American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2017 - 37

Resources Committee. SCR 26 was signed
by Governor Gregg Abbott on June 15
and was to be forwarded to members of
Congress and the administration, Tintera
reports.
While some federal regulations have
been rescinded since President Donald
Trump took office in January, the resolution should carry additional weight as
Texas-along with other states-works to
return regulatory authority to the states,
he insists.
The resolution incorporates many of
the sentiments of the Alliance's Federal
Regulatory Energy Delegation Committee,
Tintera elaborates. "We are going to take
this resolution to our Texas congressional
delegation and see if we can get some
federal authority delegated back to the
Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality, the Railroad Commission and
the Water Development Board," Stevens
says.

Seismicity
TIPRO successfully lobbied for passage
of HB 2819, authored by Darby, which
codifies the TexNet seismic monitoring
program overseen by the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas,
Miller says.
Last session, lawmakers established
the program and appropriated $4 million
to purchase and deploy monitoring equipment after tremors occurred near disposal
well operations northwest of Fort Worth,
she reviews.
According to a bill summary, HB
2819 changes slightly the membership
requirements of the program's technical
advisory committee to include at least
one representative of the Railroad Commission who specializes in seismology,
geomechanical engineering, reservoir engineering or another related field, in addition to including three representatives
from the oil and gas industry.
The bill provides that the committee
continue to supervise TexNet's use of
funds and prepare a report to the governor,
the lieutenant governor and the House
speaker by Dec. 1, 2018, according to
the summary.
While Longanecker applauds lawmakers for keeping the program intact, he
adds, TIPRO had hoped legislators would
dedicate funds to the program this session
instead of providing appropriations on a
biennial basis.
"We consistently have been on record
with the legislature that we support continued collaboration, funding, research
and analysis pertaining to earthquake
mitigation, risk assessment and related
regulation. Long-term funding is important
for the program," Longanecker says.

Brackish Water
TIPRO also supported passage of HB
2377, relating to the development and
permitting of projects using recycled
brackish groundwater, says Servando Esparza, TIPRO's manager of government
affairs. Authored by Representative Lyle
Larson, R-San Antonio, who chairs the
House Natural Resources Committee, the
bill would have allowed some permitting
of brackish water projects for municipalities and industrial use, he says.
However, Esparza says, Governor Abbott vetoed HB 2377 on June 15, saying
he believes "the bill's permitting rules
are unduly prescriptive and would create
a separate and complex bureaucratic
process."
Municipalities wanted the certainty of
30-year permits for recycling brackish
water while the industry wanted to ensure
any measure did not deter oil and gas development, describes Esparza. "We
worked to ensure that entities such as
municipalities and plants that wanted to
pursue this permit could secure them
while our members, who also use brackish
groundwater, were unaffected," he says.
Adds Shepperd, "PBPA and its members were glad to see the permitting authority provided under HB 2377 would
have been limited to municipal projects
designed to bring brackish groundwater
to drinking water standards, and to electric
generation projects using brackish groundwater."
Other Legislation
Among other legislation important to
the oil and gas industry, Esparza reports,
legislators also approved and Governor
Abbott signed SB 1871, which strengthens
laws on theft of petroleum production,
and oil and gas equipment.
"We worked on a similar bill last session that was vetoed by the governor because he felt the language was overly
broad and was concerned the law could
have led to prosecuting some who might
not have committed theft, but whose per-

mits were not final," Esparza recalls.
"After seeing SB 1871 signed into law
by the governor, we think it is a solid
win for TIPRO members and the industry."
TIPRO also supported SB 1305, which
calls for repealing counties' energy transportation reinvestment zones, Miller says.
The zones were created by the legislature-with TIPRO's support-two sessions
ago when energy prices were higher to
provide counties hosting oil and gas development with additional revenue from
the state's Rainy Day Fund, based on
completions and other measures, to improve roads worn down by heavy truck
traffic, she recalls.
However, two attorney general opinions
later questioned the constitutionality of
the zones, holding that they amounted to
setting a property tax rate and could
impact tax roll-back rates, Miller says.
Longanecker says TIPRO looked for
alternatives to replace the program throughout the session. One option was HB 4231,
which would have allocated a portion of
oil and gas production tax revenue to the
counties in which the oil and gas originated.
Although the bill didn't pass, he says
TIPRO will continue to work with counties
to find acceptable solutions.
Stevens mentions that lawmakers made
available additional grants for upstream
and downstream projects such as onlease electricity generation as part of the
Texas Emissions Reduction Plan through
amendments to SB 1731.
Interim Studies
With the session over, interim studies
of interest to the oil and gas industry are
likely, Stevens remarks. He says those
could include a look at long-term RRC
funding, a perennial issue complicated
by the industry's boom and bust cycles.
Additional examination of water issues
also is a possibility, including matters
involving disposal wells, water recycling
and additional usages of brackish water,
Stevens adds.
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Texas Governor Calls Special Session
AUSTIN, TX.-Governor Greg Abbott has called a special session of the
Texas Legislature to convene July 18.
In his June 6 announcement of the
special session, the Texas Independent
Producers & Royalty Owners Association says, Abbott laid out 20 priorities
that he may task legislators with addressing during the special session.
Among them are property tax reform,
teacher pay and school finance issues,

caps on state and local spending, local
government regulations and permitting
processes, abortion-related issues, and
mail-in ballot fraud.
TIPRO explains that the Texas Constitution allows lawmakers convened
in a special session to address only
those matters designated by the governor's official proclamation, which still
was pending as of late June.
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JULY 2017 37
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