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 5 - SURFACE MINING PERMIT APPLICATIONS - MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR INFORMATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES
Section 12.138 - Prime Farmland Investigation
Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) The applicant shall conduct a pre-application investigation of the proposed permit area to determine whether lands within the area may be prime farmland.
(b) Land shall not be considered as prime farmland where the applicant can demonstrate one or more of the following:
(c) If the investigation establishes that the lands are not prime farmland, the applicant shall submit with the permit application, a request for a negative determination which shows that the land for which the negative determination is sought meets one of the criteria of subsection (b) of this section.
(d) If the investigation indicates that lands within the proposed permit area may be prime farmland historically used for cropland, the applicant shall contact the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service to determine if a soil survey exists for those lands and whether soil mapping units in the permit area have been designated as prime farmland. If no soil survey has been made for the lands within the proposed permit area, the applicant shall cause such a survey to be made. Soil surveys of the detail used by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service for operational conservation planning shall be used to identify and locate prime farmland soils.