Texas Railroad Commission Seeks to Overhaul Existing Waste Management Rules

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Nishmet Montelongo

On August 15th, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) published for public comment proposed amendments to the waste management rules in RRC Chapters 3 and 4. This draft was published after receiving input from oil & gas industry experts, environmental consultants, and the public over the last couple of years.

Beginning in early 2021, a task force of oil & gas industry experts and environmental consultants formed to revise the existing waste management rules. Their recommendations were passed on to the RRC who thereafter reviewed the feedback and drafted a proposal which was published for public comment in October of last year. The input received then prompted the newest version of the draft published last month.

The current rule has only received minor amendments since its adoption in 1984 so this will be the first major overhaul in four decades! While these changes were motivated by the RRC’s need to address environmental concerns, as well as significant changes in the industry’s practices, the effort to revise the regulations was initiated by RRC Commissioner Jim Wright who planned to rewrite Rule 8. 

What is Rule 8?

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National Petroleum Day 2024

Posted on August 27, 2024 by Jeb Bleckley

Happy National Petroleum Day! Petroleum is critical for many of the things we love in this world. Plastics, synthetic fabrics, fertilizers, cosmetics, pill capsules, paints, asphalt, crayons, candles, tires, detergents, inks, antifreeze, chewing gum, shampoo, and parachutes all involve petroleum derived items, and of course much of the energy that makes the modern world possible is sourced from petroleum. Fun etymology fact of the day; “Petra” is Greek for “Rocks” and “oleum” is Latin for “Oil”, making this word a confused mismatch of languages ultimately meaning Rock Oil. Because apparently someone once thought it just seeped out of rocks the way pork fat greases up a table beneath a rack of bacon, and that someone only vaguely remembered his classical languages.

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GIS Day 2021

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Devon Canady

To celebrate GIS day this year, we decided to take a deep dive into the coding and software libraries that drive end user applications (like ArcMap). Enjoy!

GIS and Software Libraries:

A geographic information system (GIS) is a complex technology that involves challenging operations like: relating index/geometry/attribute tables, performing set theory between geometries, raster (pixel) calculations and querying/editing attributes while maintaining the integrity of the underlying tables.

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Dry Cleaning Regulations

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Kayla Saenger

Perchloroethylene (Perc) and petroleum-based solvents are two of the most notable cleaning agents used by dry-cleaning facilities across the country. In 2020, EPA finished its final risk evaluation of perchloroethylene and found “there are unreasonable risks to workers, occupational non-users, consumers, and bystanders…” Both classes of solvents are subject to state and federal regulations in order to prevent improper disposal of generated hazardous waste and air emissions.

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HazView – Mapped points for environmental hazmat and facility information

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Hannah Weaver
HazView - a free, Phase I data style viewer

Banks HazView is an innovative, full-featured GIS map application created by the Banks team to bring Phase I ESA style data right to your fingertips. We are excited to offer this new service free of charge for registrants.

Hazview Signup

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Update on data resources during COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Ian Holt

Measures taken by government agencies to stymie the ongoing pandemic have resulted in unique situations across the country affecting consultants’ abilities to access public data. The subsequent building closures, skeleton staffs, and work from home orders mean that access to data may be slower or in some cases there may be limited or no access to public information. Keep reading to see which products may be affected.

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Posted in Aerial photography, Chain of title, Environmental data, Industry news, Phase I ESA, Regulatory issues | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Update on data resources during COVID-19 pandemic