Sec. 361.184. REGISTRY LISTING PROCEDURE: NOTICES AND HEARING

(a) If the executive director determines that a facility is eligible for listing on the state registry, the commission shall publish in the Texas Register and in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the facility is located a notice of intent to list the facility on the state registry. The notice shall at least specify the name and location of the facility, the general nature of the potential endangerment to public health and safety or the environment as determined by information available to the executive director at that time, and the duties and restrictions imposed by Subsection (c). The notice also shall provide that interested parties may do either or both of the following:

(1) submit written comments to the commission relative to the proposed listing of the facility; or

(2) request a public meeting to discuss the proposed listing by submitting a request not later than the 30th day after the date on which the notice is issued.

(b) If the facility is determined to be eligible for listing on the state registry, the executive director shall make all reasonable efforts to identify all potentially responsible parties for remediation of the facility. Concurrent with the publication of general notice under Subsection (a), the executive director shall provide to each identified potentially responsible party direct, written notification of the proposed listing of the facility on the state registry and of the procedures for requesting a public meeting to discuss the listing and the information included in the general notice as required by Subsection (a). Written notifications under this subsection shall be by certified mail, return receipt requested, to each named responsible party at the party's last known address.

(c) If a public meeting is requested regarding the proposed listing of a facility on the state registry, the commission shall publish general notice of the date, time, and location of the public meeting in the Texas Register and in the same newspaper in which the notice of the opportunity to request the public meeting was published. The public meeting notice shall be provided not later than the 31st day before the date of the meeting. Notice of the meeting also shall be provided by certified mail, return receipt requested, to each identified potentially responsible party at the party's last known address.

(d) Nonreceipt of any notice mailed to a potentially responsible party under Subsection (b) or this subsection does not affect the responsibilities, duties, or liabilities imposed on the party. Contemporaneously with issuing the notice of the public meeting, the executive director shall make available to all interested parties the public records the executive director has regarding the facility. For the purposes of providing this information, the executive director shall provide a brief summary of those public records and make those public records available for inspection and copying during regular business hours.

(e) A public meeting is legislative in nature and not a contested case hearing under Chapter 2001, Government Code. The meeting shall be held for the purpose of obtaining additional information regarding the facility relative to the eligibility of the facility for listing on the state registry and the identification of potentially responsible parties.

(f) After the public meeting or after opportunity to request a public meeting has passed, the commission shall file or cause to be filed an affidavit or notice in the real property records of the county in which the facility is located identifying the facility as one proposed for listing on the state registry unless the executive director determines, based on information presented at the public meeting, that efforts to list the facility on the state registry should not be pursued.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 1990, 71st Leg., 6th C.S., ch. 10, art. 2, Sec. 29, eff. Sept. 6, 1990; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.95(49), eff. Sept. 1, 1995.