| (a) General.
(1) Form and filing; signatories; certification.
(A) Form and filing. Each applicant for a permit to
construct and operate a geologic storage facility must file an application
with the division in Austin on a form prescribed by the Commission.
The applicant must file the application and all attachments with the
division and with EPA Region 6 in an electronic format approved by
EPA. On the same date, the applicant must file one copy with each
appropriate district office and one copy with the Executive Director
of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
(B) Signatories to permit applications. An applicant
must ensure that the application is executed by a party having knowledge
of the facts entered on the form and included in the required attachments.
All permit applications shall be signed as specified in this subparagraph:
(i) For a corporation, the permit application shall
be signed by a responsible corporate officer. For the purpose of this
section, a responsible corporate officer means a president, secretary,
treasurer, or vice president of the corporation in charge of a principal
business function, or any other person who performs similar policy-
or decision-making functions for the corporation, or the manager of
one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities employing
more than 250 persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures
exceeding $25 million (in second-quarter 1980 dollars), if authority
to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in
accordance with corporate procedures.
(ii) For a partnership or sole proprietorship, the
permit application shall be signed by a general partner or the proprietor,
respectively.
(iii) For a municipality, State, Federal, or other
public agency, the permit application shall be signed by either a
principal executive officer or ranking elected official. For purposes
of this section, a principal executive officer of a federal agency
includes the chief executive officer of the agency or a senior executive
officer having responsibility for the overall operations of a principal
geographic unit of the agency.
(C) Certification. Any person signing a permit application
or permit amendment application shall make the following certification:
"I certify under penalty of law that this document and all attachments
were prepared under my direction or supervision in accordance with
a system designed to assure that qualified personnel properly gather
and evaluate the information submitted. Based on my inquiry of the
person or persons who manage the system, or those persons directly
responsible for gathering the information, the information submitted
is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true, accurate, and complete.
I am aware that there are significant penalties for submitting false
information, including the possibility of fine and imprisonment for
knowing violations."
(2) General information.
(A) On the application, the applicant must include
the name, mailing address, and location of the facility for which
the application is being submitted and the operator's name, address,
telephone number, Commission Organization Report number, and ownership
of the facility.
(B) When a geologic storage facility is owned by one
person but is operated by another person, it is the operator's duty
to file an application for a permit.
(C) The application must include a listing of all required
permits or construction approvals for the facility received or applied
for under federal or state environmental programs;
(D) A person making an application to the director
for a permit under this subchapter must submit a copy of the application
to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and must submit
to the director a letter of determination from TCEQ concluding that
drilling and operating an anthropogenic CO2 injection
well for geologic storage or constructing or operating a geologic
storage facility will not impact or interfere with any previous or
existing Class I injection well, including any associated waste plume,
or any other injection well authorized or permitted by TCEQ. The letter
must be submitted to the director before any permit under this subchapter
may be issued.
(E) The application must indicate whether the geologic
storage project is located on Indian lands.
(F) The application must include a list of contacts
for those States, Tribes, and Territories any portion of which is
identified to be within the AOR of the geologic storage project based
on the map showing the injection well and the AOR.
(3) Application completeness. The Commission shall
not issue a permit before receiving a complete application. A permit
application is complete when the director determines that the application
contains information addressing each application requirement of the
regulatory program and all information necessary to initiate the final
review by the director.
(4) Reports. An applicant must ensure that all descriptive
reports are prepared by a qualified and knowledgeable person and include
an interpretation of the results of all logs, surveys, sampling, and
tests required in this subchapter. The applicant must include in the
application a quality assurance and surveillance plan for all testing
and monitoring, which includes, at a minimum, validation of the analytical
laboratory data, calibration of field instruments, and an explanation
of the sampling and data acquisition techniques.
(5) If otherwise required under Occupations Code, Chapter
1001, relating to Texas Engineering Practice Act, or Chapter 1002,
relating to Texas Geoscientists Practice Act, respectively, a licensed
professional engineer or geoscientist must conduct the geologic and
hydrologic evaluations required under this subchapter and must affix
the appropriate seal on the resulting reports of such evaluations.
(b) Surface map and information. Only information of
public record is required to be included on this map.
(1) The applicant must file with the director a surface
map delineating the proposed location and geographic coordinates of
any injection wells, any proposed monitoring wells, and the boundary
of the geologic storage facility for which a permit is sought and
the applicable AOR. The applicant must indicate the coordinate system
used.
(2) The applicant must show within the AOR on the map
the number or name and the location of:
(A) all known artificial penetrations through the confining
zone, including stratigraphic boreholes, injection wells, producing
wells, inactive wells, plugged wells, or dry holes;
(B) the locations of cathodic protection holes, subsurface
cleanup sites, bodies of surface water, springs, surface and subsurface
mines, quarries, and water wells; and
(C) other pertinent surface features, including pipelines,
roads, and structures intended for human occupancy.
(3) The applicant must identify on the map any known
or suspected faults expressed at the surface.
(c) Geologic, geochemical, and hydrologic information.
(1) The applicant must submit a descriptive report
prepared by a knowledgeable person that includes an interpretation
of the results of appropriate logs, surveys, sampling, and testing
sufficient to determine the depth, thickness, porosity, permeability,
and lithology of, and the geochemistry of any formation fluids in,
all relevant geologic formations.
(2) The applicant must submit information on the geologic
structure and reservoir properties of the proposed storage reservoir
and overlying formations, including the following information:
(A) geologic and topographic maps and cross sections
illustrating regional geology, hydrogeology, and the geologic structure
of the area from the ground surface to the base of the injection zone
within the AOR that indicate the general vertical and lateral limits
of all USDWs within the AOR, their positions relative to the storage
reservoir and the direction of water movement, where known;
(B) the depth, areal extent, thickness, mineralogy,
porosity, permeability, and capillary pressure of, and the geochemistry
of any formation fluids in, the storage reservoir and confining zone
and any other relevant geologic formations, including geology/facies
changes based on field data, which may include geologic cores, outcrop
data, seismic surveys, well logs, and lithologic descriptions, and
the analyses of logging, sampling, and testing results used to make
such determinations;
(C) the location, orientation, and properties of known
or suspected transmissive faults or fractures that may transect the
confining zone within the AOR and a determination that such faults
or fractures would not compromise containment;
(D) the seismic history, including the presence and
depth of seismic sources, and a determination that the seismicity
would not compromise containment;
(E) geomechanical information on fractures, stress,
ductility, rock strength, and in situ fluid pressures within the confining
zone;
Cont'd... |
