Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 12 - COAL MINING REGULATIONS › Subchapter G - SURFACE COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION OPERATIONS, PERMITS, AND COAL EXPLORATION PROCEDURES SYSTEMS › Division 10 - REQUIREMENTS FOR PERMITS FOR SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF MINING › Section 12.202 - Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Operations on Areas or Adjacent to Areas Including Alluvial Valley Floors in the Arid or Semiarid Areas West of the 100th Meridian

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Alluvial
					 valley floor determination.
(1) Before
					 applying for a permit to conduct, or before conducting surface coal mining and
					 reclamation operations within a valley holding a stream or in a location where
					 the adjacent area includes any stream in the arid or semiarid regions of the
					 United States, the applicant shall either affirmatively demonstrate, based on
					 available data, the presence of an alluvial valley floor, or submit to the
					 Commission the results of a field investigation of the proposed permit area and
					 adjacent area. The field investigations shall include sufficiently detailed
					 geologic, hydrologic, land-use, soils, and vegetation studies on areas required
					 to be investigated by the Commission, after consultation with the applicant, to
					 enable the Commission to make an evaluation regarding the existence of the
					 probable alluvial valley floor in the proposed permit area or adjacent area and
					 to determine which areas, if any, require more detailed study in order to allow
					 the Commission to make a final determination regarding the existence of an
					 alluvial valley floor. Studies performed during the investigation by the
					 applicant or subsequent studies as required of the applicant by the Commission,
					 shall include an appropriate combination, adapted to site-specific conditions,
					 of:
(A) mapping of unconsolidated stream-laid
					 deposits holding streams including, but not limited to, geologic maps of
					 unconsolidated deposits and stream-laid deposits, maps of stream delineation of
					 surface watersheds and directions of shallow ground-water flows through and
					 into the unconsolidated deposits, topography showing local and regional terrace
					 levels, and topography of terraces, flood plains and channels showing surface
					 drainage patterns;
(B) mapping of
					 all lands included in the area in accordance with this paragraph and subject to
					 agricultural activities, showing the area in which different types of
					 agricultural lands, such as flood irrigated lands, pasture lands and
					 undeveloped rangelands, exist, and accompanied by measurements of vegetation in
					 terms of productivity and type;
(C)
					 mapping of all lands that are currently or were historically flood irrigated,
					 showing the location of each diversion structure, ditch, dam and related
					 reservoir, irrigated land, and topography of those lands;
(D) documentation that areas identified in
					 this paragraph are, or are not, subirrigated, based on ground-water monitoring
					 data, representative water-quality soil-moisture measurements, and measurements
					 of rooting depth, soil mottling, and water requirements of
					 vegetation;
(E) documentation,
					 based on representative sampling, that areas identified under this paragraph
					 are, or are not, flood irrigable, based on streamflow, water quality, water
					 yield, soil measurements, and topographic characteristics; and
(F) analysis of a series of aerial
					 photographs, including color infrared imagery flown at a time of year to show
					 any late summer and fall differences between upland and valley floor vegetative
					 growth and of a scale adequate for reconnaissance identification of areas that
					 may be alluvial valley floors.