Texas Administrative Code

(a) An applicant for a permit to conduct surface coal mining operations on lands eligible for remining must comply with this section. (b) The application shall be made according to all requirements of this subchapter applicable to surface coal mining and reclamation operations an…

(a) An applicant for a permit shall place an advertisement in a local newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the proposed surface coal mining and reclamation operations at least once a week for four consecutive weeks. The applicant shall place the advertisement in th…

(a) Written comments on permit applications may be submitted to the Commission by the public entities to whom notification is provided under §§ 12.207 (b) and (c) of this title (relating to Public Notices of Filing of Permit Applications) with respect to the effects of the propos…

(a) Each permit shall be issued for a fixed term not to exceed 5 years. A longer fixed permit term may be granted, if: (1) the application is full and complete for the specified longer term; and (2) the applicant shows that a specified longer term is reasonably needed to allow th…

Any person extracting coal incident to a government-financed highway or other construction who extracts more than 250 tons of coal shall maintain, on the site of the extraction operation and available for inspection, documents which show: (1) a description of the construction pro…

(a) Except to the extent that the Commission otherwise directs in the permit that specific actions be taken, the permittee shall conduct all surface coal mining and reclamation operations as described in the complete application. (b) The permittee shall allow the authorized repre…

(a) The permittee shall take all possible steps to minimize any adverse impact to the environment or public health and safety resulting from noncompliance with any term or condition of the permit; including, but not limited to: (1) any accelerated or additional monitoring necessa…

(a) The Commission shall, upon the basis of a complete application for renewal and completion of all procedures required under §§ 12.228 and 12.229 of this title (relating to Permit Renewals: Completed Applications, and to Permit Renewals: Terms), issue a renewal of a permit, unl…

No transfer, assignment, or sale of the rights granted under any permit issued pursuant to the regulatory program shall be made without the prior written approval of the Commission in accordance with this section and §§ 12.232 and 12.233 of this title (relating to Transfer, Assig…

(a) Any person seeking to succeed by transfer, assignment, or sale to the rights granted by a permit issued under a regulatory program shall, prior to the date of such transfer, assignment or sale: (1) obtain the performance bond coverage of the original permittee by: (A) obtaini…

(a) A successor in interest to a permittee who is able to obtain the bond coverage of the original permittee may continue surface coal mining and reclamation operations according to the approved mining and reclamation plan and permit of the original permittee. (b) Pursuant to § 1…

(a) Challenges to ownership and control information. (1) Applicability. An applicant or operator may challenge a listing or finding of ownership or control using the provisions under paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection if the challenger is: (A) listed in a permit applicatio…

(a) No abatement or appeal. If a notice of proposed individual civil penalty assessment becomes a final order in the absence of a petition for review or abatement agreement, the penalty shall be due upon issuance of the final order. (b) Requests for appeal. If an individual named…

(a) The purpose of this section and §§ 12.702 - 12.710 of this title (relating to Training, Examination, and Certification of Blasters) is to provide procedures for the training, examination, and certification of blasters for mining operations regulated by the Commission. (b) The…

(a) General. All affected areas shall be restored in a timely manner: (1) to conditions that are capable of supporting the uses which they were capable of supporting before any mining; or (2) to higher or better uses achievable under criteria and procedures of this section. (b) D…

Any person may petition the Commission to initiate a proceeding for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of any regulation. The petition shall be submitted in accordance with § 1.301 of this title, relating to Petition for Adoption of Rules, and the APA. Notes 16 Tex. Admin. Code §…

(a) Road classification system. (1) Each road, as defined in § 12.3 of this title (relating to Definitions), shall be classified as either a primary road or an ancillary road. (2) A primary road is any road which is: (A) used for transporting coal or spoil; (B) frequently used fo…

Primary roads shall meet the requirements of § 12.400 of this title (relating to Roads: General) and the additional requirements of this section. (1) Certification. The construction or reconstruction of primary roads shall be certified in a report to the Commission by a qualified…

All surface coal mining operations shall be conducted in a manner which minimizes damage, destruction, or disruption of services provided by oil, gas, and water wells; oil, gas, and coal-slurry pipelines; railroads; electric and telephone lines; and water and sewage lines which p…

(a) Support facilities shall be operated in accordance with a permit issued for the mine or coal preparation operation to which it is incident or from which its operation results. (b) In addition to the other provisions of §§ 12.330 - 12.402 of this title (relating to Permanent P…

(a) Underground mining activities shall be planned and conducted to minimize disturbance of the hydrologic balance within the permit and adjacent areas, to prevent material damages to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area, to assure the protection or replacement of water…

Discharge of water from areas disturbed by underground mining activities shall be made in compliance with all applicable state and federal water-quality laws and regulations and with the effluent limitations for coal mining promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency …

(a) General Requirements. (1) With the approval of the Commission, any flow from mined areas abandoned before May 3, 1978, and any flow from undisturbed areas or reclaimed areas, after meeting the criteria of § 12.514 of this title (relating to Hydrologic Balance: Siltation Struc…

(a) Appropriate sediment control measures shall be designed, constructed, and maintained using the best technology currently available to: (1) prevent, to the extent possible, additional contributions of sediment to streamflow or to runoff outside the permit area; (2) meet the mo…

(a) Scope. For the purposes of this section only, disturbed areas shall not include those areas: (1) in which the only underground mining activities include diversion ditches, siltation structures, or roads that are designed, constructed and maintained in accordance with §§12.500…

Discharge from sedimentation ponds, permanent and temporary impoundments, coal processing waste dams and embankments and diversions shall be controlled by energy dissipators, riprap channels, and other devices, where necessary, to reduce erosion to prevent deepening or enlargemen…

(a) At least 30 days before initiation of a blasting program, the operator shall notify, in writing, all residents or owners of dwellings or other structures located within 1/2 mile of any part of the permit area regarding how to request a pre-blasting survey. The request shall b…

(a) General requirements. (1) Blasting shall be conducted in a manner that will prevent injury to persons, damage to public or private property outside the permit area, adverse impacts on any underground mine, and change in the course, channel, or availability of ground or surfac…

The operator shall retain a record of each blast, including seismograph reports, which shall be retained for at least three years and which shall be available for inspection by the Commission and the public on request. The record shall contain the following data: (1) name of the …

(a) Underground development waste and spoil not required to achieve the approximate original contour and which is not used as backfill shall be hauled or conveyed to and placed in designated disposal areas within a permit area if the disposal areas are authorized for such purpose…

(a) Valley fills shall meet all of the requirements of § 12.531 of this title (relating to Disposal of Underground Development Waste and Excess Spoil: General Requirements) and the additional requirements of this section. (b) The fill shall be designed to attain a long-term stati…

Disposal of underground development waste and excess spoil in the head-of-hollow fill shall meet all standards set forth in § 12.531 and § 12.532 of this title (relating to Disposal of Underground Development Waste and Excess Spoil: General Requirements, and to Disposal of Underg…

(a) In lieu of the requirements of § 12.532 and § 12.533 of this title (relating to Disposal of Underground Development Waste and Excess Spoil: Valley Fills, and to Disposal of Underground Development Waste and Excess Spoil: Head-of-Hollow Fills), the Commission may approve alter…

(a) All coal mine waste shall be hauled or conveyed and placed in new and existing disposal areas approved by the Commission for this purpose. These areas shall be within a permit area. The disposal area shall be designed, constructed and maintained: (1) in accordance with § 12.5…

Coal mine waste may be returned to underground mine workings only in accordance with the waste disposal program approved by the Commission and MSHA under § 12.193 of this title (relating to Underground Development Waste/Return of Coal Processing Waste to Abandoned Underground Wor…

(a) Noncoal wastes including, but not limited to, grease, lubricants, paints, flammable liquids, garbage, abandoned mining machinery, timber and other combustibles generated during underground mining activities, shall be placed and stored in a controlled manner in a designated po…

(a) This section, and § 12.544 and § 12.545 of this title (relating to Coal Mine Waste: Dams and Embankments: Site Preparation, and to Coal Mine Waste: Dams and Embankments: Design and Construction) apply to dams and embankments constructed of coal mine waste or intended to impou…

Before coal mine waste is placed at a dam or embankment site: (1) all trees, shrubs, grasses, and other organic material shall be cleared and grubbed from the site, and all combustibles shall be removed and stockpiled in accordance with the requirements of §§12.500-12.543, this s…

(a) The design of each dam and embankment constructed of coal mine waste or intended to impound such waste shall comply with the requirements of § 12.517 (a) and (c) of this title (relating to Hydrologic Balance: Permanent and Temporary Impoundments), modified as follows: (1) the…

(a) Any person conducting underground mining activities shall, to the extent possible using the best technology currently available, minimize the disturbances and adverse impacts of the activities on fish, wildlife, and related environmental values, and achieve enhancement of suc…

(a) All exposed surface areas shall be protected and stabilized to effectively control erosion and air pollution attendant to erosion. (b) Rills and gullies which form in areas that have been regraded and topsoiled and which either disrupt the approved postmining land use or the …

(a) The permittee shall establish on regraded areas and on all other disturbed areas except water areas and surface areas of roads that are approved as part of the postmining land use, a vegetative cover that is in accordance with the approved permit and reclamation plan and that…

Introduced species may be used if approved by the Commission under the following conditions: (1) after appropriate field trials have demonstrated that the introduced species can establish a diverse, effective, and permanent cover capable of achieving the approved postmining land …

Seeding and planting of disturbed areas shall be conducted during the first normal period for favorable planting conditions after final preparation. The normal period for favorable planting shall be that planting time generally accepted locally for the type of plant materials sel…

(a) Suitable mulch or other soil stabilizing practices shall be used on all regraded and topsoiled areas to control erosion, to promote germination of seeds, or to increase the moisture retention of the soil. The Commission may, on a case-by-case basis, suspend the requirement fo…

(a) Surface coal mining and reclamation operations shall be conducted to preserve, throughout the mining and reclamation process, the essential hydrologic functions of alluvial valley floors not within an affected area. These functions shall be preserved by maintaining those geol…

(a) Surface coal mining and reclamation operations shall not interrupt, discontinue, or preclude farming on alluvial valley floors, unless: (1) the premining land use is undeveloped rangeland which is not significant to farming; or (2) the area of affected alluvial valley floor i…