| (a) Forms. Forms required to be filed at the Commission
shall be those prescribed by the Commission. A complete set of all
Commission forms required to be filed at the Commission shall be kept
by the Commission secretary and posted on the Commission's web site.
Notice of any new or amended forms shall be issued by the Commission.
For any required or discretionary filing, an organization may either
file the prescribed form on paper or use any electronic filing process
in accordance with subsections (e) or (f) of this section, as applicable.
The Commission may at its discretion accept an earlier version of
a prescribed form, provided that it contains all required information
and meets the requirements of subsection (e)(3) of this section.
(b) Definitions. The following words and terms, when
used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Commission--The Railroad Commission of Texas.
(2) Electronic filing process--An electronic transmission
to the Commission in a prescribed form and/or format authorized by
the Commission and completed in accordance with Commission instructions.
(3) Form--A printed or typed paper document or electronic
submission, including any necessary instructions, with blank spaces
for insertion of required or requested specific information.
(4) Organization--Any person, firm, partnership, joint
stock association, corporation, or other organization, domestic or
foreign, operating wholly or partially within this state, acting as
principal or agent for another, for the purpose of performing operations
within the jurisdiction of the Commission.
(5) Position of ownership or control--A person holds
a position of ownership or control in an organization if the person
is:
(A) an officer or director of the organization;
(B) a general partner of the organization;
(C) the owner of an organization which is a sole proprietorship;
(D) the owner of more than a 25 percent ownership interest
in the organization; or
(E) the designated trustee of the organization.
(6) Violation--Non-compliance with a statute, Commission
rule, order, license, permit, or certificate relating to safety or
the prevention or control of pollution.
(c) Organization eligibility. The Commission may not
accept an organization report or an application for a permit, or approve
a certificate of compliance if:
(1) the organization that submitted the report, application,
or certificate violated a statute or Commission rule, order, license,
certificate, or permit that relates to safety or the prevention or
control of pollution; or
(2) any person who holds a position of ownership or
control in the organization has, within the seven years preceding
the date on which the report, application, or certificate is filed,
held a position of ownership or control in another organization, and
during that period of ownership or control the other organization
violated a statute or Commission rule, order, license, permit, or
certificate that relates to safety or the prevention or control of
pollution.
(d) Violations. An organization has committed a violation
if there is either a Commission order against an organization finding
that the organization has committed a violation and all appeals have
been exhausted or an agreed order entered into by the Commission and
an organization relating to an alleged violation, and:
(1) the conditions that constituted the violation or
alleged violation have not been corrected;
(2) all administrative, civil and criminal penalties,
if any, relating to the violation or agreed settlement relating to
an alleged violation have not been paid; or
(3) all reimbursements of costs and expenses, if any,
assessed by the Commission relating to the violation or to the alleged
violation have not been collected.
(e) Authorization and standards for electronic filing.
(1) An organization may file electronically any form
for which the Commission has provided an electronic version, provided
that the organization pays all required filing fees and complies with
all requirements, including but not limited to security procedures,
for electronic filing.
(2) The Commission deems an organization that files
electronically or on whose behalf is filed electronically any form,
as of the time of filing, to have knowledge of and to be responsible
for the information filed on the form, pursuant to the statutory requirements,
restrictions, and standards found in and pertaining to:
(A) Texas Natural Resources Code, Title 3 (oil and
gas well drilling, production, and plugging);
(B) Texas Natural Resources Code, Title 5 (geothermal
resources);
(C) Texas Natural Resources Code, Title 11 (hazardous
liquids storage);
(D) Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 121, Subchapter I
(sour gas pipeline facilities);
(E) Texas Water Code, §26.131 (discharge permits);
(F) Texas Water Code, Chapter 27 (class II injection
and disposal wells and class III brine mining wells);
(G) Texas Water Code, Chapter 29 (oil and gas waste
haulers);
(H) Texas Health and Safety Code, §401.415 (oil
and gas naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) waste); and
(I) Texas Administrative Code, Title 16, Chapter 3
(Oil and Gas Division) and Chapter 4 (Environmental Protection).
(3) All forms that an organization submits or that
are submitted on behalf of an organization shall be transmitted in
the manner prescribed by the Commission that is compatible with its
software, equipment, and facilities.
(4) The Commission may provide notice electronically
to an organization of, and may provide an organization the ability
to confirm electronically, the Commission's receipt of a form submitted
electronically by or on behalf of that organization.
(5) The Commission deems that the signature of an organization's
authorized representative appears on each form submitted electronically
by or on behalf of the organization, as if this signature actually
appears, as of the time the form is submitted electronically to the
Commission.
(6) The Commission holds each organization responsible,
under the penalties prescribed in Texas Natural Resources Code, §91.143,
for all forms, information, or data that an organization files or
that are filed on its behalf. The Commission charges each organization
with the obligation to review and correct, if necessary, all forms
or data that an organization files or that are filed on its behalf.
(f) Other electronic transmissions. The Commission
may at its discretion accept other documents or data electronically
transmitted.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §3.80 adopted to be effective June 11, 2001, 26 TexReg 4088; amended to be effective April 12, 2004, 29 TexReg 3612; amended to be effective July 12, 2004, 29 TexReg 6633; amended to be effective October 11, 2004, 29 TexReg 9533; amended to be effective April 3, 2006, 31 TexReg 2846; amended to be effective January 30, 2007, 32 TexReg 287; amended to be effective January 7, 2008, 33 TexReg 114; amended to be effective September 12, 2011, 36 TexReg 5835; amended to be effective July 7, 2014, 39 TexReg 5148 |
