Sec. 134.005.  EXEMPTIONS.  (a)  This chapter does not apply to the extraction of coal:
(1)  by a landowner for the landowner's own noncommercial use from land owned or leased by the landowner;  or
(2)  incidental to federal, state, or local government-financed highway or other construction under commission rules.
(b)  Subsection (a)(1) does not exempt the noncommercial production of coal by in situ distillation or retorting, leaching, or another chemical or physical process or preparation.
(c)  This chapter does not apply to surface coal mining and reclamation operations in existence before August 3, 1977.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 12.02(a), eff. Sept. 1, 1995;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 25.01(b), eff. Sept. 1, 1997.