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TCEQ refers multiple wastewater and radioactive permit matters to contested hearings, issues several permits
Summary
On April 1 the commission referred contested TPDES and radioactive license matters (including a 660,000‑gpd wastewater application and a ConocoPhillips radioactive license amendment) to SOAH while issuing other permits whose hearings were withdrawn.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on April 1 referred several permit matters to contested‑case hearings at the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), denied reconsideration in some matters, and issued other permits where hearing requests were withdrawn.
Items referred to SOAH included a TPDES application from GRBK Edgewood LLC and Rummelin Road Farms (WQ 0016601001), which staff told the commission would authorize a treated domestic wastewater discharge with a daily average flow not to exceed 660,000 gallons per day. The commission found Wilson Springs Prairie LP, Taral Timmerman Farms LP, Edward Griffith, and the city of Taylor to be affected persons on issues that included odor, surface‑ and ground‑water quality (including anti‑degradation), regionalization and need, accuracy and completeness of the application, and flood‑plain protections. The commission set a maximum contested‑case hearing duration of up to 180 days and referred the matter to the commission’s alternative dispute resolution program concurrently.
The commission also referred a major amendment application for ConocoPhillips’ radioactive material license (R01634) to SOAH after finding Bernadette Dyer an affected person who alleged groundwater and radiation contamination concerns; other requests for hearing were denied. Separately, the commission found North Texas Municipal Water District to be an affected person and referred Belleville Utilities LLC’s TPDES application (WQ 0016459001) to SOAH on water‑quality and accuracy/completeness issues.
At the same meeting the commission issued permits where hearing requests had been withdrawn or denied: High 10 Gerol 115 LLC (WQ 0016565001) and TCCI Josephine WWTP (WQ 0016586001) were both approved and the commission adopted the executive director’s response to comments and issued the permits as recommended.
Commissioners emphasized that MUD creation or permit issuance does not itself authorize future discharges beyond the scope of separate TPDES permits and that water quality protections and anti‑degradation reviews will be addressed in the contested hearings and permitting processes.
