(a) An applicant may file a request to withdraw its application at any time before the proposal for decision is issued.
(b) If the request is to withdraw the application with prejudice, the judge shall remand the application and request to the executive director, who shall enter an order dismissing the application with prejudice.
(c) If the parties agree in writing to the withdrawal of the application without prejudice or if the request to withdraw is filed before parties are named, the judge shall remand the application and request to the executive director, who shall enter an order dismissing the application without prejudice, on the terms agreed to by the parties, or by the applicant, executive director, and public interest counsel if no parties have been named.
(d) If neither subsection (b) nor (c) of this section apply, the judge will forward the application, the request, and a recommendation on the request to the commission.
(e) An applicant is entitled to an order dismissing an application without prejudice if:
  (1) the parties, or the applicant, executive director, and public interest counsel if no parties have been named, agree in writing;
  (2) the applicant reimburses the other parties all expenses, not including attorney's fees, that the other parties have incurred in the permitting process for the subject application; or
  (3) the commission authorizes the dismissal of the application without prejudice.
(f) An application filed before September 1, 2015, for which chief clerk has mailed the executive director's notice of preliminary decision and Notice of a Draft Permit under §39.419 of this title (relating to Notice of Application and Preliminary Decision) that is subsequently withdrawn by the applicant, are governed by the commission's rules as they existed immediately before September 1, 2015, and those rules are continued in effect for that purpose if the application is refiled with the commission and the executive director determines the refiled application is substantially similar to the withdrawn application. For purposes of making this determination, the executive director may consider the following information contained in the withdrawn application and the refiled application:
  (1) the name of the applicant;
  (2) the location or proposed location of the construction, activity, or discharge, to be authorized by the application;
  (3) the air contaminants to be emitted;
  (4) the area to be served by a wastewater treatment facility;
  (5) the volume and nature of the wastewater to be treated by a wastewater treatment facility;
  (6) the volume and type of waste to be disposed;
  (7) changes in methods of treatment or disposal of waste; or
  (8) any other factor the executive director determines is relevant to this determination.

Source Note: The provisions of this §80.25 adopted to be effective June 6, 1996, 21 TexReg 4763; amended to be effective May 15, 1997, 22 TexReg 4000; amended to be effective December 31, 2015, 40 TexReg 9680