Bill Text: TX HB1953 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the conversion of plastics and other recoverable materials through pyrolysis or gasification.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-05-17 - Effective immediately [HB1953 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB1953-Enrolled.html
H.B. No. 1953 |
|
||
relating to the conversion of plastics and other recoverable | ||
materials through pyrolysis or gasification. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code, is | ||
amended by amending Subdivisions (25), (34), (35), and (36) and | ||
adding Subdivisions (10-a), (10-b), (24-a), (25-a), (25-b), and | ||
(26-a) to read as follows: | ||
(10-a) "Gasification" means a process through which | ||
recoverable feedstocks are heated and converted into a fuel-gas | ||
mixture in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere and the mixture is | ||
converted into a valuable raw, intermediate, or final product, | ||
including a plastic, monomer, chemical, wax, lubricant, or chemical | ||
feedstock or crude oil, diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline | ||
blendstock, home heating oil, ethanol, or another fuel. The term | ||
does not include incineration. | ||
(10-b) "Gasification facility" means a facility that | ||
receives, separates, stores, and converts post-use polymers and | ||
recoverable feedstocks using gasification. The commission may not | ||
consider a gasification facility to be a hazardous waste management | ||
facility, a solid waste management facility, or an incinerator. | ||
(24-a) "Post-use polymers" means plastic polymers | ||
that derive from any household, industrial, community, commercial, | ||
or other sources of operations or activities that might otherwise | ||
become waste if not converted into a valuable raw, intermediate, or | ||
final product. Post-use polymers include used polymers that | ||
contain incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper labels | ||
or metal rings but do not include used polymers mixed with solid | ||
waste, medical waste, hazardous waste, electronic waste, tires, or | ||
construction or demolition debris. | ||
(25) "Processing" means the extraction of materials | ||
from or the transfer, volume reduction, conversion to energy, or | ||
other separation and preparation of solid waste for reuse or | ||
disposal. The term includes the treatment or neutralization of | ||
hazardous waste designed to change the physical, chemical, or | ||
biological character or composition of a hazardous waste so as to | ||
neutralize the waste, recover energy or material from the waste, | ||
render the waste nonhazardous or less hazardous, make it safer to | ||
transport, store, or dispose of, or render it amenable for recovery | ||
or storage, or reduce its volume. The term does not include: | ||
(A) pyrolysis or gasification; or | ||
(B) activities concerning those materials | ||
exempted by the administrator of the United States Environmental | ||
Protection Agency under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as | ||
amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as | ||
amended (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.), unless the commission | ||
determines that regulation of the activity under this chapter is | ||
necessary to protect human health or the environment. | ||
(25-a) "Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process | ||
through which post-use polymers are heated in an oxygen-deficient | ||
atmosphere until melted and thermally decomposed and then cooled, | ||
condensed, and converted into a valuable raw, intermediate, or | ||
final product, including a plastic, monomer, chemical, wax, | ||
lubricant, or chemical feedstock or crude oil, diesel, gasoline, | ||
diesel and gasoline blendstock, home heating oil, ethanol, or | ||
another fuel. The term does not include incineration. | ||
(25-b) "Pyrolysis facility" means a manufacturing | ||
facility that receives, separates, stores, and converts post-use | ||
polymers using pyrolysis. The commission may not consider a | ||
pyrolysis facility to be a hazardous waste management facility, a | ||
solid waste management facility, or an incinerator. | ||
(26-a) "Recoverable feedstock" means one or more of | ||
the following materials, derived from recoverable waste other than | ||
coal refuse, that has been processed so that it may be used as | ||
feedstock in a gasification facility: | ||
(A) post-use polymers; and | ||
(B) material, including municipal solid waste | ||
containing post-use polymers and other post-industrial waste | ||
containing post-use polymers, that has been processed into a fuel | ||
or feedstock for which the commission or the United States | ||
Environmental Protection Agency has made a non-waste determination | ||
under 40 C.F.R. Section 241.3(c). | ||
(34) This subdivision expires on delegation of the | ||
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 authority to the | ||
Railroad Commission of Texas. Subject to the limitations of 42 | ||
U.S.C. Section 6903(27) and 40 C.F.R. Section 261.4(a), "solid | ||
waste" means garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste | ||
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution | ||
control facility, and other discarded material, including solid, | ||
liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from | ||
industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural | ||
operations and from community and institutional activities. The | ||
term: | ||
(A) does not include: | ||
(i) solid or dissolved material in domestic | ||
sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows, | ||
or industrial discharges subject to regulation by permit issued | ||
under Chapter 26, Water Code; | ||
(ii) soil, dirt, rock, sand, and other | ||
natural or man-made inert solid materials used to fill land if the | ||
object of the fill is to make the land suitable for the construction | ||
of surface improvements; [ |
||
(iii) waste materials that result from | ||
activities associated with the exploration, development, or | ||
production of oil or gas or geothermal resources and other | ||
substance or material regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas | ||
under Section 91.101, Natural Resources Code, unless the waste, | ||
substance, or material results from activities associated with | ||
gasoline plants, natural gas or natural gas liquids processing | ||
plants, pressure maintenance plants, or repressurizing plants and | ||
is hazardous waste as defined by the administrator of the United | ||
States Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Solid | ||
Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and | ||
Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.); | ||
or | ||
(iv) post-use polymers or recoverable | ||
feedstocks processed through pyrolysis or gasification that do not | ||
qualify as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and | ||
Recovery Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.); and | ||
(B) does include hazardous substances, for the | ||
purposes of Sections 361.271 through 361.277[ |
||
361.343 through 361.345. | ||
(35) This subdivision is effective on delegation of | ||
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 authority to the | ||
Railroad Commission of Texas. Subject to the limitations of 42 | ||
U.S.C. Section 6903(27) and 40 C.F.R. Section 261.4(a), "solid | ||
waste" means garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste | ||
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution | ||
control facility, and other discarded material, including solid, | ||
liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from | ||
industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural | ||
operations and from community and institutional activities. The | ||
term: | ||
(A) does not include: | ||
(i) solid or dissolved material in domestic | ||
sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows, | ||
or industrial discharges subject to regulation by permit issued | ||
under Chapter 26, Water Code; | ||
(ii) soil, dirt, rock, sand, and other | ||
natural or man-made inert solid materials used to fill land if the | ||
object of the fill is to make the land suitable for the construction | ||
of surface improvements; [ |
||
(iii) waste materials that result from | ||
activities associated with the exploration, development, or | ||
production of oil or gas or geothermal resources and other | ||
substance or material regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas | ||
under Section 91.101, Natural Resources Code; or | ||
(iv) post-use polymers or recoverable | ||
feedstocks processed through pyrolysis or gasification that do not | ||
qualify as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and | ||
Recovery Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.); and | ||
(B) does include hazardous substances, for the | ||
purposes of Sections 361.271 through 361.277[ |
||
361.343 through 361.345. | ||
(36) "Solid waste facility" means all contiguous land, | ||
including structures, appurtenances, and other improvements on the | ||
land, used for processing, storing, or disposing of solid waste. | ||
The term includes a publicly or privately owned solid waste | ||
facility consisting of several processing, storage, or disposal | ||
operational units such as one or more landfills, surface | ||
impoundments, or a combination of units. The term does not include | ||
a pyrolysis or gasification facility. | ||
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 361, Health and Safety | ||
Code, is amended by adding Section 361.041 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 361.041. TREATMENT OF POST-USE POLYMERS AND | ||
RECOVERABLE FEEDSTOCKS AS SOLID WASTE. (a) The commission may not | ||
consider post-use polymers or recoverable feedstock to be solid | ||
waste if they are converted using pyrolysis or gasification into a | ||
valuable raw, intermediate, or final product, including a plastic, | ||
monomer, chemical, wax, lubricant, or chemical feedstock or crude | ||
oil, diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstock, home heating | ||
oil, ethanol, or another fuel. | ||
(b) The recycling and reuse of post-use polymers and | ||
recoverable feedstocks classified as hazardous waste under federal | ||
law are subject to the federal hazardous waste recycling | ||
requirements. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 361.119, Health and Safety Code, is | ||
amended by adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows: | ||
(c-1) A facility that reuses or converts recyclable | ||
materials through pyrolysis or gasification, and the operations | ||
conducted and materials handled at the facility, are not subject to | ||
regulation under rules adopted under this section if the owner or | ||
operator of the facility demonstrates that: | ||
(1) the primary function of the facility is to convert | ||
materials that have a resale value greater than the cost of | ||
converting the materials for subsequent beneficial use; and | ||
(2) all the solid waste generated from converting the | ||
materials is disposed of in a hazardous solid waste management | ||
facility or a solid waste facility authorized under this chapter, | ||
as appropriate, with the exception of small amounts of solid waste | ||
that may be inadvertently and unintentionally disposed of in | ||
another manner. | ||
SECTION 4. Sections 361.421(5), (6), and (8), Health and | ||
Safety Code, are amended to read as follows: | ||
(5) "Recyclable material" means material that has been | ||
recovered or diverted from the solid waste stream for purposes of | ||
reuse, recycling, or reclamation, a substantial portion of which is | ||
consistently used in the manufacture of products which may | ||
otherwise be produced using raw or virgin materials. The term | ||
includes post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks that are | ||
converted through pyrolysis or gasification into valuable raw, | ||
intermediate, and final products. Recyclable material is not solid | ||
waste unless the material is deemed to be hazardous solid waste by | ||
the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection | ||
Agency, whereupon it shall be regulated accordingly unless it is | ||
otherwise exempted in whole or in part from regulation under the | ||
federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource | ||
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et | ||
seq.), by Environmental Protection Agency regulation. However, | ||
recyclable material may become solid waste at such time, if any, as | ||
it is abandoned or disposed of rather than recycled, whereupon it | ||
will be solid waste with respect only to the party actually | ||
abandoning or disposing of the material. | ||
(6) "Recycled material" means materials, goods, or | ||
products that consist of recyclable material or materials derived | ||
from postconsumer waste, industrial waste, or hazardous waste which | ||
may be used in place of a raw or virgin material in manufacturing a | ||
new product. The term includes post-use polymers and recoverable | ||
feedstocks used in pyrolysis or gasification. | ||
(8) "Recycling" means a process by which materials | ||
that have served their intended use or are scrapped, discarded, | ||
used, surplus, or obsolete are collected, separated, or processed | ||
and returned to use in the form of raw materials in the production | ||
of new products. Recycling includes: | ||
(A) the composting process if the compost | ||
material is put to beneficial reuse as defined by the commission; | ||
[ |
||
(B) the application to land, as organic | ||
fertilizer, of processed sludge or biosolids from municipal | ||
wastewater treatment plants and other organic matter resulting from | ||
poultry, dairy, livestock, or other agricultural operations; and | ||
(C) the conversion of post-use polymers and | ||
recoverable feedstocks through pyrolysis or gasification. | ||
SECTION 5. As soon as practicable after the effective date | ||
of this Act, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall | ||
adopt rules necessary to implement the changes in law made by this | ||
Act. | ||
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2019. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I certify that H.B. No. 1953 was passed by the House on April | ||
16, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 130, Nays 5, 1 present, not | ||
voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
I certify that H.B. No. 1953 was passed by the Senate on May | ||
3, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
APPROVED: _____________________ | ||
Date | ||
_____________________ | ||
Governor |