  If an existing well
	is to be converted to an injection well, monitoring well, or
	production well, the commission or railroad commission may require
	the applicant to furnish an electric log or a drilling log of the
	existing well.
	SECTION 5.  Section 27.071, Water Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 27.071.  POWER TO ENTER PROPERTY.  Members of the
	commission and the railroad commission and employees of the
	commission and the railroad commission may enter public or private
	property to inspect and investigate conditions relating to
	injection well, monitoring well, [or] disposal well, or production
	well activities within their respective jurisdictions or to monitor
	compliance with a rule, permit, or other order of the commission or
	railroad commission.  Members or employees acting under the
	authority of this section who enter an establishment on public or
	private property shall observe the establishment's safety,
	internal security, and fire protection rules.
	SECTION 6.  Section 27.072, Water Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 27.072.  POWER TO EXAMINE RECORDS.  Members of the
	commission and the railroad commission and employees of the
	commission and railroad commission may examine and copy those
	records or memoranda of a business they are investigating as
	provided by Section 27.071 of this code that relate to the operation
	of an injection well, monitoring well, [or] disposal well, or
	production well, or any other records required to be maintained by
	law.
	SECTION 7.  Section 27.073, Water Code, is amended by adding
	Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
	(a-1)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a person to whom an in
	situ uranium mining injection well, monitoring well, or production
	well permit is issued shall be required by the commission to
	maintain a performance bond or other form of financial security to
	ensure that an abandoned well is properly plugged.
	SECTION 8.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 3838 was passed by the House on May
	11, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 137, Nays 0, 1 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 3838 on May 26, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 146, Nays 0,
	2 present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 3838 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 23, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
	0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor