S.B. 169 Enrolled

COAL MINING AMENDMENTS
1998 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Sponsor: Mike Dmitrich
AN ACT RELATING TO COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION; SPECIFYING REASONS
FOR THE DENIAL OF A PERMIT TO MINE COAL; AND MAKING TECHNICAL
AMENDMENTS.
This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
AMENDS:
40-10-11 (Subsection (5) is Repealed 09/30/04), as last amended by Chapter 99, Laws of Utah
1997
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 40-10-11 (Subsection (5) is Repealed 09/30/04) is amended to read:
40-10-11 (Subsection (5) is Repealed 09/30/04). Division action on permit application
-- Requirements for approval -- Schedule of applicant's mining law violation -- Restoration
of prime farmland.
(1) (a) (i) [Upon the basis of a] After a complete mining application and reclamation plan
or a revision or renewal of [same,] an application and plan is submitted to the division as required
by this chapter[, including] and the public [notification] is notified and given an opportunity for
a [public] hearing as required by Section 40-10-13 , the division shall grant, require modification
of, or deny the permit application [for a permit in].
(ii) The division shall make its decision within a reasonable time set by the division and
notify the applicant in writing.
(b) The applicant for a permit, or a revision of a permit[,] shall have the burden of
establishing that [his] the application is in compliance with all [the] requirements of this chapter.
(c) Within ten days after the granting of a permit, the division shall [notify] provide to the
local governmental officials in the local political subdivision in which the area of affected land [to
be affected] is located:
(i) notification that a permit has been issued; and [shall describe]

(ii) a description of the location of the land.
(2) No permit or revision application shall be approved unless the application affirmatively
demonstrates and the division finds in writing on the basis of the information set forth in the
application, or from information otherwise available which will be documented in the approval and
made available to the applicant, that:
(a) the permit application is accurate and complete and that all [the] requirements of this
chapter have been complied with;
(b) the applicant has demonstrated that the reclamation [as required by] requirements under
this chapter can be accomplished under the reclamation plan contained in the permit application;
(c) the assessment of the probable cumulative impact of all anticipated mining in the area
on the hydrologic balance specified in Subsection 40-10-10 (2)(c) has been made by the division and
the proposed operation [of same] has been designed to prevent material damage to the hydrologic
balance outside the permit area;
(d) the area proposed to be mined is not included within an area:
(i) designated as unsuitable for surface coal mining pursuant to Section 40-10-24 ; or [is not
within an area]
(ii) under study for [such] this designation in an administrative proceeding commenced
[pursuant to] under Subsection 40-10-24 (2), [(]unless [in the area as to which an administrative
proceeding has commenced pursuant to Section 40-10-24 ,] the operator demonstrates that prior to
January 1, 1977, [he has made] substantial legal and financial commitments [in relation] were made
to the operation [for which he is applying for a permit)];
(e) the proposed surface coal mining operation would not:
(i) [not] interrupt, discontinue, or preclude farming on alluvial valley floors that are irrigated
or naturally subirrigated[, but excluding] other than on:
(A) undeveloped range lands [which] that are not significant to farming on [the] alluvial
valley floors [and those]; or
(B) lands [as to] which the division finds are of such small acreage that if [the] farming [that
will be] is interrupted, discontinued, or precluded [is of such small acreage as to be of negligible],

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the impact on the farm's agricultural production will be negligible; or
(ii) [not] materially damage the quantity or quality of water in surface or underground water
systems that supply [these] alluvial valley floors specified in Subsection (2)(e)(i), but this Subsection
(2)(e) shall not affect those surface coal mining operations which in the year preceding August 3,
1977, produced coal in commercial quantities and were located within or adjacent to alluvial valley
floors or had obtained specific permit approval by the division to conduct surface coal mining
operations within these alluvial valley floors; and
(f) [in cases where] if the private mineral estate has been severed from the private surface
estate, the applicant has submitted to the division:
(i) the written consent of the surface owner to the extraction of coal by surface mining
methods[;] provided[, however,] that nothing in this [section] Subsection (2) shall be construed [as
increasing or diminishing] to:
(A) increase or diminish any property [rights by] right established under the laws of the state
[of Utah or by any other landowner]; or
(B) authorize the board or division to adjudicate property right disputes;
(ii) a conveyance that expressly grants or reserves the right to extract the coal by surface
mining methods; or
(iii) [if the conveyance does not expressly grant the right to extract coal by surface mining
methods,] documentation consistent with state law that establishes the status of the
surface-subsurface legal relationship [shall be determined in accordance with state law].
(3) (a) (i) The applicant shall file with [his] the permit application a [schedule listing] list
of any [and all] notices of violations of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977
or its implementing regulations, this chapter, any state or federal program or law approved under the
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. Sec. 1201 et seq., and any law,
rule, or regulation of the United States, State of Utah, or any department or agency in the United
States pertaining to air or water environmental protection incurred by the applicant in connection
with any surface coal mining operation during the three-year period prior to the date of application.
(ii) The [schedule] list required in Subsection (3)(a)(i) shall also indicate the final resolution

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of any notice of violation.
(b) [Where] If the [schedule] list or other information available to the division indicates that
any surface coal mining operation owned or controlled by the applicant is currently in violation of
this chapter or other laws and regulations referred to in this Subsection (3), the permit shall not be
issued until the applicant submits proof that the violation has been corrected or is in the process of
being corrected to the satisfaction of the division, department, or agency which has jurisdiction over
the violation[; and no].
(c) No permit shall be issued to an applicant after a finding by the board, after opportunity
for hearing, that the applicant, or the operator specified in the application, controls or has controlled
mining operations with a demonstrated pattern of willful violations of this chapter, the Surface
Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. Sec. 1201 et seq., the implementing federal
regulations, any state or federal programs enacted under the Surface Mining Control and
Reclamation Act, or other provisions of the approved Utah program of such nature and duration with
such resulting irreparable damage to the environment as to indicate an intent not to comply with the
provisions of this chapter.
(4) (a) (i) In addition to finding the application in compliance with Subsection (2), if the area
proposed to be mined contains prime farmland pursuant to division rules, the division shall grant a
permit to mine on prime farmland if the division finds in writing that the operator has the
technological capability to restore the mined area within a reasonable time to an equivalent or higher
[levels] level of yield as nonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalent levels
of management and can meet the soil reconstruction standards specified in division rules.
(ii) Except for compliance with Subsection (2), the requirements of this subsection shall
apply to all permits issued after August 3, 1977.
(b) [Nothing in] Subsection (4) shall not apply to any permit issued prior to August 3, 1977,
or to any revisions or renewals of [it] the permit, or to any existing surface mining operations for
which a permit was issued prior to August 3, 1977.
(5) (a) After October 24, 1992, the prohibition of Subsection (3) [does] shall not apply to
a permit application[,] if the violation resulted from an unanticipated event or condition that occurred

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at a surface coal mining operation on lands eligible for remining under a permit held by the person
making the application.
(b) As used in this subsection, the term "violation" has the same meaning as the term has
under Subsection (3).
(c) Subsection (5) is repealed September 30, 2004.

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