Texas

Abandoned Mine Land Program

Agency Railroad Commission of Texas

The Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program of the Railroad Commission of Texas aims to reclaim land and water harmed by mining done before the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, which the program dates August 3, 1977, and to shield the public from what that mining left. The Commission says the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement pays its whole cost from a tax on production at active Texas coal mines. It belongs to the Commission's Surface Mining and Reclamation Division, which also permits coal mining today.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name mine records among its standard record sources. In the parts of Texas where coal was mined, they show whether old workings have been mapped near a property. That is advice for the search, not something the Commission says.

Mines left before 1977 carried no duty to reclaim. The Commission's historical coal mining maps show only sites that were worked and abandoned before the federal act, and the Commission notes that their operators did not have to reclaim them. On the page as read, its count of identified historical coal mine sites is 353; it puts historical coal mining in 40 counties, with mining confirmed at 32 localities across 18 zones.
Underground workings can still give way. The Commission says most Texas coal mining before the 1920s and 1930s was underground, and it warns that old underground workings can collapse decades after mining ended, in ways that generally cannot be predicted, opening sinkholes or hollows that can damage buildings. On a property in a coal mining county, check the maps and look for depressions on the site visit.
The program has reclaimed sites itself. The Commission says reclaiming an abandoned surface mine generally means regrading, burying or treating unfit spoil, controlling erosion and water, and replanting; the unfit spoil is most often acid or naturally radioactive. It says dangerous underground openings are generally sealed with fill, a cap or a gate. As of February 2018, it says, the program had reclaimed abandoned surface mines covering 2,768 acres and closed 426 dangerous underground openings. Ask the program whether it worked on or near the property.
Permitted coal mines have full files. State law has put coal and uranium surface mining under the Commission since 1975, and the Commission says the oldest Texas coal mining records are from the late 1970s. Its surface mining FAQ says the Division holds all the records on coal and lignite mining permits, from the application and its revisions to inspection reports, water and soil reports, and enforcement records, notices of violation among them.
Not every mine needs a state mining permit. The same FAQ says state law does not regulate the mining or reclamation of sand and gravel pits, though TCEQ may regulate one that will affect groundwater or discharge to water or air, and that mining any mineral but coal, lignite and uranium needs no statewide permit, and that whether an iron ore or iron ore gravel mine is regulated turns on the mine's scope. The Commission also notes that TCEQ regulates in situ uranium mining.

Where to look a site up

The Historical Coal Mining in Texas page links three maps: mining regions, fields and sites; mining zones; and coal mining counties. The Mining Regions/Fields and Sites page offers the site map as an image and a PDF, and the sites and general mining zones as GIS files. The Commission says the map gives general information only, is not to be relied on as the official record, and does not replace an investigation of the site.
The Abandoned Mine Land Program page links a PDF of completed Texas AML projects and a data visualization, and gives AML@rrc.texas.gov and 512-939-6046. The historical coal mining page names the Abandoned Mine Land Section at 512-463-6900 and smrdmaps@rrc.texas.gov.
The Texas Coal Mining Online Records page opens the scanned permit applications and correspondence. The Division says it began scanning in 2013, is scanning renewed permits only, and is not yet scanning recently approved permits. Questions go to smrdrecords@rrc.texas.gov.

Getting the file

The surface mining FAQ says that, under 16 Texas Administrative Code sections 12.115, 12.210 and 12.672, the coal mining records are open to public viewing at the Surface Mining and Reclamation Division, William B. Travis Building, 10th floor, 1701 N. Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701, from 8 AM to 5 PM on weekdays. For copies by mail, it says to call the Records Section (512-463-6900) with as precise a description of the request as possible, since many of the documents are very large. A formal request under the Public Information Act goes in writing to open.records@rrc.texas.gov or by the other routes on the Commission's Procedures for Requesting Information page.

Sources

Railroad Commission of Texas pages, read October 15, 2026, no modified date shown: