(a) New municipal solid waste landfill units and lateral expansions shall not be located within 200 feet of a fault that has had displacement in Holocene time unless the owner or operator demonstrates to the executive director that an alternative setback distance of less than 200 feet will prevent damage to the structural integrity of the landfill unit and will be protective of human health and the environment. The owner or operator shall submit the demonstration with a permit application or a permit amendment application.
(b) Applications submitted for the operation of sites located within areas that may be subject to differential subsidence or active geological faulting must include detailed fault studies. When an active fault is known to exist within 1/2 mile of the site, the site must be investigated for unknown faults. Areas experiencing withdrawal of crude oil, natural gas, sulfur, etc., or significant amounts of groundwater must be investigated in detail for the possibility of differential subsidence or faulting that could adversely affect the integrity of landfill liners. Studies of differential subsidence or faulting shall be conducted under the direct supervision of a licensed professional engineer experienced in geotechnical engineering or a licensed professional geoscientist qualified to evaluate conditions of differential subsidence or faulting. The studies must establish the limits (both upthrown and downthrown) of the zones of influence of all active faulted areas within the site vicinity. Unless the owner or operator can provide substantial evidence that the zone of influence will not affect the site, no solid waste disposal shall be accomplished within a zone of influence of active geological faulting or differential subsidence because active faulting results in slippage along failure planes, thus creating preferred seepage paths for liquids. The studies must include information or data on the items in paragraphs (1) - (12) of this subsection, as applicable:
  (1) structural damage to constructed facilities (roadways, railways, and buildings);
  (2) scarps in natural ground;
  (3) presence of surface depressions (sag ponds and ponded water);
  (4) lineations noted on aerial maps and topographic sheets;
  (5) structural control of natural streams;
  (6) vegetation changes;
  (7) crude oil and natural gas accumulations;
  (8) electrical spontaneous potential and resistivity logs (correlation of subsurface strata to check for stratigraphic offsets);
  (9) earth electrical resistivity surveys (indications of anomalies that may represent fault planes);
  (10) open cell excavations (visual examinations to detect changes in subsoil texturing and/or weathering indicating stratigraphic offsets);
  (11) changes in elevations of established benchmarks; and
  (12) references to published geological literature pertaining to area conditions.

Source Note: The provisions of this §330.555 adopted to be effective March 27, 2006, 31 TexReg 2502