Texas Administrative Code › Title 31 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION › Part 1 - GENERAL LAND OFFICE › Chapter 19 - OIL SPILL PREVENTION AND RESPONSE › Subchapter C - SPILL RESPONSE › Section 19.33 - Response

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) When the General Land Office (GLO)
				  receives notice of an actual or threatened unauthorized discharge of oil into
				  Texas coastal waters, the GLO will determine whether state response action is
				  required. If state response action is required, the GLO will assess the
				  discharge and determine whether further response actions should be initiated or
				  required. If assessments of the discharge indicate it involves predominantly a
				  hazardous substance, the GLO shall coordinate all response actions until the
				  Texas Commission on Environmental Quality can assume responsibility over
				  hazardous substance discharge response operations. A substance is predominantly
				  a hazardous substance when analytical testing of a representative sample
				  indicates the presence of more than 50% of a substance that is not oil as
				  defined by OSPRA, and that is a hazardous substance as defined by the Texas
				  Commission on Environmental Quality or its successor agency. Pending results of
				  analytical tests of the substance, the determination of its predominant
				  characteristics shall be made by investigating the source of the discharge, its
				  physical properties, and its behavior in the environment. The GLO will notify
				  the trustees of the actual or threatened unauthorized discharge.
(b) In response to any actual or threatened
				  unauthorized discharge, the commissioner may designate a state on-scene
				  coordinator to act on the commissioner's behalf at the site of the actual or
				  threatened discharge. It is the duty of the state on-scene coordinator, in
				  cooperation with the federal on-scene coordinator, to assess in detail all
				  aspects of the actual or threatened unauthorized discharge, evaluate and direct
				  the responsible person's response activities, initiate and direct other
				  response activities, carry out orders of the commissioner, and report at
				  regular intervals to the commissioner. The state on-scene coordinator has an
				  ongoing duty to evaluate, assess, and direct all response activities in order
				  to insure compliance with applicable contingency plans, discharge response
				  plans, and to ensure public health and safety, and to minimize to the greatest
				  extent possible property damage and damages to natural resources.
(c) The GLO will coordinate its response with
				  the federal on-scene coordinator and will contact other state agencies who have
				  jurisdiction over the unauthorized discharge.
(d) Based on the assessment of the state
				  on-scene coordinator, the GLO will determine whether and where to establish an
				  on-scene command post. The state on-scene command post will serve as the single
				  point of communication and coordination for state oversight and coordination of
				  response actions. The post will be staffed until response operations are
				  declared complete.
(e) The GLO will
				  utilize the Incident Command System for all spills where a state on-scene
				  coordinator is appointed by the commissioner.