MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

(a) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Parks and Wildlife Department shall enter into a memorandum of understanding for the regulation of matters related to aquaculture. (b) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, after receiving an application for a wastewater discharge authorization from an aquaculture facility, shall provide a copy of the application to the Parks and Wildlife Department. (c) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Parks and Wildlife Department shall ensure that the proposed discharge will not adversely affect a bay, an estuary, or other waters in the state. (d) The Parks and Wildlife Department, in consultation with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, may establish general guidelines that identify sensitive aquatic habitat within the coastal zone. The general guidelines must include factors such as the presence of sea grass beds, depth of receiving waters, and amount of tidal exchange. (e) If the Parks and Wildlife Department establishes the guidelines described in Subsection (d), the Parks and Wildlife Department must provide the guidelines to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. (f) If the Parks and Wildlife Department has established the guidelines described in Subsection (d), the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must consider the guidelines when reviewing wastewater discharge authorization applications for new aquaculture facilities located within the coastal zone, or expansion of existing facilities located within the coastal zone if the expansion will increase the amount of discharge, or change the nature of the discharge, above levels allowed by the wastewater discharge permit. (g) In developing the guidelines under Subsection (d) applicable to aquaculture facilities engaged in the production of shrimp in the coastal zone, the Parks and Wildlife Department, in consultation with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, shall consider the best management practices that the facilities developed under the direction of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. (h) In the development of siting guidelines for aquaculture facilities engaged in the production of shrimp in the coastal zone, the best management practices developed by the facilities shall be considered.