CHAPTER 370. TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE REPORTING
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
TITLE 5. SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
SUBTITLE B. SOLID WASTE, TOXIC CHEMICALS, SEWAGE, LITTER, AND
WATER
CHAPTER 370. TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE REPORTING
Sec. 370.001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the
Texas Toxic Chemical Release Reporting Act.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,
1991.
Sec. 370.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Administrator" means the administrator of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency.
(2) "Commission" means the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission.
(3) "Environment" means water, air, and land and the
interrelationship that exists among and between water, air, and
land and all living things.
(4) "Executive director" means the executive director of the
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.
(5) "Facility" means all buildings, equipment, structures, and
other stationary items that are located on a single site or on
contiguous or adjacent sites and are owned or operated by the
same person or by any person who controls, is controlled by, or
is under common control with that person.
(6) "Manufacture" means to produce, prepare, import, or compound
a toxic chemical.
(7) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint-stock
company, corporation, including a government corporation,
partnership, association, state, commission, municipality or
other political subdivision of a state, or interstate body.
(8) "Process" means to prepare a toxic chemical, after its
manufacture, for distribution in commerce:
(A) in the same form or physical state as, or in a different
form or physical state from, the form in which the chemical was
received by the person preparing the chemical; or
(B) as part of an article containing the toxic chemical.
(9) "Release" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring,
emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching,
dumping, or otherwise disposing into the environment any toxic
chemical. The term includes the abandonment or discarding of
barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles of any toxic
chemical.
(10) "Threshold amount" means the amount established by the
administrator under the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et seq.).
(11) "Toxic chemical" means a chemical designated as a toxic
chemical by the administrator under the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et
seq.).
(12) "Toxic chemical release form" means the form published by
the administrator under the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et seq.).
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,
1991. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., 1st C.S., ch. 3, Sec.
1.044, eff. Aug. 12, 1991.
Sec. 370.003. TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE FORM REQUIRED OF CERTAIN
FACILITIES. (a) The owner or operator of a facility shall
submit a toxic chemical release form to the executive director if
the facility:
(1) has 10 or more full-time employees and a standard industrial
classification code between 20 and 39 that was in effect on July
1, 1985, or has been designated as a facility subject to these
requirements by the administrator; and
(2) manufactured, processed, or otherwise used a toxic chemical
in excess of the threshold amount during the calendar year for
which a toxic chemical release form is required.
(b) The owner or operator of a facility subject to Subsection
(a) shall submit a toxic chemical release form for each toxic
chemical manufactured, processed, or otherwise used at the
facility during the preceding calendar year in a quantity
exceeding the threshold amount.
(c) The form shall be submitted not later than July 1 of each
year and must contain data that reflect each release that
occurred during the preceding calendar year. The administrator
may modify the frequency with which a report must be submitted
under this section as provided under the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et
seq.).
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,
1991.
Sec. 370.004. THRESHOLD AMOUNTS FOR REPORTING. (a) The
threshold amounts for purposes of reporting a toxic chemical
under Section 370.003 are as follows:
(1) for a toxic chemical used, but not manufactured or
processed, at a facility, 10,000 pounds of the toxic chemical
used at the facility during the preceding calendar year; or
(2) for a toxic chemical manufactured or processed at a
facility, 25,000 pounds of the toxic chemical manufactured or
processed at the facility during the preceding calendar year.
(b) The administrator may establish a threshold amount for a
toxic chemical different from the amount established under
Subsection (a).
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,
1991.
Sec. 370.005. USE OF AVAILABLE DATA. (a) To provide the
information required on the toxic chemical release form, the
owner or operator of a facility may use:
(1) readily available data, including monitoring data, collected
under other law; or
(2) reasonable estimates of the amounts involved if data under
Subdivision (1) are not readily available.
(b) This section does not require monitoring or measurement of
the quantities, concentration, or frequency of a toxic chemical
released into the environment beyond the monitoring and
measurement required under other law or regulation.
(c) To ensure consistency, data must be expressed in common
units, as designated by the administrator.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,
1991.
Sec. 370.006. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE
FORM. (a) A toxic chemical release form required under this
chapter is intended to provide information to the public,
including federal, state, and local governments and citizens of
the communities surrounding a facility covered under Section
370.003.
(b) A toxic chemical release form shall be made available in a
manner consistent with the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Section 11001 et seq.) and
Chapter 552, Government Code.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,
1991. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.95(88),
eff. Sept. 1, 1995.
Sec. 370.007. TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE REPORTING FUNDS. (a)
Toxic chemical release reporting funds consist of money collected
by the commission from:
(1) fees imposed on owners and operators of facilities required
to submit a toxic chemical release form; and
(2) penalties imposed under this chapter.
(b) The commission may use the money collected under this
chapter to pay for:
(1) costs incurred by the commission in implementing this
chapter; and
(2) other commission activities necessary to implement the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (42
U.S.C. Section 11001 et seq.).
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,
1991. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 564, Sec. 1.06, eff.
June 11, 1993; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 746, Sec. 8, eff. Aug.
30, 1993.
Sec. 370.008. DISPOSITION OF FEES. (a) The owner or operator
of a facility required to submit a toxic chemical release form
under this chapter shall pay, at the time of the submission, a
fee of $25 for each toxic chemical release form submitted.
(b) The maximum fee for a facility may not exceed $250.
(c) The commission by rule may increase or decrease the toxic
chemical release form reporting fee as necessary.
(d) Fees collected under this section shall be deposited in the
state treasury to the credit of the waste management account.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 132, eff. Sept. 1,
1991. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 564, Sec. 1.06, eff.
June 11, 1993; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 746, Sec. 8, eff. Aug.
30, 1993; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 333, Sec. 63, eff. Sept. 1,
1997.