In this chapter:
(1) “Commission” means the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.
(2) “Executive Director” means the executive director of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.
(3) “Shaft” means any vertically oriented excavation, whether constructed by drilling or mining techniques, where the depth of the excavation is greater than its diameter, the excavation penetrates into or through the base of the uppermost water-bearing strata, and the primary purpose of the excavation is the transport of workers and materials to and from a destination, at depth, for purposes of geological studies, access to existing and planned subsurface mine workings, or for ventilation of those workings.
(4) “Water” or “water in the state” means groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico inside the territorial limits of the state, and all other bodies of natural and artificial surface water that is inland or coastal, fresh or salt, and navigable or nonnavigable, and includes the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state.
(5) “Surface facilities” means the on-site above-ground appurtenances, structures, equipment, and other fixtures that are or will be used for storage or processing or in conjunction with the shaft operation.