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In most Texas counties, nothing is more difficult to regulate locally than outdoor burning. The law itself can be complex, applying in some counties and not in others, depending on such things as availability of waste disposal services. Moreover, there are social (i.e., habit) and political factors (i/e/, not irritating voters) that also enter into determining if burning is allowed in a particular community. 

All outdoor burning in Texas is subject at least to the following considerations:

• Outdoor burning in Texas is generally not allowed, but permission can be given by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This "granting permission" comes in three forms: (1) the Texas Outdoor burning rule [30 T.A.C. 111(b)]; (2) permission given by T.C.E.Q. Commissioners to facilitate disposal fires in some unique circumstances (i.e., Hurricane Rita); and, (3) burning specifically authorized under permit to specific individuals or companies; 
  
• Two felony criminal statutes found in Chapter 7 Enforcement of the Texas Water Code, (i.e., Section 7.182 Reckless Emission of Air Contaminant and Endangerment and Section 7.183 Intentional or Knowing Emission of Air Contaminant and Knowing Endangerment) cover situations where persons are injured by somebody's unauthorized burning;
  
• The Commissioners Court for the county may have issued a full or limited ban on all outdoor burning in a drought, or the County Judge may have issued a temporary emergency declaration restricting outdoor burning;
  
• The Texas Outdoor Burning rule is not always clear. Nor is it always apparent that a rule violation is a crime, and this is a hard point to get across to many folks. The T.C.E.Q. has been given power to regulate all outside burning, such regulations having been promulgated in the Texas Outdoor Burning rule, 30 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 111(b). The rule is a living document, with revisions required when directed by the State Legislature. It is also a confusing document in some places, yet very clear in others. Although they have issued guides to outdoor burning from time-to-time, many T.C.E.Q. regional officer appropriately resist requests to provide instant interpretation of the application of the rule to complex situations. Where local jurisdictions need interpretation, they will generally need to seek legal help rather than turn to the agency. This is absolutely appropriate as this rule was developed through a complex process (led but not totally controlled by the T.C.E.Q.) that included many stakeholders. The rule having been created, it is now up to the courts to provide interpretation of its provisions in contentious situations (where the parties cannot agree on what the rule means as applied to a particular situation). What's really interesting is that a violation of this rule constitutes, at the same time, (1) an administrative law civil violation to be enforced by the T.C.E.Q.; and, (2) a criminal violation of Texas Water Code Section 7.177, usually to be enforced by local law enforcement agencies, if at all. And just to make things even more interesting, local jurisdictions clearly also have rights to seek civil penalties of $50 to $25,000 per day for violating the Outdoor Burning Rule (see the Texas Water Code Chapter 7, Sections 7.101 through Section 7.111);
  
• Your local fire department might (incorrectly) decide to allow burning, although there is no statute or rule we can find that authorizes fire departments to issue permission to citizens to start fires (excepting, of course, fires set by the departments themselves as authorized for training exercises and when setting back-fires to fight bigger fires). In fact, if a fire department "authorizes" a citizen to start a fire, then there is a good argument that the fire department employee giving this erroneous "authorization" may bear some responsibility if the fire gets out of control. The changes in 30 T.A.C 111(b) currently underway will probably further confuse the role of firefighters;
  
• The local environmental enforcement officer's boss, for instance, a county commissioner, may want to allow burning in his or her precinct, regardless of what state criminal statutes may require. Burn barrels are a political problem in many parts of our state. Moreover, we are unaware of a commissioner in rural Texas ever having successfully run on a platform of "Ban all burn barrels!" One of the sad lessons that I have learned over the years is that not all elected officials will follow Texas civil and even criminal laws if they don't agree with them. This is not the point that Mr. Carter was making in civics class back at W.H. Adamson High School in Oak Cliff forty-five years ago. He assumed that elected officials would do their level best to follow all Texas laws, once they knew what the law was, even if they personally disagreed with the particular law in question. This turns out not to always be true, especially around election time every four years;
  
• Sometimes local citizens want to burn waste in the community where they live, so they just do so; and,
  
• Sometimes you just decide you want to burn all that trash, especially on a cool Fall night, in East Texas, on a weekend.

Having discussed with many elected officials how local burning policy is set in communities across the state, we have seen the above factors recur again and again, with different emphasis. Consequently, it is not always a simple process for a community to decide what its outdoor burning enforcement policy should be.

To that end, we suggest the following interim policy to be followed while you are discussing your log-term approach. Suggested local burning policy

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