Legislation

The San Jacinto River has received a lot of attention lately, due to the numerous harmful sand and gravel mining pits along its banks and all the clear cutting of riparian forests that pits demand in order to dig for the intended product. All of this attention has brought the river's health into the state's view. These effects on The San Jacinto river due to sand mining include: increased turbidity, algae blooms, suffocation of fish due to the clogging of gills, a decrease of fish populations, and the decrease of mussel populations.

Many people are concerned with the river and all the damage being done to it. The Legacy Land Trust is just one of several organizations that are trying to regulate the sand mining operations. There are regulations set in place, but these regulations aren't too strict. Many small companies do not follow them, and there is no regulation to restore operations once all the sand mining is complete. But big companies with big sand mining operations tend to follow these regulations more because they are more widely known and so they are watched more carefully. Unlike the smaller operations, which we call the Mom and Pop operations, who are harder to track down in terms of who is operating the pit and who is receiving all the money for these type of operations. Usually land owners near the river lease their land to small sand mining companies, or they mine for sand on their own. Sand mining is a very profitable business, and it is fairly easy to do and it pays very well. But the hard part about sand mining is the restoration of the pits, the areas cleared for the operations, and the turbid water that the sand releases once it is processed. Some companies seem to neglect the fact that big holes in the ground are bad for the environment, even though they say that these big holes serve as water retention areas. These areas are still causing run-off into the river because they are barren land with only some compacted sand in order to try to hold down the soil. But no soil is being held down and it is going in the river and polluting it. Because of the erosion and sedimentation that is caused by the sand mining operations, there is a threat to the drinking water that is provided to the Houston area because The San Jacinto River is a tributary of Lake Houston.

Regulations on The San Jacinto river are going to increase as the people of this metropolitan area realize that this river is eventually going to become one big ugly nasty river that is unstable and unusable to both humans and animals. But right now local representatives are trying to do something about it. People like Sen. Tommy Williams, Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, and the organizations like the Legacy Land Trust, Texas Park and Wildlife, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, all are trying to regulate the way sand mining operations run near the river.

At first there were very small regulations put on pieces of land called easements. These easements are agreements between a land owner and a organization, like the LLT, near a river, or a water way. This is a signed saying that the piece of land, could never be used in any inappropriate way that could harm the environment. But these easements could only be effective if the owner of a piece of land cooperated and agreed with the organizations.

But these easements aren't enough. There are also some regulations on sand mining, such as water quality testing that the TCEQ does on The San Jacinto near sand mining operations. And the permits that operations require in order to discharge water into the river. But a lot of operations still discharge into the river when there is heavy rainfall in that area. They have to discharge because the pits get so full of water that sometimes they spill into the river. (But if they had proper buffers zones covered with natural vegetation between the river and operations then there wouldn't be any discharge.) But some companies still violate the regulations, usually the smaller ones. These regulations are still very weak and they can still cause harm to the river if the standards are followed correctly. There needs to be stronger regulations on the river in order to maintain a healthy environment in and around that area.

But luckily since this issue has finally reached the state's attention, senators and local representatives are trying to do something about this problem. They have come up with a bill that will regulate sand mining much more strictly than the ones set in place. This bill says that:

1.If there is harm done to the river by discharging into the river without a permit, then there will be financial responsibility put upon the companies in order to clean up the discharge and restore the affected area.

2.There shall be no new operations or expansion of one within a one-hundred feet perimeter of the river. There has to be at least a one-hundred foot buffer between the river and operation.

3.There has to be a proposed plan of action of how the responsible party will restore the sand mining operation to its natural state area once all the sand mining is completed.

4.There will be visual inspections of sand mining sites and water quality testing of the river's water near that area. This will happen at least twice a year, and at least once per year there will be a visual inspection of sites from an aircraft flying over the area.

The area that is protected within this new bill is within a 1/2 mile perimeter of the San Jacinto River, which is bad for the sand mining companies because most of them are within 300 feet of the river. The portions of the river that are protected are from downstream of Highway 105 to Lake Houston on the East Fork, and from the intersection of The San Jacinto River and Interstate 45 downstream to Lake Houston. Spring Creek is also protected from the most easterly intersection with the Farm-to-Market Road 1736 downstream to its confluence with the West Fork of the San Jacinto river.

Many of the big sand mining companies were pushing for Sen. Bill 359 to grandfather them, which means that their sand mining pits were already established before the bill was passed, so it shouldn't affect them. They are pushing for the bill to only affect future pits that will be dug, not the pits that have already been worked on, or being worked on. But Sen. Tommy Williams did not allow for the bill to grandfather them. Since all the sand mining companies knew that there was no way that they were going to be able to not get the bill passed, they didn't directly oppose the bill. Instead they were on the bill. By them being on the bill they were able to make amendments to the proposed bill that could work both for the state and also for them. They suggested the idea of a one-hundred foot buffer zone between the river and operations. Even though that isn't a lot, there should really be a three-hundred foot buffer zone between the river and operations in order to properly stop run-off into the river. The one-hundred foot buffer is at least something compared to the non-existing buffer regulation.

This Sen. Bill 359 will soon be accompanied by a Bill passed by the House of Representatives that will be proposed by Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale. It will compliment this current one that has just passed.


	Legislation The San Jacinto River has received a lot of attention lately, due to the numerous harmful sand and gravel mining pits along its banks and all the clear cutting of riparian forests that pits demand in order to dig for the intended product. All of this attention has brought the river's health into the state's view. These effects on The San Jacinto river due to sand mining include: increased turbidity, algae blooms, suffocation of fish due to the clogging of gills, a decrease of fish populations, and the decrease of mussel populations. Many people are concerned with the river and all the damage being done to it. The Legacy Land Trust is just one of several organizations that are trying to regulate the sand mining operations. There are regulations set in place, but these regulations aren't too strict. Many small companies do not follow them, and there is no regulation to restore operations once all the sand mining is complete. But big companies with big sand mining operations tend to follow these regulations more because they are more widely known and so they are watched more carefully. Unlike the smaller operations, which we call the Mom and Pop operations, who are harder to track down in terms of who is operating the pit and who is receiving all the money for these type of operations. Usually land owners near the river lease their land to small sand mining companies, or they mine for sand on their own. Sand mining is a very profitable business, and it is fairly easy to do and it pays very well. But the hard part about sand mining is the restoration of the pits, the areas cleared for the operations, and the turbid water that the sand releases once it is processed. Some companies seem to neglect the fact that big holes in the ground are bad for the environment, even though they say that these big holes serve as water retention areas. These areas are still causing run-off into the river because they are barren land with only some compacted sand in order to try to hold down the soil. But no soil is being held down and it is going in the river and polluting it. Because of the erosion and sedimentation that is caused by the sand mining operations, there is a threat to the drinking water that is provided to the Houston area because The San Jacinto River is a tributary of Lake Houston. Regulations on The San Jacinto river are going to increase as the people of this metropolitan area realize that this river is eventually going to become one big ugly nasty river that is unstable and unusable to both humans and animals. But right now local representatives are trying to do something about it. People like Sen. Tommy Williams, Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, and the organizations like the Legacy Land Trust, Texas Park and Wildlife, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, all are trying to regulate the way sand mining operations run near the river. At first there were very small regulations put on pieces of land called easements. These easements are agreements between a land owner and a organization, like the LLT, near a river, or a water way. This is a signed saying that the piece of land, could never be used in any inappropriate way that could harm the environment. But these easements could only be effective if the owner of a piece of land cooperated and agreed with the organizations. But these easements aren't enough. There are also some regulations on sand mining, such as water quality testing that the TCEQ does on The San Jacinto near sand mining operations. And the permits that operations require in order to discharge water into the river. But a lot of operations still discharge into the river when there is heavy rainfall in that area. They have to discharge because the pits get so full of water that sometimes they spill into the river. (But if they had proper buffers zones covered with natural vegetation between the river and operations then there wouldn't be any discharge.) But some companies still violate the regulations, usually the smaller ones. These regulations are still very weak and they can still cause harm to the river if the standards are followed correctly. There needs to be stronger regulations on the river in order to maintain a healthy environment in and around that area. But luckily since this issue has finally reached the state's attention, senators and local representatives are trying to do something about this problem. They have come up with a bill that will regulate sand mining much more strictly than the ones set in place. This bill says that: 1.If there is harm done to the river by discharging into the river without a permit, then there will be financial responsibility put upon the companies in order to clean up the discharge and restore the affected area. 2.There shall be no new operations or expansion of one within a one-hundred feet perimeter of the river. There has to be at least a one-hundred foot buffer between the river and operation. 3.There has to be a proposed plan of action of how the responsible party will restore the sand mining operation to its natural state area once all the sand mining is completed. 4.There will be visual inspections of sand mining sites and water quality testing of the river's water near that area. This will happen at least twice a year, and at least once per year there will be a visual inspection of sites from an aircraft flying over the area. The area that is protected within this new bill is within a 1/2 mile perimeter of the San Jacinto River, which is bad for the sand mining companies because most of them are within 300 feet of the river. The portions of the river that are protected are from downstream of Highway 105 to Lake Houston on the East Fork, and from the intersection of The San Jacinto River and Interstate 45 downstream to Lake Houston. Spring Creek is also protected from the most easterly intersection with the Farm-to-Market Road 1736 downstream to its confluence with the West Fork of the San Jacinto river. Many of the big sand mining companies were pushing for Sen. Bill 359 to grandfather them, which means that their sand mining pits were already established before the bill was passed, so it shouldn't affect them. They are pushing for the bill to only affect future pits that will be dug, not the pits that have already been worked on, or being worked on. But Sen. Tommy Williams did not allow for the bill to grandfather them. Since all the sand mining companies knew that there was no way that they were going to be able to not get the bill passed, they didn't directly oppose the bill. Instead they were on the bill. By them being on the bill they were able to make amendments to the proposed bill that could work both for the state and also for them. They suggested the idea of a one-hundred foot buffer zone between the river and operations. Even though that isn't a lot, there should really be a three-hundred foot buffer zone between the river and operations in order to properly stop run-off into the river. The one-hundred foot buffer is at least something compared to the non-existing buffer regulation. This Sen. Bill 359 will soon be accompanied by a Bill passed by the House of Representatives that will be proposed by Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale. It will compliment this current one that has just passed.