As used in this article, unless the context otherwise
requires:
(1) Administrator means the head of the office of mined land reclamation in
the division of reclamation, mining, and safety in the department of natural
resources.
(2) Alluvial valley floors means the unconsolidated stream-laid deposits
holding streams where water availability is sufficient for subirrigation or flood
irrigation agricultural activities but does not include upland areas which are
generally overlain by a thin veneer of colluvial deposits composed chiefly of debris
from sheet erosion, deposits by unconcentrated runoff or slope wash, together with
talus, other mass movement accumulation, and windblown deposits.
(3) Approximate original contour means that surface configuration
achieved by backfilling and grading of the mined area so that the reclaimed area,
including any terracing or access roads, closely resembles the general surface
configuration of the land prior to mining and blends into and complements the
drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain, with all highwalls and spoil piles
eliminated. Water impoundments may be permitted where the board determines
that they are in compliance with section 34-33-120 (2)(h).
(4) Board means the mined land reclamation board created pursuant to
section 34-32-105.
(5) Complete permit application means an application which minimally
addresses each and every requirement of sections 34-33-110 and 34-33-111 and
section 34-33-120 or 34-33-121.
(6) Department means the department of natural resources.
(7) Division means the division of reclamation, mining, and safety in the
department of natural resources.
(8) Executive director means the executive director of the department of
natural resources.
(9) Federal land means any land, including mineral interests, owned by the
United States, but excluding Indian lands.
(10) Historic areas means those lands which are listed or are eligible for
listing in the national register of historic places or the state register of historic
properties or which are designated pursuant to the federal Historic Sites,
Buildings, and Antiquities Act, as amended.
(11) Imminent danger to the health and safety of the public means the
existence of any condition or practice, or any violation of a permit or other
requirement of this article, in a surface coal mining and reclamation operation
which could reasonably be expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons
outside the permit area before such condition, practice, or violation can be abated.
A reasonable expectation of death or serious injury before abatement exists if a
rational person, subjected to the same conditions, or practices giving rise to the
peril, would not expose himself to the danger during the time necessary for
abatement.
(12) Indian lands means all lands, including, but not limited to, mineral
interests and rights-of-way, within the exterior boundaries of any federal Indian
reservation, notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, including mineral interests
held in trust for or supervised by any Indian tribe.
(13) Indian tribe means any Indian tribe, band, group, or community having
a governing body recognized by the secretary of the United States department of
the interior.
(13.5) Office means the office of mined land reclamation, created in section
34-32-105.
(14) Operator means any person engaged in surface coal mining and
reclamation operations who removes or intends to remove more than two hundred
fifty tons of coal from the earth or from coal mine waste disposal facilities within
twelve consecutive calendar months in any one location.
(15) Other minerals means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous and
nonmetalliferous ores, oil shale and oil extracted from shale by an in situ process,
and any other solid material or substances of commercial value excavated in solid
form from natural deposits on or in the earth, exclusive of coal and those minerals
which occur naturally in liquid or gaseous form.
(16) Permit means a permit to conduct surface coal mining and reclamation
operations.
(17) Permit applicant or applicant means a person applying for a permit.
(18) Permit area means the area of land indicated on the approved map
submitted by the operator with his application, which area of land shall be covered
by the operator's bond as required by section 34-33-113 and shall be readily
identifiable by appropriate markers on the site.
(19) Permit revision means a significant alteration of the terms or
requirements of a permit issued pursuant to this article, including, but not limited
to, significant changes in the reclamation plan, and other actions which the board
may by regulation prescribe. Permit revision does not include a technical revision
as defined in subsection (27) of this section.
(20) Permittee means a person holding a permit.
(21) Person means an individual, partnership, association, society, joint
stock company, firm, company, corporation, Indian tribe conducting surface coal
mining and reclamation operations outside Indian lands, any other business
organization, and any agency, unit, or instrumentality of federal, state, or local
government, including any publicly owned utility or publicly owned corporation of
federal, state, or local government.
(22) Prime farmland shall have the same meaning prescribed pursuant to
the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, as amended,
and the regulations thereunder.
(23) Reclamation plan means a plan submitted by an applicant under this
article which sets forth a plan for reclamation of the proposed surface coal mining
operations pursuant to section 34-33-111.
(24) Secretary means the secretary of the United States department of the
interior.
(25) Surface coal mining and reclamation operations means surface coal
mining operations and all activities necessary and incident to the reclamation of
such operations.
(26) Surface coal mining operations means:
(a) Activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface
coal mine or activities subject to the requirements of section 34-33-121 which
involve surface operations and surface impacts incident to an underground coal
mine. Such activities include excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal, including
such common methods as contour, strip, auger, mountaintop removal, box cut, open
pit, and area mining, removal of coal from coal mine waste disposal facilities, the
use of explosives and blasting, and the use of in situ distillation or retorting,
leaching or other chemical or physical processing, and the cleaning, concentrating,
or other processing or preparation, loading of coal for interstate commerce at or
near the mine site; except that such activities do not include any of the following:
Coal exploration subject to section 34-33-117, the exploration and extraction of
natural petroleum in a liquid or gaseous state by means of wells or pipe, or the
extraction of geothermal resources.
(b) The areas upon which such activities occur or where such activities
disturb the natural land surface. Such areas shall also include any adjacent land the
use of which is incidental to any such activities, all lands affected by the
construction of new roads or the improvement or use of existing roads to gain
access to the site of such activities and for haulage, and excavations, workings,
impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entryways, refuse banks, dumps,
stockpiles, overburden piles, spoil banks, culm banks, tailings, holes or depressions,
repair areas, storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas, and other areas upon
which are sited structures, facilities, or other property or materials on the surface,
resulting from or incident to such activities.
(27) Technical revision means a minor change, including incidental
boundary revisions, to the terms or requirements of a permit issued under this
article, which change shall not cause a significant alteration in the operator's
reclamation plan.
(28) Unwarranted failure to comply means the failure of a permittee to
prevent the occurrence of any violation of his permit or any requirement of this
article due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care or the
failure to abate any violation of such permit or this article due to indifference, lack
of diligence, or lack of reasonable care.