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House Energy Committee advances bill requiring DEQ to set aluminum water-quality criteria
Summary
The committee adopted an amendment extending the deadline and reported House Bill 2976 out of committee with a do‑pass recommendation; the bill directs the Department of Environmental Quality to promulgate water‑quality criteria for aluminum, timing shifted to allow an ongoing OU study to inform rules.
Representative Geist told the House Energy Committee that House Bill 2976 would require the Department of Environmental Quality to promulgate water‑quality criteria for aluminum and asked that an amendment be adopted to move the rulemaking deadline. "The amendment simply just moves the date I had by 12/31/2027 ... at their request we moved it to 2028," Geist said, citing an active University of Oklahoma study on aluminum in water that DEQ could use when drafting rules.
The committee adopted the amendment without objection and then approved the bill as amended by voice vote (announced in committee as 9 aye, 0 nay). Committee leadership said the extension would give DEQ time to consider the OU study's results when developing regulatory criteria.
Why it matters: setting numeric water‑quality criteria for aluminum can affect permitting and cleanup standards for industrial and municipal dischargers, and provides a regulatory basis for enforcement and protective actions for affected waterways.
What the committee did: the committee adopted the deadline extension amendment and reported HB 2976 out of committee with a do‑pass recommendation. The legislative record from the hearing shows the amendment was proposed to align DEQ rulemaking with the timetable and evidence produced by the ongoing OU study.
Next steps: HB 2976 is reported out of the House Energy Committee and will be scheduled for floor consideration per House procedures.
