Dean Bill Widens Oil And Gas Waste Shield To Producers

The text as introduced · 494 words

2025S0100-1 02/13/25

By: Dean
H.B. No. 5410

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to responsibility in tort for the treatment of fluid oil

and gas waste for beneficial use.

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

SECTION 1. Section 122.002, Natural Resources Code, is

amended to read as follows:

Sec. 122.002. OWNERSHIP OF FLUID OIL AND GAS WASTE

TRANSFERRED FOR TREATMENT AND [ SUBSEQUENT ] BENEFICIAL USE. Unless

otherwise expressly provided by an oil or gas lease, a surface use

agreement, a contract, a bill of sale, or another legally binding

document:

(1) when fluid oil and gas waste is produced and used

by or transferred to a person who takes possession of that waste for

the purpose of treating the waste for a [ subsequent ] beneficial

use, the waste is considered to be the property of the person who

takes possession of it for the purpose of treating the waste for

[ subsequent ] beneficial use until the person transfers the waste or

treated waste to another person for disposal or use; and

(2) when a person who takes possession of fluid oil and

gas waste for the purpose of treating the waste for a [ subsequent ]

beneficial use transfers possession of the treated product or any

treatment byproduct to another person for the purpose of

[ subsequent ] disposal or beneficial use, the transferred product or

byproduct is considered to be the property of the person to whom the

material is transferred.

SECTION 2. Section 122.003(a), Natural Resources Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person who

produces fluid oil and gas waste and supplies that waste to a

treatment facility that produces from that waste a treated product

or who takes possession of fluid oil and gas waste and [ , ] produces

from that waste a treated product [ generally considered in the oil

and gas industry to be suitable for use in connection with the

drilling for or production of oil or gas, and transfers the treated

product to another person with the contractual understanding that

the treated product will be used in connection with the drilling for

or production of oil or gas ] is not liable in tort for a consequence

of the beneficial [ subsequent ] use of that treated product [ by the

person to whom the treated product is transferred or by another

person ].

SECTION 3. Section 101.023, Civil Practice and Remedies

Code, is amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:

(e) This section applies to an action brought under Section

122.003, Natural Resources Code.

SECTION 4. A cause of action that accrues before the

effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed

immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is

continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.