CHAPTER 370. TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE REPORTING

State Codes and Statutes

Statutes > Texas > Health-and-safety-code > Title-5-sanitation-and-environmental-quality > Chapter-370-toxic-chemical-release-reporting

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

TITLE 5. SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

SUBTITLE B. SOLID WASTE, TOXIC CHEMICALS, SEWAGE, LITTER, AND

WATER

CHAPTER 370. TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE REPORTING

Sec. 370.001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the

Texas Toxic Chemical Release Reporting Act.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 370.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Administrator" means the administrator of the United States

Environmental Protection Agency.

(2) "Commission" means the Texas Natural Resource Conservation

Commission.

(3) "Environment" means water, air, and land and the

interrelationship that exists among and between water, air, and

land and all living things.

(4) "Executive director" means the executive director of the

Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.

(5) "Facility" means all buildings, equipment, structures, and

other stationary items that are located on a single site or on

contiguous or adjacent sites and are owned or operated by the

same person or by any person who controls, is controlled by, or

is under common control with that person.

(6) "Manufacture" means to produce, prepare, import, or compound

a toxic chemical.

(7) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint-stock

company, corporation, including a government corporation,

partnership, association, state, commission, municipality or

other political subdivision of a state, or interstate body.

(8) "Process" means to prepare a toxic chemical, after its

manufacture, for distribution in commerce:

(A) in the same form or physical state as, or in a different

form or physical state from, the form in which the chemical was

received by the person preparing the chemical; or

(B) as part of an article containing the toxic chemical.

(9) "Release" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring,

emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching,

dumping, or otherwise disposing into the environment any toxic

chemical. The term includes the abandonment or discarding of

barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles of any toxic

chemical.

(10) "Threshold amount" means the amount established by the

administrator under the Emergency Planning and Community

Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et seq.).

(11) "Toxic chemical" means a chemical designated as a toxic

chemical by the administrator under the Emergency Planning and

Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et

seq.).

(12) "Toxic chemical release form" means the form published by

the administrator under the Emergency Planning and Community

Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et seq.).

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,

1991. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., 1st C.S., ch. 3, Sec.

1.044, eff. Aug. 12, 1991.

Sec. 370.003. TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE FORM REQUIRED OF CERTAIN

FACILITIES. (a) The owner or operator of a facility shall

submit a toxic chemical release form to the executive director if

the facility:

(1) has 10 or more full-time employees and a standard industrial

classification code between 20 and 39 that was in effect on July

1, 1985, or has been designated as a facility subject to these

requirements by the administrator; and

(2) manufactured, processed, or otherwise used a toxic chemical

in excess of the threshold amount during the calendar year for

which a toxic chemical release form is required.

(b) The owner or operator of a facility subject to Subsection

(a) shall submit a toxic chemical release form for each toxic

chemical manufactured, processed, or otherwise used at the

facility during the preceding calendar year in a quantity

exceeding the threshold amount.

year and must contain data that reflect each release that

occurred during the preceding calendar year. The administrator

may modify the frequency with which a report must be submitted

under this section as provided under the Emergency Planning and

Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et

seq.).

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 370.004. THRESHOLD AMOUNTS FOR REPORTING. (a) The

threshold amounts for purposes of reporting a toxic chemical

under Section 370.003 are as follows:

(1) for a toxic chemical used, but not manufactured or

processed, at a facility, 10,000 pounds of the toxic chemical

used at the facility during the preceding calendar year; or

(2) for a toxic chemical manufactured or processed at a

facility, 25,000 pounds of the toxic chemical manufactured or

processed at the facility during the preceding calendar year.

(b) The administrator may establish a threshold amount for a

toxic chemical different from the amount established under

Subsection (a).

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 370.005. USE OF AVAILABLE DATA. (a) To provide the

information required on the toxic chemical release form, the

owner or operator of a facility may use:

(1) readily available data, including monitoring data, collected

under other law; or

(2) reasonable estimates of the amounts involved if data under

Subdivision (1) are not readily available.

(b) This section does not require monitoring or measurement of

the quantities, concentration, or frequency of a toxic chemical

released into the environment beyond the monitoring and

measurement required under other law or regulation.

units, as designated by the administrator.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 370.006. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE

FORM. (a) A toxic chemical release form required under this

chapter is intended to provide information to the public,

including federal, state, and local governments and citizens of

the communities surrounding a facility covered under Section

370.003.

(b) A toxic chemical release form shall be made available in a

manner consistent with the Emergency Planning and Community

Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et seq.) and

Chapter 552, Government Code.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,

1991. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.95(88),

eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

Sec. 370.007. TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE REPORTING FUNDS. (a)

Toxic chemical release reporting funds consist of money collected

by the commission from:

(1) fees imposed on owners and operators of facilities required

to submit a toxic chemical release form; and

(2) penalties imposed under this chapter.

(b) The commission may use the money collected under this

chapter to pay for:

(1) costs incurred by the commission in implementing this

chapter; and

(2) other commission activities necessary to implement the

Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42

U.S.C. Section 11001 et seq.).

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,

1991. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 564, Sec. 1.06, eff.

June 11, 1993; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 746, Sec. 8, eff. Aug.

30, 1993.

Sec. 370.008. DISPOSITION OF FEES. (a) The owner or operator

of a facility required to submit a toxic chemical release form

under this chapter shall pay, at the time of the submission, a

fee of $25 for each toxic chemical release form submitted.

(b) The maximum fee for a facility may not exceed $250.

chemical release form reporting fee as necessary.

(d) Fees collected under this section shall be deposited in the

state treasury to the credit of the waste management account.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,

1991. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 564, Sec. 1.06, eff.

June 11, 1993; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 746, Sec. 8, eff. Aug.

30, 1993; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 333, Sec. 63, eff. Sept. 1,

1997.

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

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