By: Hegar S.B. No. 1295
(Beck)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the mining and reclamation of certain land previously
affected by surface coal mining operations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 134.004, Natural Resources Code, is
amended by adding Subdivision (15-a) to read as follows:
(15-a) "Previously mined land" means land that:
(A) was affected by surface coal mining
operations occurring before August 3, 1977; and
(B) has not been reclaimed in accordance with
this chapter.
SECTION 2. Section 134.069, Natural Resources Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) Notwithstanding Subsections (a) and (b), the commission
may not deny an applicant's permit application based on a previous
violation by the applicant that occurred in connection with a
surface coal mining operation conducted on previously mined land if
the violation resulted from an event or condition that was not
contemplated in the permit for the surface coal mining operation.
SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 134.092, Natural
Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Performance standards for surface coal mining and
reclamation operations shall require an operator:
(1) to conduct surface coal mining operations to
maximize the use and conservation of the solid fuel resource being
recovered so that reaffecting the land in the future through
surface coal mining can be minimized;
(2) to restore the land affected to a condition
capable of supporting the uses that it could support before mining
or reasonably likely higher or better uses if:
(A) the uses do not present an actual or probable
hazard to public health or safety or pose an actual or probable
threat of water diminution or pollution; and
(B) the permit applicant's declared proposed
land use following reclamation:
(i) is not considered impractical or
unreasonable;
(ii) is not inconsistent with applicable
land use policies and plans;
(iii) does not involve unreasonable delay
in implementation; and
(iv) does not violate federal, state, or
local law;
(3) except as provided by Sections 134.093(b),
134.094(b), and 134.107, to backfill, compact where advisable to
ensure stability or to prevent leaching of toxic materials, and
grade to restore the approximate original contour of the land with
all highwalls, spoil piles, and depressions eliminated, unless
small depressions are needed to retain moisture to assist
revegetation or as otherwise authorized under this chapter;
(4) to stabilize and protect the surface areas,
including spoil piles affected by the surface coal mining and
reclamation operation, for effective control of erosion and
attendant air and water pollution;
(5) to remove the topsoil from the land in a separate
layer and replace it on the backfill area or, if the topsoil is not
used immediately, to segregate it in a separate pile from other
spoil;
(6) to restore the topsoil or the best available
subsoil that is best able to support vegetation;
(7) for prime farmland to be mined and reclaimed, at a
minimum:
(A) to segregate the A horizon of the natural
soil, unless it can be shown that other available soil materials
will create a final soil having a greater productive capacity, and,
if this material is not used immediately, to stockpile it
separately from other spoil and provide needed protection from wind
and water erosion or contamination by other acid or toxic
materials;
(B) to segregate the B horizon of the natural
soil, underlying C horizons or other strata, or a combination of
those horizons or other strata that are shown to be texturally and
chemically suitable for plant growth and that can be shown to be
equally or more favorable for plant growth than the B horizon, in
sufficient quantities to create in the regraded final soil a root
zone of a depth and quality comparable to that which existed in the
natural soil and, if this material is not used immediately, to
stockpile it separately from other spoil and provide needed
protection from wind and water erosion or contamination by other
acid or toxic material;
(C) to replace and regrade the root zone material
described by Subdivision (7)(B) with proper compaction and uniform
depth over the regraded spoil material; and
(D) to redistribute and grade uniformly the
surface soil horizon described by Subdivision (7)(A);
(8) to create a permanent impoundment of water on a
mining site as part of a reclamation activity if:
(A) the approved mining and reclamation plan and
permit authorize impoundment; and
(B) it is adequately demonstrated that:
(i) the size of the impoundment is adequate
for its intended purposes;
(ii) the impoundment dam construction will
be designed to achieve necessary stability with an adequate margin
of safety compatible with that of structures constructed under the
Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (16 U.S.C. Section
1001 et seq.);
(iii) the quality of impounded water will
be permanently suitable for its intended use;
(iv) discharges from the impoundment will
not degrade the water quality in the receiving stream below water
quality standards established under applicable federal and state
law;
(v) the water level will be reasonably
stable;
(vi) final grading will provide adequate
safety and access for proposed water users; and
(vii) the impoundment will not reduce the
quality or quantity of water used by adjacent or surrounding
landowners for agricultural, industrial, recreational, or domestic
uses;
(9) to conduct any augering operation associated with
surface mining so as to maximize recoverability of coal reserves
remaining after the operation and reclamation are complete and to
seal the auger holes with an impervious and noncombustible material
to prevent drainage unless the commission determines that the
resulting impoundment of water in the auger holes may create a
hazard to the environment or the public health or safety;
(10) to minimize disturbances to the prevailing
hydrologic balance at the mine site in associated offsite areas and
to the quality and quantity of water in surface-water systems and
groundwater systems both during and after surface coal mining
operations and during reclamation by:
(A) avoiding acid or other toxic mine drainage by
measures including:
(i) preventing water from contacting or
removing water from contact with toxic-producing deposits;
(ii) treating drainage to reduce toxic
content that adversely affects downstream water when the drainage
is released to a watercourse; or
(iii) casing, sealing, or otherwise
managing boreholes, shafts, and wells and keeping acid or other
toxic drainage from entering surface water and groundwater;
(B) conducting surface coal mining operations
to:
(i) prevent, to the extent possible using
the best technology currently available, additional contributions
of suspended solids to streamflow or runoff outside the permit
area; and
(ii) prevent those contributions from
exceeding requirements set by applicable state or federal law;
(C) constructing any siltation structures under
Paragraph (B) before beginning surface coal mining operations;
(D) cleaning out and removing temporary or large
settling ponds or other siltation structures from drainways after
disturbed areas are revegetated and stabilized and depositing the
silt and debris at a site and in a manner approved by the
commission;
(E) restoring the recharge capacity of the mined
area to approximate premining conditions;
(F) avoiding channel deepening or enlargement in
operations requiring the discharge of water from a mine;
(G) preserving throughout the mining and
reclamation process the essential hydrologic functions of alluvial
valley floors in the arid and semiarid areas of the country; and
(H) performing other actions the commission
prescribes;
(11) with respect to surface disposal of mine wastes,
tailings, coal processing wastes, and other wastes in areas other
than the mine workings or excavations:
(A) to stabilize the waste piles in designated
areas through construction in compacted layers including the use of
incombustible and impervious materials, if necessary; and
(B) to assure that the final contour of the waste
pile will be compatible with natural surroundings and that the site
can and will be stabilized and revegetated according to this
chapter;
(12) to refrain from surface coal mining within 500
feet of an active or abandoned underground mine to prevent a
breakthrough and to protect the health or safety of miners;
(13) to design, locate, construct, operate, maintain,
enlarge, modify, and remove or abandon, in accordance with the
standards developed under commission rule, existing and new coal
mine waste piles used temporarily or permanently as dams or
embankments;
(14) to ensure that debris, acid-forming materials,
toxic materials, or materials constituting a fire hazard are
treated, buried and compacted, or otherwise disposed of in a manner
designed to prevent contamination of surface water or groundwater
and that contingency plans are developed to prevent sustained
combustion;
(15) to ensure that explosives are used in accordance
with state and federal law, including commission rules;
(16) to ensure that reclamation efforts proceed in an
environmentally sound manner and as contemporaneously as
practicable with the surface coal mining operations;
(17) to ensure that the construction, maintenance, and
postmining conditions of access roads into and across the site of
operations will control or prevent:
(A) erosion and siltation;
(B) water pollution; and
(C) damage to:
(i) fish or wildlife or their habitat; or
(ii) public or private property;
(18) to refrain from constructing roads or other
access ways up a stream bed or drainage channel or so near the
channel as to seriously alter the normal flow of water;
(19) to establish on regraded areas and other affected
land a diverse, effective, and permanent vegetative cover:
(A) of the seasonal variety native to the area of
land to be affected;
(B) capable of self-regeneration and plant
succession; and
(C) at least equal in extent of cover to the
natural vegetation of the area;
(20) to assume responsibility for successful
revegetation as required by Subdivision (19) for:
(A) five years after the last year of augmented
seeding, fertilizing, irrigation, or other work in order to assure
compliance with that subdivision, if the land is not previously
mined land; or
(B) two years after the last year of augmented
seeding, fertilizing, irrigation, or other work in order to assure
compliance with that subdivision, if the land is previously mined
land [subsection];
(21) to protect off-site areas from slides or damage
occurring during the surface coal mining and reclamation operations
and to refrain from depositing spoil material or locating any part
of the operations or waste accumulations outside the permit area;
(22) to place the excess spoil material resulting from
surface coal mining and reclamation activities in accordance with
Section 134.106;
(23) to meet other standards necessary to achieve
reclamation in accordance with the purposes of this chapter,
considering the physical, climatological, and other
characteristics of the site;
(24) to the extent possible, using the best technology
currently available, to minimize disturbance and adverse impacts of
the operation on fish, wildlife, and related environmental values
and to enhance those resources where practicable; and
(25) to provide an undisturbed natural barrier
beginning at the elevation of the lowest coal seam to be mined and
extending from the outslope for the distance the commission
determines shall be retained in place as a barrier to slides and
erosion.
SECTION 4. Section 134.104, Natural Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 134.104. RESPONSIBILITY FOR REVEGETATION: AREA OF LOW
PRECIPITATION. Notwithstanding Section 134.092(a)(20), in areas
or regions of the state where the annual average precipitation is 26
inches or less, an operator's assumption of responsibility and
liability extends for:
(1) 10 years after the last year of augmented seeding,
fertilizing, irrigation, or other work, if the land is not
previously mined land; or
(2) five years after the last year of augmented
seeding, fertilizing, irrigation, or other work, if the land is
previously mined land.
SECTION 5. Subsection (a), Section 134.105, Natural
Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The applicable [five-year or 10-year] period of
responsibility for revegetation begins on the date of initial
planting for long-term intensive agricultural postmining land use
if the commission approves a long-term intensive agricultural
postmining land use.
SECTION 6. Subsection (c), Section 134.069, Natural
Resources Code, as added by this Act, applies to a permit
application that is filed with the Railroad Commission of Texas on
or after the effective date of this Act or that is pending as of the
effective date of this Act.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.