Zwiener’s pipeline bills get hearing in House committee

Two pieces of legislation filed by State Rep. Erin Zwiener (D-Driftwood) regarding natural gas pipelines got their day in committee Monday.

Zwiener laid out House Bill 4060 and HB 4423 during hearings at the House Energy Resources Committee at the State Capitol. Zwiener’s HB 4060 would ensure prompt and proper responses to emergencies involving large natural gas pipelines by providing funds for pipeline emergency preparedness. 

“Communities are forced to deal with these large pipelines without any input in the routing process,” Zwiener said in a press release. “Texas landowners are rightfully worried about what happens in the unfortunate instance of a pipeline accident. By establishing and funding a pipeline emergency preparedness grant program, we are protecting their futures and assuaging their fears.”

Funds awarded by the pipeline emergency preparedness grant program would go toward expenses such as those incurred during the creation of an evacuation plan for pipeline-related emergencies. There are more than 2,600 landowners in the designated pipeline evacuation zone in House District 45 alone.

Forty-two Texans went to the Capitol to express support of the bill, and seven of them testified in front of the Energy Resources Committee, Zwiener’s office said. The bill is now pending in committee.

HB 4423 would ensure proper surface remediation and land restoration for landowners whose property was taken for the construction of a pipeline. The legislation establishes a grant program to address issues like soil replacement, erosion control and vegetation re-establishment over disturbed areas.

“Landowners currently don’t have assurances that their land, which was taken under threat of eminent domain, will be returned to its proper condition,” Zwiener said in a press release. “With this bill, we are standing up for Texas landowners whose property is disturbed by the construction of pipelines without a choice in the matter.”

Sixty Texans, 51 of whom supported the bill, traveled to the capitol to log their positions on HB 4423. 

Zwiener’s two bills joined three pipeline-related bills filed by Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas): HB 864, HB 866, and HB 868. Rep Zwiener is a co-author on all three.

Zwiener’s slate of pipeline-related legislation is inspired by the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline that would run from West Texas to near Katy. The pipeline would cut through the Hill Country in Hays and Blanco counties – the heart of Rep. Zwiener’s House District 45. Local jurisdictions in and near House District 45 that have passed resolutions against the Kinder Morgan pipeline include Hays and Gillespie counties; the cities of Kyle, Buda, San Marcos, Wimberley and Woodcreek; the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District; Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District; Hill Country Underground Water District; Fredericksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Hays CISD.