Transforming the Land: RRC’s Extensive Requirements for Mine Reclamation

For many workers, the typical workday includes time in an office, a cubicle, a conference room or another similar but limited configuration.

Tools of the RRC Surface Mine Inspector

Inspecting hundreds and often thousands of acres is an intensive job. Tools that RRC’s inspectors utilize include: • 4x4 Truck • Polaris Ranger Utility Terrain Vehicle • GPS Equipment • DJI Enterprise Unmanned Aerial System (aka Drone) • PH meter • Electrical Conductivity Meter • Turbidity Meter • Geiger Counter • Survey Equipment • Digital Camera • ArcGIS • Global Mapper • AutoCAD • Water/Soil Sampling Equipment • Binoculars • Topographical Maps • A Sharp Eye • Empirical Knowledge For RRC Surface Mine Inspector Cade Harris, it is difficult to relate the scope of his job. “Some surface mine permits can range in size from 30,000 to 40,000 acres, which require multiple days of in-depth inspection,” he said. “Each permit must be inspected unannounced monthly, making turnaround time for inspection reports rather short and requires immense flexibility.” And, as his job is often outdoors, the weather dictates when Harris and other mine inspectors can be at a site. But work does not stop when mining ceases.

When Luminant stopped harvesting lignite from its 16,000-acre Three Oaks Mine near Elgin east of Austin in 2018, it still faced years of work to return the land to beneficial use. “Texas coal mining regulations require lands disturbed due to mining-related activities be reclaimed to a state equal to or better than before the mine,” said Harris, who has been working at the Luminant mine.

Three Oaks, which received its RRC permit in 2003 and supplied about 6.2 million tons of lignite per year for electric power generation at the Sandow Power Plant in Rockdale, is being transformed into pastureland,

fish and wildlife habitat, developed water resources and prime farmland. But before it is returned to the beneficial uses, the operator has multiple steps to go through. In order to ensure the protection of public safety and the environment, surface and groundwater quality monitoring begins even before mining starts and continues until the mine is fully reclaimed and approved by RRC. Oxidized overburden and other unsuitable soils are covered with a minimum of four feet of soil that meets RRC requirements for soil chemistry and texture. An appropriate groundcover of approved native and/or improved species is then planted. These performance standards must be met before and/or during a five-year extended responsibility period before the operator can apply for final release of reclamation liability. Each mine is required to have sufficient bonding coverage to ensure reclamation costs can be covered if an operator defaults on reclamation obligations. “Although it is not unheard of for companies to default on bonds in other regions of the country,” Harris said, “no mine has had to enter bond forfeiture in Texas since the inception of our program in 1981.” Surface coal mine reclamation is based upon a three-tiered, incentive system. As the mine operator completes each phase for specific pieces of property, it applies to the RRC to have a proportionate amount of its bond security returned. These include: • Phase I: Requires a demonstration that backfilling, regrading and drainage control have been completed in accordance with the approved reclamation plan and the applicable performance standards contained in regulations. • Phase II: Requires that vegetation be established on regraded, mined lands in accordance with the approved reclamation plan and that applicable ground cover performance standards have been met.

Additionally, it requires that lands are not contributing suspended solids to stream flow outside the permitted area in excess of the regulatory limits. • Phase III: Requires that the operator demonstrate successful completion of all surface coal mining and reclamation activities and that applicable vegetation productivity performance standards have been met. The RRC may release the remaining portion of the bond but not before the completion of the five-year extended responsibility period. No bond shall be fully released until all reclamation requirements are fully met.

Transforming the Land: continued

A combined 818.28 acres have received Phase I release, and another 17.3 acres have also received final Phase III release.

As an inspector, Harris makes sure reclamation plans are followed and that offsite locations are not impacted. When the Earth has healed and is green once again, Harris knows his job is done. On June 16, 2020, RRC allowed 225.8 acres of previously mined Three Oaks land to receive final release of reclamation liability. All other mined areas of Three Oaks are in some degree of reclamation, including final grading, revegetation, extended responsibility period and phased release of reclamation liability. Highwalls have been eliminated in two of their three mining areas within the permit.