Poultry facility owners or operators must provide waste-handling capacity and maintain a certified water quality management plan. The Board may certify certain plans, and it may not certify some nearby facilities likely to create odor nuisance unless an approved odor control plan is provided.
Sec. 26.302. REGULATION OF POULTRY FACILITIES. (a) A person who owns or operates a poultry facility shall ensure that the facility has adequate means or is adequately equipped to handle and dispose of poultry carcasses, poultry litter, and other poultry waste regardless of whether the person owns the poultry. (b) A person who owns or operates a poultry facility shall implement and maintain a water quality management plan for the facility that is certified by the State Soil and Water Conservation Board under Section 201.026, Agriculture Code. (b-1) The State Soil and Water Conservation Board may certify a water quality management plan for a poultry facility that: (1) does not use a liquid waste handling system; and (2) is required to obtain a permit or other authorization from the commission. (b-2) The State Soil and Water Conservation Board in consultation with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality by rule shall establish criteria to determine the geographic, seasonal, and agronomic factors that the board will consider to determine whether a persistent nuisance odor condition is likely to occur when assessing the siting and construction of new poultry facilities. (b-3) The State Soil and Water Conservation Board may not certify a water quality management plan for a poultry facility located less than one-half of one mile from a business, off-site permanently inhabited residence, or place of worship if the presence of the facility is likely to create a persistent odor nuisance for such neighbors, unless the poultry facility provides an odor control plan the executive director determines is sufficient to control odors. This subsection does not apply to: (1) a revision of a previously certified and existing water quality management plan unless the revision is necessary because of an increase in poultry production of greater than 50 percent than the amount included in the existing certified water quality management plan for the facility; or (2) any poultry facility located more than one-half of one mile from a surrounding business, permanently inhabited off-site residence, or place of worship established before the date of construction of the poultry facility. (c) The commission may bring a cause of action to remedy or prevent a violation of this section. (d) This section does not affect the authority of the commission to investigate or take enforcement action against an unauthorized discharge under Section 26.121. Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1074, Sec. 1, eff. March 1, 1998. Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 277, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002. Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 418 (S.B. 1707), Sec. 4, eff. September 1, 2005. Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1386 (S.B. 1693), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2009.