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S.B. 282

This document includes House Floor Amendments incorporated into the bill on Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 4:47 PM by lerror. -->              1     

SMALL MINING OPERATIONS

             2     
2011 GENERAL SESSION

             3     
STATE OF UTAH

             4     
Chief Sponsor: David P. Hinkins

             5     
House Sponsor: Michael E. Noel

             6     

             7      LONG TITLE
             8      General Description:
             9          This bill amends the definition of "small mining operations" in Title 40, Chapter 8,
             10      Utah Mined Land Reclamation Act.
             11      Highlighted Provisions:
             12          This bill:
             13          .    amends the definition of "small mining operations" in Title 40, Chapter 8, Utah
             14      Mined Land Reclamation Act.
             15      Money Appropriated in this Bill:
             16          None
             17      Other Special Clauses:
             18          None
             19      Utah Code Sections Affected:
             20      AMENDS:
             21          40-8-4, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2009, Chapter 344
             22     

             23      Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
             24          Section 1. Section 40-8-4 is amended to read:
             25           40-8-4. Definitions.
             26          As used in this chapter:
             27          (1) "Adjudicative proceeding" means:



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             28
         (a) a division or board action or proceeding determining the legal rights, duties,
             29      privileges, immunities, or other legal interests of one or more identifiable persons, including
             30      actions to grant, deny, revoke, suspend, modify, annul, withdraw, or amend an authority, right,
             31      permit, or license; or
             32          (b) judicial review of a division or board action or proceeding specified in Subsection
             33      (1)(a).
             34          (2) "Applicant" means a person who has filed a notice of intent to commence mining
             35      operations, or who has applied to the board for a review of a notice or order.
             36          (3) (a) "Approved notice of intention" means a formally filed notice of intention to
             37      commence mining operations, including revisions to it, which has been approved under Section
             38      40-8-13 .
             39          (b) An approved notice of intention is not required for small mining operations.
             40          (4) "Board" means the Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining.
             41          (5) "Conference" means an informal adjudicative proceeding conducted by the division
             42      or board.
             43          (6) (a) "Deposit" or "mineral deposit" means an accumulation of mineral matter in the
             44      form of consolidated rock, unconsolidated material, solutions, or occurring on the surface,
             45      beneath the surface, or in the waters of the land from which any product useful to man may be
             46      produced, extracted, or obtained or which is extracted by underground mining methods for
             47      underground storage.
             48          (b) "Deposit" or "mineral deposit" excludes sand, gravel, rock aggregate, water,
             49      geothermal steam, and oil and gas as defined in Title 40, Chapter 6, Board and Division of Oil,
             50      Gas, and Mining, but includes oil shale and bituminous sands extracted by mining operations.
             51          (7) "Development" means the work performed in relation to a deposit following its
             52      discovery but prior to and in contemplation of production mining operations, aimed at, but not
             53      limited to, preparing the site for mining operations, defining further the ore deposit by drilling
             54      or other means, conducting pilot plant operations, constructing roads or ancillary facilities, and
             55      other related activities.
             56          (8) "Division" means the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining.
             57          (9) "Emergency order" means an order issued by the board in accordance with the
             58      provisions of Title 63G, Chapter 4, Administrative Procedures Act.



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             59
         (10) (a) "Exploration" means surface-disturbing activities conducted for the purpose of
             60      discovering a deposit or mineral deposit, delineating the boundaries of a deposit or mineral
             61      deposit, and identifying regions or specific areas in which deposits or mineral deposits are most
             62      likely to exist.
             63          (b) "Exploration" includes, but is not limited to: sinking shafts; tunneling; drilling
             64      holes and digging pits or cuts; building of roads, and other access ways; and constructing and
             65      operating other facilities related to these activities.
             66          (11) "Hearing" means a formal adjudicative proceeding conducted by the board under
             67      its procedural rules.
             68          (12) (a) "Imminent danger to the health and safety of the public" means the existence
             69      of a condition or practice, or a violation of a permit requirement or other requirement of this
             70      chapter in a mining operation, which condition, practice, or violation could reasonably be
             71      expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons outside the permit area before the
             72      condition, practice, or violation can be abated.
             73          (b) A reasonable expectation of death or serious injury before abatement exists if a
             74      rational person, subjected to the same conditions or practices giving rise to the peril, would not
             75      expose himself or herself to the danger during the time necessary for abatement.
             76          (13) (a) "Land affected" means the surface and subsurface of an area within the state
             77      where mining operations are being or will be conducted, including, but not limited to:
             78          (i) on-site private ways, roads, and railroads;
             79          (ii) land excavations;
             80          (iii) exploration sites;
             81          (iv) drill sites or workings;
             82          (v) refuse banks or spoil piles;
             83          (vi) evaporation or settling ponds;
             84          (vii) stockpiles;
             85          (viii) leaching dumps;
             86          (ix) placer areas;
             87          (x) tailings ponds or dumps; and
             88          (xi) work, parking, storage, or waste discharge areas, structures, and facilities.
             89          (b) All lands shall be excluded from the provisions of Subsection (13)(a) that would:



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             90
         (i) be includable as land affected, but which have been reclaimed in accordance with an
             91      approved plan, as may be approved by the board; and
             92          (ii) lands in which mining operations have ceased prior to July 1, 1977.
             93          (14) (a) "Mining operation" means activities conducted on the surface of the land for
             94      the exploration for, development of, or extraction of a mineral deposit, including, but not
             95      limited to, surface mining and the surface effects of underground and in situ mining, on-site
             96      transportation, concentrating, milling, evaporation, and other primary processing.
             97          (b) "Mining operation" does not include:
             98          (i) the extraction of sand, gravel, and rock aggregate;
             99          (ii) the extraction of oil and gas as defined in Title 40, Chapter 6, Board and Division
             100      of Oil, Gas, and Mining;
             101          (iii) the extraction of geothermal steam;
             102          (iv) smelting or refining operations;
             103          (v) off-site operations and transportation;
             104          (vi) reconnaissance activities; or
             105          (vii) activities which will not cause significant surface resource disturbance or involve
             106      the use of mechanized earth-moving equipment, such as bulldozers or backhoes.
             107          (15) "Notice" means:
             108          (a) notice of intention, as defined in this chapter; or
             109          (b) written information given to an operator by the division describing compliance
             110      conditions at a mining operation.
             111          (16) "Notice of intention" means a notice to commence mining operations, including
             112      revisions to the notice.
             113          (17) "Off-site" means the land areas that are outside of or beyond the on-site land.
             114          (18) (a) "On-site" means the surface lands on or under which surface or underground
             115      mining operations are conducted.
             116          (b) A series of related properties under the control of a single operator, but separated
             117      by small parcels of land controlled by others, will be considered to be a single site unless an
             118      exception is made by the division.
             119          (19) "Operator" means a natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver,
             120      trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, agent, or other organization or



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House Floor Amendments 3-9-2011 le/pla
             121
     representative, either public or private, owning, controlling, or managing a mining operation or
             122      proposed mining operation.
             123          (20) "Order" means written information provided by the division or board to an
             124      operator or other parties, describing the compliance status of a permit or mining operation.
             125          (21) "Owner" means a natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver,
             126      trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, agent, or other organization or
             127      representative, either public or private, owning, controlling, or managing a mineral deposit or
             128      the surface of lands employed in mining operations.
             129          (22) "Permit area" means the area of land indicated on the approved map submitted by
             130      the operator with the application or notice to conduct mining operations.
             131          (23) "Permit" means a permit or notice to conduct mining operations issued by the
             132      division.
             133          (24) "Permittee" means a person holding, or who is required by Utah law to hold, a
             134      valid permit or notice to conduct mining operations.
             135          (25) "Person" means an individual, partnership, association, society, joint stock
             136      company, firm, company, corporation, or other governmental or business organization.
             137          (26) "Reclamation" means actions performed during or after mining operations to
             138      shape, stabilize, revegetate, or treat the land affected in order to achieve a safe, stable,
             139      ecological condition and use which will be consistent with local environmental conditions.
             140          (27) "Small mining operations" means mining operations H. [ which ] that .H disturb or
             140a      will disturb
             141      [five] 10 or less surface acres at any given time H. in an unincorporated area of a county or five
             141a      or less surface acres at any given time in an incorporated area of a county .H .
             142          (28) "Unwarranted failure to comply" means the failure of a permittee to prevent the
             143      occurrence of a violation of the permit or a requirement of this chapter due to indifference, lack
             144      of diligence, or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate a violation of the permit or this
             145      chapter due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care.





Legislative Review Note
    as of 2-25-11 6:34 AM


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