HB 49

"🔴 TEXAS JUST PASSED HB 49 — AND IT QUIETLY GUTS YOUR RIGHT TO SUE IF OILFIELD WASTE DAMAGES YOUR LAND OR HEALTH

On paper, HB 49 sounds like a technical fix. It’s supposed to promote the “beneficial reuse” of oil and gas wastewater—like recycling that water for fracking, irrigation, or lithium mining.

Sounds green, efficient, maybe even responsible… right?

Here’s what they’re not telling you ⬇️

⚖️ HB 49 gives legal immunity to oil companies, transporters, and even landowners if something goes wrong with that wastewater— as long as they weren’t grossly negligent or didn’t break a specific agency rule.

That means:

🚫 If you get sick from reused wastewater on your land? You likely can’t sue.
🚫 If it poisons a well or damages crops? You’re on the hook.
🚫 If the damage is real—but the company technically followed the rules? Too bad.

The bar to get justice is set so high, even blatant harm may not qualify.

And it doesn’t stop there:

🔒 The bill also bans punitive damages—so even if you do prove they were negligent, the court can’t hit them with extra penalties. The financial deterrent? Gone.

📜 There’s no clear public definition of “beneficial use.” Treated waste could be sprayed on crops, dumped near aquifers, or piped through communities—with no public hearings, no warning, and no right to challenge it unless someone was reckless on purpose.

Now ask yourself: who wanted this bill?

✅ Chevron
✅ ConocoPhillips
✅ Occidental Petroleum
✅ Texas Oil & Gas Association
✅ Texans for Lawsuit Reform
✅ Civil Justice League

They say it “encourages innovation” and “saves water.”
But here’s the real play:

💸 It saves them money on waste disposal
💼 It protects them from lawsuits
🛡️ And it locks in a legal shield before the lithium rush heats up

Meanwhile…

❌ Farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners lose their most powerful tool: the right to sue when things go wrong.
❌ Local courts are bypassed.
❌ The Railroad Commission (widely seen as industry-friendly) becomes the main referee—with no new funding or oversight.

This isn’t a small regulatory tweak. It’s a legal firewall.
It says: you can profit from reused waste—but you don’t have to answer for the consequences.

And if this works here? You can bet the same immunity model shows up next for:

➡️ Carbon storage
➡️ Mining runoff
➡️ Chemical reuse in agriculture
➡️ AI models trained on private data (without recourse)

💬 Bottom line: HB 49 makes environmental risk somebody else’s problem—and that “somebody” is often rural Texans. It rewrites liability law to favor those with the most money and the least accountability.

If clean water, local courts, and the right to protect your land still matter in Texas—this bill should matter to you.

🔴 #HB49 #TexasPolicy #StayInformed #WatchTheDetails"