Morales Shaw Bill Tightens Gulf Desalination Permits For Industry

The text as introduced · 357 words

89R13038 KRM-F

By: Morales Shaw
H.B. No. 5341

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the issuance by the Texas Commission on Environmental

Quality of permits to authorize the diversion of state water from

the Gulf of Mexico or a bay or arm of the Gulf of Mexico for

desalination and use for industrial purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 11.1405, Water Code, is amended by

amending Subsection (g) and adding Subsection (g-1) to read as

follows:

(g) The commission :

(1) shall [ may ] include any provision in a permit

issued under this section that the commission considers necessary

to comply with the environmental flow standards established under

Section 11.1471 ;

(2) may limit a point of diversion to an area located

outside of a sensitive habitat based on the environmental flow

analyses and recommended environmental flow regimes developed by

the applicable basin and bay expert science team under Section

11.02362; and

(3) may deny a permit for a diversion of state water

under this section if the point of diversion is in close proximity

to a sensitive habitat such as an oyster reef or seagrass bed .

(g-1) The commission by rule shall establish standards to

minimize impingement and entrainment caused by a permitted

diversion of state water from a bay or arm of the Gulf of Mexico.

SECTION 2. Not later than December 1, 2026, the Texas

Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt or amend rules

necessary to implement the changes in law made by this Act.

SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to

an application for a permit for the diversion of state water that is

submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or

after the effective date of this Act. An application for a permit

that was submitted to the commission before the effective date of

this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the

application was submitted, and the former law is continued in

effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.