Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 12 - COAL MINING REGULATIONS › Subchapter K - PERMANENT PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS › Division 2 - PERMANENT PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS - SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES › Section 12.335 - Topsoil: Removal

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Timing. Topsoil
					 shall be removed after vegetative cover that would interfere with the use of
					 the topsoil is cleared from the areas to be disturbed, but before any drilling,
					 blasting, mining, or other surface disturbance.
(b) Materials to be removed. All topsoil
					 shall be removed in a separate layer from the areas to be disturbed, unless use
					 of substitute or supplemental materials is approved by the Commission in
					 accordance with subsection (e) of this section. If use of substitute or
					 supplemental materials is approved, all materials to be redistributed shall be
					 removed.
(c) Materials to be
					 removed in thin topsoil situations. If the topsoil is less than six inches, a
					 six-inch layer that includes the A horizon and the unconsolidated materials
					 immediately below the A horizon or the A horizon and all unconsolidated
					 material if the total available is less than six inches, shall be removed and
					 the mixture segregated and redistributed as the surface soil layer, unless
					 topsoil substitutes are approved by the Commission pursuant to subsection (e)
					 of this section.
(d) Subsoil
					 segregation. The B horizon and portions of the C horizon, or other underlying
					 layers demonstrated to have qualities for comparable root development shall be
					 segregated and replaced as subsoil, if the Commission determines that either of
					 these is necessary or desirable to ensure soil productivity consistent with the
					 approved postmining land use.
(e)
					 Topsoil substitutes and supplements.
(1)
					 Selected overburden materials may be substituted for or used as a supplement to
					 topsoil, if the Commission determines that the resulting soil medium is equal
					 to or more suitable for sustaining revegetation than is the available topsoil
					 and the substitute material is the best available to support revegetation. This
					 determination shall be based on the results of chemical and physical analyses
					 of overburden and topsoil. These analyses shall include determinations of pH,
					 net acidity or alkalinity, phosphorus, potassium, texture class, and other
					 analyses as required by the Commission. The Commission may also require that
					 results of field-site trials or greenhouse tests be used to demonstrate the
					 feasibility of using these overburden materials.
(2) Results of analyses, trials, and tests
					 shall be submitted to the Commission. Certification of trials and tests shall
					 be made by a laboratory approved by the Commission stating that:
(A) the proposed substitute material is equal
					 to or more suitable for sustaining the vegetation than is the available
					 topsoil;
(B) the substitute
					 material is the best available material to support the vegetation;
					 and
(C) the trials and tests were
					 conducted using standard testing procedures.
(3) Substituted or supplemental material
					 shall be removed, segregated, and replaced in compliance with the requirements
					 for topsoil under this section.