Texas has great state criminal laws prohibiting illegal dumping. Like all criminal laws, the primary responsibility for enforcing these falls to the city or county in which the crime is committed. Occasionally, on really big cases, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (Special Investigations) will provide officers to work with local law enforcement, or even to investigate the case themselves. Through intervention of the T.C.E.Q., these major cases may be prosecuted by the state or referred to the Texas Environmental Crimes Task Force for joint state/federal attention. The T.C.E.Q.'s Special Investigations staff also get involved in major "dump for money" schemes where the illegal dumping is part of an organized criminal business activity.

Consequently, the bulk of illegal dumping enforcement will come from local law enforcement officers.

Current state laws set misdemeanor and felony penalties for illegal dumping onto land, into water, or emitting waste into the air. The links below lead to full copies of the law from outside sources and to a chart of current penalties. Please note that copies of the law from online sites may not reflect the most recent changes enacted by the State Legislature.

State Laws Are Not Municipal Ordinances
Texas criminal laws are not to be confused with municipal ordinances, which are (1) civil rather than criminal enforcement (i.e., nobody goes to jail for violating a municipal ordinance); (2) establish small civil penalties payable to the city for ordinance violation (i.e., generally a $500 fine, possibly rising to $2,000 in really bad health-threatening circumstances); (3) handled in Municipal Courts (as opposed to violations of state criminal laws which are handled in County and District Courts); and, (4) only applicable within the limits of the city passing the ordinance. Texas state criminal laws are (1) applicable everywhere, on both public and private property; (2) already in force throughout the state without needing to be adopted by a municipality or county; and, (3) except for a few circumstances, only enforceable by sworn law enforcement officers of the state.

Laws Seeking to Abate the Problem
Some Texas criminal anti-dumping laws are "ordinance like" in that they attempt to deal with the health issues involved and get the dumped material cleaned-up. For primary enforcement purposes, the two major laws in this category are (1) Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 341 Minimum Standards of Sanitation and Health Protection Measures, and (2) Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 343 Abatement of Public Nuisances. Like all criminal laws, these two are enforceable by any sworn law enforcement officer in the state. Additionally, like all criminal laws in the Texas Health & Safety Code, these are also enforceable at the "Class C - issue a citation" level by Health Department Officers (county and state). The real difference between these two is that H&S 341 is applicable everywhere in Texas, but H&S 343 is applicable only in the unincorporated areas of the county, outside the city limit. In each case, an individual is given a chance to abate the health nuisance he or she has created before small criminal penalties are imposed. What makes these two laws effective is not the level of penalty, but the fact that each day of an ongoing situation constitutes a separate penalty.

Laws Seeking to Arrest the Dumper
The other two criminal environmental laws to learn -- there are only four of real importance, in our opinion -- focus on arresting and prosecuting the violator for his or her criminal behavior. In each case, the judge will probably also order the abatement of the dumper materials, but as a part of the criminal sentence. Tow laws are of interest in this category: (1) Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 365 The Texas Litter Abatement Act, and (2) Texas Water Code Chapter 7 Enforcement. The Texas Litter Abatement Act sets penalties from a Class C Misdemeanor (fines of up to $500 and no jail time) to a State Jail Felony (fines of up to $10,000 and state jail time of up to two years). The first of these -- Health & Safety Code Chapter 365 -- is most frequently used by local officers to control illegal dumping. Penalties are based on (1) the weight or volume of the materials dumped and (2) the purpose (i.e., for the purpose of economic gain or non-commercially). Texas Water Code Chapter 7 is a very useful statute in that it lays out the process to be followed in civil, administrative and criminal environmental enforcement in Texas. Its Subchapter E also contains the violations and penalties for dumping beyond those cases covered by the Texas Litter Abatement Act (i.e., dumping into or adjacent to water, and the dumping of medical waste, hazardous waste used motor oil, lead acid batteries, etc.). It's Section 7.177 Violations of the Clean Air Act also sets the criminal penalties that result from breaking the Texas Outdoor Burning rule (30 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 111(b).