The Wise Report
Henry M. Wise, P.G.
September 9, 2021
The second Texas legislative session is over and none of the bills I was following were passed.
The Texas Groundwater Protection Committee has released their annual report on the quality of groundwater in Texas, “Joint Groundwater Monitoring and Contamination Report 2020, SFR-056/20”. The report contains a description of each case of groundwater contamination documented during the previous calendar year and the status of enforcement action for each listed case. The report can be found at: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/comm_exec/pubs/sfr/056-20.pdf
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has proposed the repeal of Chapter 321, Subchapters E (regulates discharges from surface coal mining, preparation, and reclamation activities), F (discharges from the shrimp industry), and L (discharges from motor vehicle cleaning facilities) and Chapter 351, Subchapter D (designates the Rio Grande Valley Pollution Control Authority as a regional wastewater service provider for the Lower Rio Grande Valley Regional Area) because they are obsolete.
The 321 subchapters are obsolete because the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between TCEQ and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) prohibits the TCEQ from issuing authorizations under these subchapters. The TCEQ authorizes these discharges under either an individual permit or general permit which comply with all necessary NPDES requirements.
The Chapter 351 subchapter is obsolete because the Rio Grande Valley Pollution Control Authority no longer exists nor are there any wastewater permits issued to any regional system in this regional area.
For more information go to: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/legal/rules/rule_lib/proposals/21022321_pex.pdf
Henry M. Wise, P.G.
The Wise Report
9/9/2021