Courier Article this Morning re Injection Well Bills

Conroe Courier - News

Local legislators struggling to pass injection well bills

By Lucretia Cardenas

Published: 04.06.09

Three Montgomery County lawmakers aren’t having much luck passing their injection well regulatory legislation out of the House and Senate natural resource committees.

“The odds of passing it out of either committee aren’t good,” Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe said. “It’s hard. Special interests groups are working the members.”

Creighton and Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, filed the bills in November and, since then, Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, has signed on as a co-author of the House bills.

In an attempt to address local issues, Nichols, is proposing the bills be passed only for Montgomery County, said Nichols’ Press Secretary Alicia Pierce.

The bills were heard by the natural resource committees two weeks ago, and numerous Montgomery County residents and officials went to Austin to testify. But also testifying were officials with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and representatives of TexCom Gulf Disposals, the company proposing to pump non-hazardous wastewater into an existing well at the old Conroe oilfield, and representatives from other entities that depend on injection wells to dispose of waste, Creighton said.

The bills – House Bills 177-179 and Senate Bills 273-275 – would require regular reporting of injection well water and soil testing, set limits on where an injection well can be placed and require the TCEQ to establish rules for injection well surface facilities.

The second hearing on TexCom’s permit before State Office of Administrative Hearing judges is July 20. If the bills are passed, they may not have any affect on TexCom’s proposals because the application for a permit is already on file.

Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands

Williams is in for a busy week with more than 20 of his bills scheduled for public hearings.

Several bills being heard today are SB 20 and Senate Joint Resolution 48, which would require a residential property’s value be based on the fact the property is a residence; SB 771, which puts limits on how much an appraisal value can be increased; and SB 1497, which is related to binding arbitration of certain appraisal review board orders, according to the bills.

Several bills being heard Tuesday are SB 183, which gives certain students with disabilities a school choice program; SB 911, which regulates the licensing of pain management clinics; SB 912, which relates to diversion of controlled substances by people who have access to them through their professions; and SB 1281, which places a penalty for practitioners or providers who fraudulently obtain controlled substances, according to the bills.

One of the bills being heard on Wednesday is SB 2043, which would close certain man-made passes between the Gulf of Mexico and inland bays.

Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville

Nichols also has several bills to go before their respective committees this week.

Senate Bill 1633 will be heard today. The bill would address an issue before the city of Conroe, which cannot create another reinvestment zone because the property in it, combined with properties in current zones, make up more than 15 percent of the total appraised value of the city’s taxable properties. The bill would raise the rate to 20 percent, allowing the city to create another investment zone and encourage development, according to the bill analysis.

Senate Bill 2378, which addresses transportation reinvestment zones, also will be heard today. The bill establishes new opportunities for municipalities to take in order to develop transportation for underdeveloped or blighted areas, according to the bill.

Two other bills being heard this week are SB 1171, which relates to certain health-related reports, records and information, and SB 1432, which relates to investigation, prosecution and punishment of criminal Medicaid fraud.

Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands

Eissler will be presenting six of his bills this week to committees.

House Bill 875, which will be presented Tuesday, would allow, in addition to the attorney general and district attorney of a county, for a county or municipal attorney to assess a fee to people or companies who place a sign in a right-of-way without permission, the bill states.

Other bills being heard are HB 2541, which relates to the funding and operation of open-enrollment charter schools; HB 1452, which allows for veterans and other covered persons to be first in line to receive job training and employment assistance; and HB 3916, which would add lessons on the dangers of binge drinking to health classes, according to the bills.

Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe

Creighton’s House Bill 761 is headed to the Senate after being unanimously passed by the House last week.

The bill, proposed by the Conroe Police Department, increases the penalties for property crimes such as robbery and theft if the acts are committed during a disaster, such as a hurricane, said Rebecca Dean, Creighton’s chief of staff. The bill would make such offenses Class A misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail and up to a $4,000 fine. If the offense was already a Class A misdemeanor, then a minimum sentence of 180 days in jail is set, the bill states

Two bills Creighton jointly authored were debated in the House Natural Resources committee during the week. House Bill 2667 is aimed at improving efficiency of plumbing fixtures to improve water conservation and HB 4231 would enable the sale of water from Oklahoma to Texas to assist the state with its long-term water needs, Dean said.

Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton

The only bill Otto has scheduled for a public hearing this week is HB 3115, which relates to the computation of income tax expense for electric utilities.

The bill states that an electric utility’s income tax expense will be computed on a stand-alone basis using only the regulated utility cost of service used to determine its rates. If an expense is not allowed, the related income tax deduction or benefit is not allowed.




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