Rep. Phil King
TCJL SUPPORTS – Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) has filed legislation aimed at encouraging the recycling of oil and gas waste for beneficial use, as well as promoting conservation of water used in oil and gas operations. HB 2767 requires the Texas Railroad Commission to establish a procedure under which a person who holds a permit for on-lease operation to store, handle, treat, or reclaim oil and gas waste and who treats liquid or semiliquid oil and gas waste for a subsequent beneficial use may obtain an off-lease commercial permit. To acquire an off-lease permit, the permitee must demonstrate that it can: (1) safely store the waste and treated waste off-lease, and (2) for each site at which waste is treated, provide the commission with information about the composition of the treated oil and gas waste at that site in the form and manner prescribed by the commission.
Additionally, HB 2767 provides that when liquid or semiliquid oil and gas waste is transferred to a person who takes possession of the waste for purposes of treatment for a subsequent beneficial use, the transferred material is considered to be the property of the person that takes possession until such time as the waste treated waste is transferred to another person for disposal or use. Once such transfer has occurred, the waste is considered to be the property of the transferee.
Finally, HB 2767 provides that a person who takes possession of liquid or semiliquid oil and gas waste, produces from that waste a treated product generally considered in the oil and gas industry to be suitable for use in connection with the drilling for or producing of oil and gas, and transfers the treated product to another with the contractual understanding that the product will be used in connection with drilling or production is not liable in tort for a consequence of the subsequent use of the treated product by the transferee.
