Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 3 - OIL AND GAS DIVISION › Section 3.8 - Water Protection

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) The
				following words and terms when used in this section shall have the following
				meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Basic sediment pit--Pit used in
				conjunction with a tank battery for storage of basic sediment removed from a
				production vessel or from the bottom of an oil storage tank. Basic sediment
				pits were formerly referred to as burn pits.
(2) Brine pit--Pit used for storage of brine
				which is used to displace hydrocarbons from an underground hydrocarbon storage
				facility.
(3) Collecting pit--Pit
				used for storage of saltwater or other oil and gas wastes prior to disposal at
				a disposal well or fluid injection well. In some cases, one pit is both a
				collecting pit and a skimming pit.
(4) Completion/workover pit--Pit used for
				storage or disposal of spent completion fluids, workover fluids and drilling
				fluid, silt, debris, water, brine, oil scum, paraffin, or other materials which
				have been cleaned out of the wellbore of a well being completed or worked
				over.
(5) Drilling fluid disposal
				pit--Pit, other than a reserve pit, used for disposal of spent drilling
				fluid.
(6) Drilling fluid storage
				pit--Pit used for storage of drilling fluid which is not currently being used
				but which will be used in future drilling operations. Drilling fluid storage
				pits are often centrally located among several leases.
(7) Emergency saltwater storage pit--Pit used
				for storage of produced saltwater for limited period of time. Use of the pit is
				necessitated by a temporary shutdown of disposal well or fluid injection well
				and/or associated equipment, by temporary overflow of saltwater storage tanks
				on a producing lease or by a producing well loading up with formation fluids
				such that the well may die. Emergency saltwater storage pits may sometimes be
				referred to as emergency pits or blowdown pits.
(8) Flare pit--Pit which contains a flare and
				which is used for temporary storage of liquid hydrocarbons which are sent to
				the flare during equipment malfunction but which are not burned. A flare pit is
				used in conjunction with a gasoline plant, natural gas processing plant,
				pressure maintenance or repressurizing plant, tank battery, or a
				well.
(9) Fresh makeup water
				pit--Pit used in conjunction with a drilling rig for storage of fresh water
				used to make up drilling fluid or hydraulic fracturing fluid.
(10) Gas plant evaporation/retention pit--Pit
				used for storage or disposal of cooling tower blowdown, water condensed from
				natural gas, and other wastewater generated at gasoline plants, natural gas
				processing plants, or pressure maintenance or repressurizing plants.
(11) Mud circulation pit--Pit used in
				conjunction with drilling rig for storage of drilling fluid currently being
				used in drilling operations.
(12)
				Reserve pit--Pit used in conjunction with drilling rig for collecting spent
				drilling fluids; cuttings, sands, and silts; and wash water used for cleaning
				drill pipe and other equipment at the well site. Reserve pits are sometimes
				referred to as slush pits or mud pits.
(13) Saltwater disposal pit--Pit used for
				disposal of produced saltwater.
(14) Skimming pit--Pit used for skimming oil
				off saltwater prior to disposal of saltwater at a disposal well or fluid
				injection well.
(15) Washout
				pit--Pit located at a truck yard, tank yard, or disposal facility for storage
				or disposal of oil and gas waste residue washed out of trucks, mobile tanks, or
				skid-mounted tanks.
(16) Water
				condensate pit--Pit used in conjunction with a gas pipeline drip or gas
				compressor station for storage or disposal of fresh water condensed from
				natural gas.
(17) Generator--Person
				who generates oil and gas wastes.
(18) Carrier--Person who transports oil and
				gas wastes generated by a generator. A carrier of another person's oil and gas
				wastes may be a generator of his own oil and gas wastes.
(19) Receiver--Person who stores, handles,
				treats, reclaims, or disposes of oil and gas wastes generated by a generator. A
				receiver of another person's oil and gas wastes may be a generator of his own
				oil and gas wastes.
(20)
				Director--Director of the Oil and Gas Division or his staff delegate designated
				in writing by the director of the Oil and Gas Division or the
				commission.
(21) Person--Natural
				person, corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or
				agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, or any other
				legal entity.
(22) Affected
				person--Person who, as a result of the activity sought to be permitted, has
				suffered or may suffer actual injury or economic damage other than as a member
				of the general public.
(23) To
				dewater--To remove the free water.
(24) To dispose--To engage in any act of
				disposal subject to regulation by the commission including, but not limited to,
				conducting, draining, discharging, emitting, throwing, releasing, depositing,
				burying, landfarming, or allowing to seep, or to cause or allow any such act of
				disposal.
(25) Landfarming--A waste
				management practice in which oil and gas wastes are mixed with or applied to
				the land surface in such a manner that the waste will not migrate off the
				landfarmed area.
(26) Oil and gas
				wastes--Materials to be disposed of or reclaimed which have been generated in
				connection with activities associated with the exploration, development, and
				production of oil or gas or geothermal resources, as those activities are
				defined in paragraph (30) of this subsection, and materials to be disposed of
				or reclaimed which have been generated in connection with activities associated
				with the solution mining of brine. The term "oil and gas wastes" includes, but
				is not limited to, saltwater, other mineralized water, sludge, spent drilling
				fluids, cuttings, waste oil, spent completion fluids, and other liquid,
				semiliquid, or solid waste material. The term "oil and gas wastes" includes
				waste generated in connection with activities associated with gasoline plants,
				natural gas or natural gas liquids processing plants, pressure maintenance
				plants, or repressurizing plants unless that waste is a hazardous waste as
				defined by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection
				Agency pursuant to the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended
				(42 United States Code
				§6901 et seq.).
(27) Oil field fluids--Fluids to be used or
				reused in connection with activities associated with the exploration,
				development, and production of oil or gas or geothermal resources, fluids to be
				used or reused in connection with activities associated with the solution
				mining of brine, and mined brine. The term "oil field fluids" includes, but is
				not limited to, drilling fluids, completion fluids, surfactants, and chemicals
				used to detoxify oil and gas wastes.
(28) Pollution of surface or subsurface
				water--The alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical, or biological quality
				of, or the contamination of, any surface or subsurface water in the state that
				renders the water harmful, detrimental, or injurious to humans, animal life,
				vegetation, or property, or to public health, safety, or welfare, or impairs
				the usefulness or the public enjoyment of the water for any lawful or
				reasonable purpose.
(29) Surface or
				subsurface water--Groundwater, percolating or otherwise, and lakes, bays,
				ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries,
				marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico inside the territorial limits of
				the state, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland
				or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds
				and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or
				partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the
				state.
(30) Activities associated
				with the exploration, development, and production of oil or gas or geothermal
				resources--Activities associated with:
(A)
				the drilling of exploratory wells, oil wells, gas wells, or geothermal resource
				wells;
(B) the production of oil or
				gas or geothermal resources, including:
(i)
				activities associated with the drilling of injection water source wells that
				penetrate the base of usable quality water;
(ii) activities associated with the drilling
				of cathodic protection holes associated with the cathodic protection of wells
				and pipelines subject to the jurisdiction of the commission to regulate the
				production of oil or gas or geothermal resources;
(iii) activities associated with gasoline
				plants, natural gas or natural gas liquids processing plants, pressure
				maintenance plants, or repressurizing plants;
(iv) activities associated with any
				underground natural gas storage facility, provided the terms "natural gas" and
				"storage facility" shall have the meanings set out in the Texas Natural
				Resources Code, §
												RSA
				91.173;
(v) activities associated with any
				underground hydrocarbon storage facility, provided the terms "hydrocarbons" and
				"underground hydrocarbon storage facility" shall have the meanings set out in
				the Texas Natural Resources Code, §
												RSA
				91.201; and
(vi) activities associated with the storage,
				handling, reclamation, gathering, transportation, or distribution of oil or gas
				prior to the refining of such oil or prior to the use of such gas in any
				manufacturing process or as a residential or industrial fuel;
(C) the operation, abandonment,
				and proper plugging of wells subject to the jurisdiction of the commission to
				regulate the exploration, development, and production of oil or gas or
				geothermal resources; and
(D) the
				discharge, storage, handling, transportation, reclamation, or disposal of waste
				or any other substance or material associated with any activity listed in
				subparagraphs (A) - (C) of this paragraph, except for waste generated in
				connection with activities associated with gasoline plants, natural gas or
				natural gas liquids processing plants, pressure maintenance plants, or
				repressurizing plants if that waste is a hazardous waste as defined by the
				administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to
				the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended (42 United States
				Code §6901, et seq.).
(31) Mined brine--Brine produced
				from a brine mining injection well by solution of subsurface salt formations.
				The term "mined brine" does not include saltwater produced incidentally to the
				exploration, development, and production of oil or gas or geothermal
				resources.
(32) Brine mining
				pit--Pit, other than a fresh mining water pit, used in connection with
				activities associated with the solution mining of brine. Most brine mining pits
				are used to store mined brine.
(33)
				Fresh mining water pit--Pit used in conjunction with a brine mining injection
				well for storage of water used for solution mining of brine.
(34) Inert wastes--Nonreactive, nontoxic, and
				essentially insoluble oil and gas wastes, including, but not limited to,
				concrete, glass, wood, metal, wire, plastic, fiberglass, and trash.
(35) Coastal zone--The area within the
				boundary established in Title 31, Texas Administrative Code,
				§503.1(Coastal Management Program Boundary).
(36) Coastal management program (CMP)
				rules--The enforceable rules of the Texas Coastal Management Program codified
				at Title 31, Texas Administrative Code, Chapters 501, 505, and 506.
(37) Coastal natural resource area
				(CNRA)--One of the following areas defined in Texas Natural Resources Code,
				§
										RSA
				33.203: coastal barriers, coastal historic
				areas, coastal preserves, coastal shore areas, coastal wetlands, critical dune
				areas, critical erosion areas, gulf beaches, hard substrate reefs, oyster
				reefs, submerged land, special hazard areas, submerged aquatic vegetation,
				tidal sand or mud flats, water in the open Gulf of Mexico, and water under
				tidal influence.
(38) Coastal
				waters--Waters under tidal influence and waters of the open Gulf of
				Mexico.
(39) Critical area--A
				coastal wetland, an oyster reef, a hard substrate reef, submerged aquatic
				vegetation, or a tidal sand or mud flat as defined in Texas Natural Resources
				Code, §
										RSA
				33.203.
(40) Practicable--Available and capable of
				being done after taking into consideration existing technology, cost, and
				logistics in light of the overall purpose of the activity.
(41) Non-commercial fluid recycling--The
				recycling of fluid produced from an oil or gas well, including produced
				formation fluid, workover fluid, and completion fluid, including fluids
				produced from the hydraulic fracturing process on an existing
				commission-designated lease or drilling unit associated with a
				commission-issued drilling permit or upon land leased or owned by the operator
				for the purposes of operation of a non-commercial disposal well operated
				pursuant to a permit issued under §
										RSA 3.9
				of this title (relating to Disposal Wells) or a non-commercial injection well
				operated pursuant to a permit issued under §
										RSA
				3.46 of this title (relating to Fluid
				Injection into Productive Reservoirs), where the operator of the lease, or
				drilling unit, or non-commercial disposal or injection well treats or contracts
				with a person for the treatment of the fluid, and may accept such fluid from
				other leases and or operators.
(42)
				Non-commercial fluid recycling pit--Pit used in conjunction with one or more
				oil or gas leases or units that is constructed, maintained, and operated by the
				operator of record of the lease or unit and is located on an existing
				commission-designated lease or drilling unit associated with a
				commission-issued drilling permit, or upon land leased or owned by the operator
				for the purposes of operation of a non-commercial disposal well operated
				pursuant to a permit issued under §
										RSA 3.9
				of this title or a non-commercial injection well operated pursuant to a permit
				issued under §
										RSA
				3.46 of this title, for the storage of fluid
				for the purpose of non-commercial fluid recycling or for the storage of treated
				fluid.
(43) Recycle--To process
				and/or use or re-use oil and gas wastes as a product for which there is a
				legitimate commercial use and the actual use of the recyclable product.
				'Recycle,' as defined in this subsection, does not include injection pursuant
				to a permit issued under §
										RSA
				3.46 of this title.
(44) Treated fluid-Fluid that has been
				treated using water treatment technologies to remove impurities such that the
				treated fluid can be reused or recycled. Treated fluid is not a waste but may
				become a waste if it is abandoned or disposed of rather than reused or
				recycled.
(45) Recyclable
				product--A reusable material as defined in §
										RSA
				4.204<subdiv>(12)</subdiv> of
				this title (relating to Definitions).
(46) 100-year flood plain--An area that is
				inundated by a 100-year flood, which is a flood that has a one percent or
				greater chance of occurring in any given year, as determined from maps or other
				data from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), or, if not
				mapped by FEMA, from the United States Department of Agriculture soil
				maps.
(47) Distilled water--Water
				that has been purified by being heated to a vapor form and then condensed into
				another container as liquid water that is essentially free of all
				solutes.