Municipalities and other political subdivisions generally may not regulate oil and gas operations, but municipalities may regulate only certain aboveground activity if specific conditions are met.
Sec. 81.0523. EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION AND EXPRESS PREEMPTION. (a) In this section: (1) "Commercially reasonable" means a condition that would allow a reasonably prudent operator to fully, effectively, and economically exploit, develop, produce, process, and transport oil and gas, as determined based on the objective standard of a reasonably prudent operator and not on an individualized assessment of an actual operator's capacity to act. (2) "Oil and gas operation" means an activity associated with the exploration, development, production, processing, and transportation of oil and gas, including drilling, hydraulic fracture stimulation, completion, maintenance, reworking, recompletion, disposal, plugging and abandonment, secondary and tertiary recovery, and remediation activities. (b) An oil and gas operation is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of this state. Except as provided by Subsection (c), a municipality or other political subdivision may not enact or enforce an ordinance or other measure, or an amendment or revision of an ordinance or other measure, that bans, limits, or otherwise regulates an oil and gas operation within the boundaries or extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality or political subdivision. (c) The authority of a municipality or other political subdivision to regulate an oil and gas operation is expressly preempted, except that a municipality may enact, amend, or enforce an ordinance or other measure that: (1) regulates only aboveground activity related to an oil and gas operation that occurs at or above the surface of the ground, including a regulation governing fire and emergency response, traffic, lights, or noise, or imposing notice or reasonable setback requirements; (2) is commercially reasonable; (3) does not effectively prohibit an oil and gas operation conducted by a reasonably prudent operator; and (4) is not otherwise preempted by state or federal law. (d) An ordinance or other measure is considered prima facie to be commercially reasonable if the ordinance or other measure has been in effect for at least five years and has allowed the oil and gas operations at issue to continue during that period. Added by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 30 (H.B. 40), Sec. 2, eff. May 18, 2015.