Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

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NATURAL RESOURCES/General
77 th Texas Legislature
Authorizes the state board to create and certify a water quality management plan for land on which animal
waste is applied for agricultural purposes if the landowner so requests.
Clarifies that nothing in the bill impedes the authority of the Texas Department of Agriculture from
representing the state before any federal agency on matters concerning the state’s participation in the
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
Requires the state board to notify TNRCC within 10 days of the board’s decertification of a water quality
management plan for an animal feeding operation.
Requires the state board to update its identification of priority areas for the control of nonpoint source
pollution at least every four years.
Requires the state board to consider the following with regard to these identified priority areas:
• bodies of water the TNRCC has identified as impaired;
• threatened areas where action is necessary to prevent nonpoint source pollution; and
• other areas of concern such as groundwater.
Records; Elections
Requires the state board to maintain records for referrals of agricultural or silvicultural operations to
TNRCC for enforcement.
Revises procedures for local soil and water conservation district elections.
Requires the board to publish and (rather than or) post notice within the appropriate area.
Financial Incentives
Requires the state board to give greater weight among the landowners in areas identified as priority areas
in allocation of cost-share assistance funds to for the control of nonpoint source pollution.
Requires the state board to keep records of financial incentive disbursements to owners of land in these
priority areas.
Study of East Texas Oil Field - H.B. 2436
by Representative Merritt
Senate Sponsor: Senator Brown
The East Texas Oil Field (field) is not only the largest oil field in Texas, it is also the most productive in the
lower 48 states. The field covers several counties and has produced more than 5.3 billion barrels of oil
since its discovery in 1930. Production is declining rapidly, and if new approaches to capturing oil from the
field are not implemented, effective production of oil could end by 2006. H.B. 2436 requires the Bureau of
Economic Geology (bureau) of the University of Texas at Austin to conduct a study of the East Texas Oil
Field for the purpose of making recommendations regarding strategies to maximize the ultimate recovery of
oil and gas from the field.
Senate Research Center 223