On September 4, 2012, the Texas Railroad Commission proposed
new regulations relating to the commercial recycling of produced water and/or
hydraulic fracturing flowback fluid. Division 5 of the proposed
regulations sets out requirements for off-lease or centralized commercial recycling, and Division 6 concerns the stationary commercial recycling of
produced water and/or hydraulic fracturing flowback fluid.
On-lease
commercial recycling is to be authorized by concurrent amendments to 16 Texas
Administrative Code § 3.8, relating to water protection. Section 3.8
states that “no person conducting activities subject to regulation by the commission
may cause or allow pollution of surface or subsurface water in the
state.”
Under the proposed regulations, a commercial recycling applicant
must provide engineering, geological and other information sufficient to show
that the “issuance of the permit will not result in the waste of oil, gas, or
other geothermal resources, the pollution of surface or subsurface water, or a
threat to the public health or safety.”
Review the proposed regulations
The public comment period ends at noon on October 29, 2012.
This article was prepared by Barclay Nicholson (bnicholson@fulbright.com / 713 651 3662) from Fulbright's Energy Law Practice.
