Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

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REGULATORY
77 th Texas Legislature
Requires the RRC to issue a certificate of completion when a participant in the voluntary cleanup program
has successfully completed an approved voluntary cleanup.
Requires certificate to acknowledge participant’s protection from liability to the state.
Safety and Regulation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)
Authorizes RRC to establish risk assessment as the guide for conducting site investigations and
environmental assessments, and controlling and cleaning up oil and gas wastes and other substances.
Requires RRC, before March 1, 2002, to study the desirability of requiring an owner, operator, or manager
of a pipeline system to obtain liability insurance coverage, a bond, or other evidence of financial
responsibility to protect the public against costs resulting from a discharge from the pipeline system. In
addition, this provision:
• requires RRC to report its findings to the legislature and make the report available to the public;
and
• authorizes RRC by rule to require an owner, operator, or manager of a pipeline system to obtain
evidence of financial responsibility.
Requires RRC to administer and enforce state laws and agency rules relating to liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG). Requires RRC by rule to establish fees for the licensing of each category of LPG activity, such as
container manufacturers and fabricators, transport outfitters, carriers, general installers and repairmen,
retail and wholesale dealers, cylinder filling, cylinder dealers, and others. Includes provisions relating to the
application, renewal procedures, examination, and seminar requirements for the licensing of LPG and
compressed natural gas activities. Requires testing of LPG systems in private schools and state or regional
schools for the blind and deaf. Requires school districts to perform pressure tests for leakage at least
biennially, and before the beginning of the school year.
Requires operators of hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide pipeline facilities to communicate and conduct
liaison activities with public emergency response officials.
Requires the owner or operator of each interstate or intrastate hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide pipeline
facility any part of which is located within 1,000 feet of a public school to develop an emergency response
plan.
Authorizes RRC to require an operator to file an approval plan with the agency for assessment or testing of
a pipeline if:
• there is reason to believe that the pipeline may present a hazard to public health or safety;
• RRC lacks adequate information to assess the risk to public health or safety presented by the
pipeline; or
• a plan is necessary for the commission to initiate or complete a pipeline safety investigation.
Senate Research Center 242