SECTION 331.108. Opportunity for a Contested Case Hearing on a Production Area Authorization Application

(a) An application for a new production area authorization is not subject to opportunity for a contested case hearing if:

(1) the authorization is for a production area within the boundary of the permit under which the authorization will be issued and the permit includes a range table with values established in accordance with the requirements in §305.49(a)(10) of this title (relating to Additional Contents of Application for an Injection Well Permit);

(2) the application includes a restoration table with restoration parameter values that do not exceed the high values for the respective parameters in the permit range table; and

(3) the application is for a production area within the boundary of the permit under which the proposed authorization will be issued, and the application meets the requirements at §331.104(a) - (d) of this title (relating to Establishment of Baseline and Control Parameters for Excursion Detection) regarding baseline wells; or

(4) the application requests authorization for a new, and subsequent, production area within the permit boundary of a permit after the first production area authorization has been issued for a production area within the permit boundary.

(b) An application to amend a restoration table included in an issued production area authorization is not subject to opportunity for a contested case hearing if the restoration parameter values in the proposed amended restoration table do not exceed the respective values in the permit range table included in the permit under which the production area authorization was issued.

(c) An application to amend a restoration table to increase any restoration table value included in an issued production area authorization is subject to opportunity for a contested case hearing if the permit under which the production area authorization was issued does not include a permit range table, established in accordance with the requirements of §305.49(a)(10) of this title.

Source Note: The provisions of this §331.108 adopted to be effective March 12, 2009, 34 TexReg 1638; amended to be effective December 11, 2014, 39 TexReg 9586