Texas Administrative Code
Title 31 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION
Part 1 - GENERAL LAND OFFICE
Chapter 26 - COASTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Subchapter A - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 26.3 - Definitions and Abbreviations

(1) Agency or subdivision--Any state agency, department, board, or commission or political subdivision of the state.

(2) Adverse effects or adversely affect--Effects that result in the physical destruction or detrimental alteration of a CNRA. Such detrimental alterations are:

(3) Avoid and otherwise minimize--To avoid adverse effects to the greatest extent practicable. Adverse effects that cannot be avoided must then be minimized to the greatest extent practicable.

(4) Coastal Coordination Act--Texas Natural Resources Code, Chapter 33, Subchapter F.

(5) Coastal zone--The area within the boundary established in §27.1 of this title (relating to Coastal Management Program Boundary).

(6) CMP coordinator--The GLO Coastal Resources staff member designated by the commissioner.

(7) Coastal hazard areas--Special hazard areas and critical erosion areas.

(8) Coastal natural resource area (CNRA)--Any area defined in Texas Natural Resources Code, § 33.203(1) that is located within the coastal zone.

(9) Coastal waters--Waters under tidal influence and waters in the open Gulf of Mexico.

(10) Commissioner--Commissioner of the GLO.

(11) Committee--Coastal Coordination Advisory Committee.

(12) Critical areas--A coastal wetland, an oyster reef, a hard substrate reef, submerged aquatic vegetation, or a tidal sand or mud flat.

(13) Cumulative adverse effects--Adverse effects increasing in significance due to the collective effects of a number of actions.

(14) Pollutant--Any constituent that contaminates or alters the physical, thermal, chemical, or biological quality of any CNRA so as to be harmful, detrimental, or injurious to humans, animal life, vegetation, or property or to the public health, safety, or welfare or that impairs the usefulness or the public enjoyment of CNRAs for any lawful purpose.

(15) Practicable--Available and capable of being done after taking into consideration existing technology, cost, and logistics in light of the overall purpose of the activity.

(16) Public beach--Any public beach as defined in Chapter 61 of the Texas Natural Resources Code., §61.013(c).

(17) Secondary adverse effects--Adverse effects which would result from a proposed action and cause significant modifications or alterations to the physical or chemical characteristics of coastal natural resource areas beyond the limit of the immediate project area.

(18) Water-dependent use or facility--An activity or facility that must be located in coastal waters or on submerged lands or that must have direct access to coastal waters in order to serve its basic purpose and function. Facilities that are water-dependent include, but are not limited to, public beach use and access facilities, boat slips, docks, breakwaters, marinas, wharves and other vessel loading or off-loading facilities, utility easements, boat ramps, navigation channels and basins, bridges and bridge approaches, revetments, shoreline protection structures, culverts, groins, saltwater barriers, navigational aids, mooring pilings, simple access channels, fish processing plants, boat construction and repair facilities, offshore pipelines and constructed wetlands below mean high water. Activities that are water-dependent include, but are not limited to, marine recreation (fishing, swimming, boating, wildlife viewing), industrial uses dependent on marine transportation or requiring large volumes of water that cannot be obtained at inland sites, mariculture, exploration for and production of oil and gas under coastal waters or submerged lands, and certain meteorological and oceanographic activities.

(1) Coastal barrier--An undeveloped area on a barrier island, peninsula, or other protected area, as designated by United States Fish and Wildlife Service maps.

(2) Coastal historic area--A site that is specially identified in rules adopted by the Texas Historical Commission as being coastal in character and that is:

(3) Coastal preserve--Any land, including a park or wildlife management area, that is owned by the state and that is subject to Chapter 26, Parks and Wildlife Code, because it is a park, recreation area, scientific area, wildlife refuge, or historic site; and designated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission as being coastal in character.

(4) Coastal shore area--An area within 100 feet landward of the high water mark on submerged land.

(5) Coastal wetlands--Wetlands, as the term is defined by Texas Water Code, § 11.502, located:

(6) Critical dune area--A protected sand dune complex on the Gulf shoreline within 1,000 feet of mean high tide designated by the land commissioner under Texas Natural Resource Code, §63.121.

(7) Critical erosion area--Has the meaning assigned to the term "critical coastal erosion area" by Texas Natural Resources Code, § 33.601(4).

(8) Gulf beach--A beach bordering the Gulf of Mexico that is:

(9) Hard substrate reef--A naturally occurring hard substrate formation, including a rock outcrop or serpulid worm reef, living or dead, in an intertidal or subtidal area.

(10) Oyster reef--A natural or artificial formation that is:

(11) Special hazard area--An area designated under 42 United States Code Annotated, §4001 et seq, as having special flood, mudslide or mudflow, or flood-related erosion hazards and shown on a Flood Hazard Boundary Map or Flood Insurance Rate Map as Zone A, AO, A1-30, AE, A99, AH, VO, V1-30, VE, V, M, or E.

(12) Submerged land--Land located under waters under tidal influence or under waters of the open Gulf of Mexico, without regard to whether the land is owned by the state or a person other than the state.

(13) Submerged aquatic vegetation--Rooted aquatic vegetation growing in permanently inundated areas in estuarine and marine systems.

(14) Tidal sand or mud flat--A silt, clay, or sand substrate, without regard to whether it is vegetated by algal mats, that occur in intertidal areas and that are regularly or intermittently exposed and flooded by tides, including tides induced by weather.

(15) Water of the open Gulf of Mexico--Water in this state, as defined by Texas Water Code, § 26.001(5), that is part of the open water of the Gulf of Mexico and that is within the territorial limits of the state.

(16) Water under tidal influence--Water in this state, as defined by Texas Water Code, § 26.001(5), that is subject to tidal influence according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality stream segment map. The term includes coastal wetlands.

(1) GLO--General Land Office;

(2) PUC--Public Utility Commission;

(3) RRC--Railroad Commission of Texas;

(4) Sea Grant--Texas Sea Grant College Program;

(5) SLB--School Land Board;

(6) THC--Texas Historical Commission;

(7) TCEQ--Texas Commission on Environmental Quality;

(8) TPWD--Texas Parks and Wildlife Department;

(9) TSSWCB--Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board;

(10) TWDB--Texas Water Development Board; and

(11) TxDOT--Texas Department of Transportation.