S.B. 169

1

COAL MINING AMENDMENTS
2 1998 GENERAL SESSION
3 STATE OF UTAH
4 Sponsor: Mike Dmitrich
5 AN ACT RELATING TO COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION; SPECIFYING REASONS
6 FOR THE DENIAL OF A PERMIT TO MINE COAL; AND MAKING TECHNICAL
7 AMENDMENTS.
8 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
9 AMENDS:
10 40-10-11 (Subsection (5) is Repealed 09/30/04), as last amended by Chapter 99, Laws of Utah
11 1997
12 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
13 Section 1. Section 40-10-11 (Subsection (5) is Repealed 09/30/04) is amended to read:
14 40-10-11 (Subsection (5) is Repealed 09/30/04). Division action on permit application
15 -- Requirements for approval -- Schedule of applicant's mining law violation -- Restoration
16 of prime farmland.
17 (1) (a) (i) [Upon the basis of a] After a complete mining application and reclamation plan
18 or a revision or renewal of [same,] an application and plan is submitted to the division as required
19 by this chapter[, including] and the public [notification] is notified and given an opportunity for
20 a [public] hearing as required by Section 40-10-13, the division shall grant, require modification
21 of, or deny the permit application [for a permit in].
22 (ii) The division shall make its decision within a reasonable time set by the division and
23 notify the applicant in writing.
24 (b) The applicant for a permit, or a revision of a permit[,] shall have the burden of
25 establishing that [his] the application is in compliance with all [the] requirements of this chapter.
26 (c) Within ten days after the granting of a permit, the division shall [notify] provide to the
27 local governmental officials in the local political subdivision in which the area of affected land [to

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

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

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1 that any surface coal mining operation owned or controlled by the applicant is currently in
2 violation of this chapter or other laws and regulations referred to in this Subsection (3), the permit
3 shall not be issued until the applicant submits proof that the violation has been corrected or is in
4 the process of being corrected to the satisfaction of the division, department, or agency which has
5 jurisdiction over the violation[; and no].
6 (c) No permit shall be issued to an applicant after a finding by the board, after opportunity
7 for hearing, that the applicant, or the operator specified in the application, controls or has
8 controlled mining operations with a demonstrated pattern of willful violations of this chapter, the
9 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. Sec. 1201 et seq., the
10 implementing federal regulations, any state or federal programs enacted under the Surface Mining
11 Control and Reclamation Act, or other provisions of the approved Utah program of such nature
12 and duration with such resulting irreparable damage to the environment as to indicate an intent not
13 to comply with the provisions of this chapter.
14 (4) (a) (i) In addition to finding the application in compliance with Subsection (2), if the
15 area proposed to be mined contains prime farmland pursuant to division rules, the division shall
16 grant a permit to mine on prime farmland if the division finds in writing that the operator has the
17 technological capability to restore the mined area within a reasonable time to an equivalent or
18 higher [levels] level of yield as nonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalent
19 levels of management and can meet the soil reconstruction standards specified in division rules.
20 (ii) Except for compliance with Subsection (2), the requirements of this subsection shall
21 apply to all permits issued after August 3, 1977.
22 (b) [Nothing in] Subsection (4) shall not apply to any permit issued prior to August 3,
23 1977, or to any revisions or renewals of [it] the permit, or to any existing surface mining
24 operations for which a permit was issued prior to August 3, 1977.
25 (5) (a) After October 24, 1992, the prohibition of Subsection (3) [does] shall not apply to
26 a permit application[,] if the violation resulted from an unanticipated event or condition that
27 occurred at a surface coal mining operation on lands eligible for remining under a permit held by
28 the person making the application.
29 (b) As used in this subsection, the term "violation" has the same meaning as the term has
30 under Subsection (3).
31 (c) Subsection (5) is repealed September 30, 2004.

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Legislative Review Note
as of 2-3-98 9:56 AM

A limited legal review of this bill raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel

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