Texas Administrative Code › Title 31 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION › Part 1 - GENERAL LAND OFFICE › Chapter 19 - OIL SPILL PREVENTION AND RESPONSE › Subchapter A - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 19.2 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) The following words, terms, and phrases,
				  when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the
				  context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1)
				  Coastal waters--All tidally influenced waters extending from the head of tide
				  in the arms of the Gulf of Mexico seaward to the three marine league limit of
				  Texas' jurisdiction; and non-tidally influenced waters extending from the head
				  of tide in the arms of the Gulf of Mexico inland to the point at which
				  navigation by regulated vessels is naturally or artificially obstructed. The
				  term includes the entirety of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) within
				  Texas, and the following waters: starting from Echo, Texas, located in Orange
				  County, and proceeding south on the Sabine River to the intersection with the
				  GIWW, thence westerly along the GIWW, including Adams Bayou, to 0.7 miles
				  upstream of IH-10, and Cow Bayou, to IH-10. This includes the Neches River in
				  Orange County to 7.0 miles upstream of IH-10. Then along the GIWW towards Port
				  Arthur, including Taylors Bayou south of Highway 73. From Port Arthur along the
				  GIWW to, and including, East Bay, Trinity Bay, Cedar Bayou to 1.4 miles
				  upstream of IH-10 in Harris/Chambers County, Lynchburg Canal to 29 degrees
				  41'00"N, 94 degrees 59'00"W, San Jacinto River in Harris County to the Lake
				  Houston Dam, and the Houston Ship Channel to the turning basin. Tidal
				  tributaries of the Houston Ship Channel include: Buffalo Bayou to .25 miles
				  upstream of Shepherd Drive, Brays Bayou to the Broadway Street Bridge, Sims
				  Bayou to Highway 225, Vince Bayou to North Ritchie Street, Hunting Bayou to
				  I-10, Greens Bayou to I-10, Boggy Bayou to Highway 225, Tucker Bayou to Old
				  Battleground Road, Carpenter's Bayou to Sheldon Road, and Goose Creek to
				  Highway 146. Proceed south and include Barbours Cut, Bayport Channel, Clear
				  Lake to .063 miles upstream of FM 528 in Galveston/Harris County, Dickinson
				  Bay, Dickinson Bayou 2.5 miles downstream of FM 517 in Galveston County, Moses
				  Lake, Dollar Bay, Texas City Channel (including turning basin), Swan Lake,
				  Jones Bay, and continuing at the junction of West Bay and the GIWW in Galveston
				  County. Continue westerly along the GIWW to the Port of Freeport, including
				  Greens Lake, Chocolate Bay, Chocolate Bayou to 2.6 miles downstream of SH 35,
				  the Old Brazos River and the New Brazos River up to the Missouri-Pacific
				  Railroad bridge in Brazoria County, and the Dow Barge Canal. Then southerly
				  along the GIWW through and including Jones Lake and Creek, the San Bernard
				  River to 2.0 miles upstream of SH 35, Cowtrap Lake, Matagorda Bay, the Colorado
				  River to 1.3 miles downstream of the Missouri-Pacific Railroad in Matagorda
				  County, to the Port of Bay City, Culver Cut (West Branch Colorado River to 28
				  degrees 42'N and the entire middle branch), Crab Lake, Oyster Lake, Tres
				  Palacios Bay, Turtle Bay, Caranchua Bay, Keller Bay, Cox Bay, Lavaca Bay,
				  Lavaca River to 5.3 miles downstream of U.S. 59 in Jackson County, Chocolate
				  Bay/Bayou, Powderhorn Lake, Robinsons Lake, Blind Bayou, La Salle Bayou, Broad
				  Bayou, and Boggy Bayou. Continuing southerly on GIWW from Port O'Connor through
				  San Antonio Bay including: Guadalupe Bay, Mission Lake, Green Lake, Victoria
				  Barge Canal, Guadalupe River to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority Salt Water
				  Barrier 0.4 miles downstream of the confluence of the San Antonio River, Goff
				  Bayou, Hog Bayou, Corey Bay, Buffalo Lake, Alligator Slide Lake, Twin Lake,
				  Mustang Lake, and Jones Lake. Then continuing through Mesquite Bay including:
				  Dunham Bay, Long Lake, Sundown Bay, and the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. Continuing
				  southerly through St. Charles Bay including: Burgentine Bay/Burgentine Creek to
				  28 degrees 17'N, Salt Creek to 28 degrees 16'N, and Cavaso Creek to 97 degrees
				  01'W. Then through Copano Bay, including Copano Creek, Mission Bay, Mission
				  River to 4.6 miles downstream of U.S. 77, Chiltipin Creek, Aransas River to 3.3
				  miles upstream of Chiltipin Creek in Refugio/San Patricio County, Swan Lake,
				  Port Bay, and Salt Lake. Then southerly including: Little Bay, Aransas Bay,
				  Conn Brown Harbor, Redfish Cove, Redfish Bay, La Quinta Channel, Nueces River
				  to Calallen Dam 1.1 miles upstream of U.S. 77/IH 37 in Nueces/San Patricio
				  County, Rincon Industrial Channel, Rincon Bayou, Nueces Bay, Tule Lake, Corpus
				  Christi Inner Harbor, Oso Creek, Oso Bay, Cayo Del Oso, and Corpus Christi Bay.
				  Continuing south, through and including Packery Channel, Laguna Madre, Baffin
				  Bay, Alazan Bay, Cayo del Hinoso, Petrolino Creek from the confluence of
				  Chiltipin Creek in Kleberg County to 0.6 miles upstream of private road
				  crossing near Laurless Ranch, Cayo Del Infiernillo, Cayo del Grullo, Laguna
				  Salada, Laguna de los Olmos, and Comitas Lake. Continuing through the Laguna
				  Madre to Redfish Bay, Port Mansfield Harbor, Four Mile Slough, Cayo Atascosa,
				  Laguna Atascosa, Arroyo Colorado Cutoff, El Realito Bay, Laguna Vista Cove,
				  Port Isabel Harbor, Brownsville Ship Channel, Bahia Grande, Vadia Ancha, San
				  Martin Lake, South Bay, and the Arroyo Colorado River to .063 miles downstream
				  of Cemetery Road south of Port Harlingen in Cameron County. Then southerly to
				  the Rio Grande River to 6.7 miles downstream of the International Bridge in
				  Cameron County. Where the coastal area is defined by a body of water such as a
				  bay or lake, it includes any small bays or lakes encompassed therein.
(2) Commissioner--The commissioner of the
				  General Land Office.
(3) Discharge
				  cleanup organization--A corporation, partnership, proprietorship, organization,
				  or association that intends to make itself available to engage in response
				  actions to abate, contain, or remove an unauthorized discharge or pollution or
				  damage from an unauthorized discharge.
(4) Environmentally sensitive areas--Streams
				  and water bodies, aquifer recharge zones, springs, wetlands, bird rookeries,
				  endangered and threatened species (flora and fauna) habitat, wildlife preserves
				  or conservation areas, parks, beaches, dunes, or any other area protected or
				  managed for its natural resource value.
(5) Facility--Any waterfront or offshore
				  pipeline, structure, equipment, or device used for the purposes of drilling
				  for, pumping, storing, handling, or transferring oil and operating where a
				  discharge of oil from the facility could threaten coastal waters, including but
				  not limited to any such facility owned or operated by a public utility or a
				  governmental or quasi-governmental body, but does not include any temporary
				  storage facilities used only in connection with the containment and cleanup of
				  unauthorized discharges of oil.
(6)
				  Fund--The coastal protection fund established under OSPRA.
(7) Federal fund--The oil spill liability
				  trust fund established under OPA.
(8) Handle--To transfer, transport, pump,
				  treat, process, store, dispose of, drill for, or produce.
(9) Harmful quantity of oil--The presence of
				  oil from an unauthorized discharge in a quantity sufficient either to create a
				  visible film or sheen upon or discoloration of the surface of the water or a
				  shoreline, tidal flat, beach, or marsh, or to cause a sludge or emulsion to be
				  deposited beneath the surface of the water or on a shoreline, tidal flat,
				  beach, or marsh.
(10) National
				  contingency plan--The plan prepared under the Federal Water Pollution Control
				  Act (
				  33 United States Code §
												1321 et seq.) and the Comprehensive
				  Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (
				  42
				  United States Code §
												9601 et seq.), as
				  revised from time to time.
(11)
				  Oil--Means oil of any kind or in any form, including but not limited to crude
				  oil, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other
				  than dredged spoil, but does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any
				  fraction thereof, which is specifically listed or designated as a hazardous
				  substance under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
				  Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), §101(14), Subparagraphs (A)-(F) (
				  42
				  United States Code §
												9601 et seq.), and
				  which is subject to the provisions of that Act, and which is so designated by
				  the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
(12) OPA--The Oil Pollution Act of 1990,
				  Public
				  Law 101-380.
(13) OSPRA--The Oil Spill Prevention and
				  Response Act of 1991, Natural Resources Code, Chapter 40.
(14) Owner or operator--Any person,
				  individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental unit, or public
				  or private organization of any character:
(A)
				  owning, operating or responsible for operating, or chartering by demise a
				  vessel;
(B) owning, operating, or
				  responsible for operating a facility; or
(C) operating a facility by lease, contract,
				  or other form of agreement. The term does not include a person who owns only
				  the land underlying a facility or a person who owns only a security interest in
				  a vessel or facility if the person does not participate in the operation of the
				  vessel or facility, does not own a controlling interest in the owner or
				  operator of the vessel or facility, and is not controlled by or under common
				  ownership with the owner or operator of the vessel or facility.
(15) Regulated vessel--A vessel
				  with a capacity to carry 10,000 U.S. gallons or more of oil as fuel or
				  cargo.
(16) Secondary
				  Containment--appropriate and functioning impervious containment or diversionary
				  structures or equipment, including walls and floors, that must capture and
				  contain oil and are constructed to hold the full capacity of any discharge from
				  the associated structure, or hold the full capacity of the largest primary
				  containment structure in a system, so that the discharge will not escape the
				  containment system before cleanup is complete. Secondary containment may
				  include:
(A) For onshore facilities:
(i) Dikes, berms, retaining walls, and
				  weirs;
(ii) Culverts, gutters, and
				  other draining systems;
(iii)
				  Curbing and drip pans;
(iv) Sumps,
				  retention ponds, and other collection systems; and
(v) Double-walled tanks.
(B) For offshore facilities:
(i) Curbing and drip pans;
(ii) Sumps, retention ponds, and collection
				  systems; and
(iii) Double-walled
				  tanks.
(17)
				  Unauthorized discharge--Discharges; excluding those authorized by and in
				  compliance with a government permit, seepage from the earth solely from natural
				  causes, and unavoidable, minute discharges of oil from a properly functioning
				  engine, of a harmful quantity of oil:
(A) into
				  coastal waters; or
(B) on any
				  waters or land adjacent to coastal waters where harmful quantities of oil may
				  enter coastal waters or threaten to enter coastal waters if the discharge is
				  not abated nor contained and the oil is not removed.
(18) Underground storage tank--Any tank or
				  container used for storing oil which is located completely under the surface of
				  the earth. Tanks which are partially buried, or which are contained in
				  aboveground vaults or other aboveground containment structures are not
				  considered underground tanks for the purpose of certification requirements
				  under these sections.
(19)
				  Underwriter--An insurer, a surety company, a guarantor, or any other person,
				  other than an owner or operator of a vessel or facility, that undertakes to pay
				  all or part of the liability of an owner or operator.
(20) Waste--Oil or contaminated soil, debris,
				  and other substances removed from coastal waters and adjacent waters,
				  shorelines, estuaries, tidal flats, beaches, or marshes in response to an
				  unauthorized discharge. Waste means any solid, liquid, or other material
				  intended to be disposed of or discarded and generated as a result of an
				  unauthorized discharge of oil. Waste does not include substances intended to be
				  recycled if they are in fact recycled within 90 days of their generation or if
				  they are brought to a recycling facility within that time.
(21) Worst case unauthorized discharge--The
				  largest foreseeable unauthorized discharge under adverse weather conditions.
				  For facilities located above the high water line of coastal waters, a worst
				  case discharge includes those occurring in weather conditions most likely to
				  cause oil discharged from the facility to enter coastal waters.
(22) Coastal Facility Designation Line--The
				  Coastal Facility Designation Line delineates the area within which a facility
				  may be subject to the certification requirements of §
											19.12
				  of this title (relating to Facility Certification). The line does not delineate
				  OSPRA's response or notification requirements; rather, it gives notice to
				  facilities located coastward of the line that they may be subject to facility
				  certification requirements. A description of the coastal facility designation
				  line and a map can be found in Appendix 1.
Attached
					 Graphic
(23)
				  Offshore--Located on submerged lands below mean high tide in coastal
				  waters.
(24) Waterfront--Located
				  within 100 yards of coastal waters.