'This bill will now hold industry to higher standards of safety': New storage tank safety laws now in effect

A new state law designed to enhance safety for above-ground storage tanks recently went into effect.

Senate Bill 900 relates "to the safety of storage vessels" and was authored by Texas State Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) and sponsored by two of her fellow Democrats and two Republicans. 

The legislation requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to increase safety standards to storage tanks, according to the Texas Tribune. These standards must be established by September 2023.

The bill will also require tanks to have safety measures including remote shut-off valves, overflow protection and anti-fire technology.

Texas Tribune reports that Alvarado, whose heavily Latino Houston-area district is home to several chemical plants, spent years talking with industry groups to get new regulations placed on the chemical industry following the ITC fire in 2019.

The incident, which occurred in Deer Park, sent a large plume of smoke hovering over Houston that lasted for three days.

"In light of past Houston-area chemical incidents, I’m proud my bill #SB900 goes into effect today. This bill will now hold industry to higher standards of safety," Texas State Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) wrote in a Sept. 1 Twitter post.

Safety regulation measures picked up bipartisan support from lawmakers following multiple incidents of exploding tanks in 2019.

“When you have incidents like this happening, we have a duty to respond and to change that, and that’s what we did,” Alvarado said, according to the Texas Tribune.

Alvarado worked closely and negotiated with the Texas Pipeline Association, the Texas Chemical Council and the Texas Oil and Gas Association to create the bill.