§ 742.2. Definitions
Oklahoma Statutes AnnotatedTitle 45. Mines and Mining
45 Okl.St.Ann. § 742.2
§ 742.2. Definitions
As used in this act:1
3. “Adjacent area” means land located outside the affected area, permit area, or mine plan area, depending on the context in which “adjacent area” is used, where air, surface or ground water, fish, wildlife, vegetation or other resources protected by this act may be adversely impacted by surface coal mining and reclamation operations.
4. “Affected area” means, with respect to surface mining activities, any land or water upon or in which those activities are conducted or located. With respect to underground mining activities, “affected area” means any water or surface land upon or in which those activities are conducted or located, and land or water which is located above underground mine workings.
5. “Approximate original contour” means that surface configuration achieved by backfilling and grading of the mined areas 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, spoil piles and coal refuse piles eliminated. Water impoundments may be permitted where the regulatory authority determines that they are in compliance with Section 745.18 of this title and applicable rules and regulations.
9. “Coal exploration” means the gathering of surface or subsurface geologic, physical, or chemical data by mapping, trenching, drilling, geophysical or other techniques necessary to determine the quality and quantity of overburden and coal of an area and the gathering of environmental data to establish the conditions of the area beginning before surface coal mining and reclamation operations.
10. “Coal processing plant” means a collection of facilities where run-of-the-mine coal is prepared for market by chemical or physical processing, and separated from its impurities. The processing plant may consist of, but not be limited to, the following support facilities: loading facilities; storage and stockpile facilities; shed, shops and other buildings; water treatment and water storage facilities; settling basins and impoundments; coal processing and other waste disposal areas; roads, railroads and other transport facilities; and utilities.
12. “Department” means the office of the Chief Mine Inspector, including all employees, agents, deputies, and representatives of the Department, herein called the Department of Mines and Mining, or such department, bureau or commission as may lawfully succeed to the powers and duties of such department, having primary responsibility for administering all titles of the Surface Mining Law.
13. “Director” means the Chief Mine Inspector of the State of Oklahoma or such officer, bureau or commission as may lawfully succeed to the powers and duties of such Chief Mine Inspector or such employee, agent, deputy or representative of the Chief Mine Inspector as shall be designated by the Chief Mine Inspector to perform any actions required by this act.
14. “Disturbed area” means an area where vegetation, topsoil, or overburden is removed by surface coal mining operations or upon which topsoil, spoil, coal processing waste or noncoal waste is placed. Those areas are “disturbed” until reclamation of those areas is complete and the bond or other assurance of performance is released.
18. “Head-of-hollow fill” means a fill structure consisting of any material, other than coal processing waste and organic material, placed in the uppermost reaches of a hollow where side slopes of the existing hollow measured at the steepest point are greater than twenty (20) degrees or the average slope of the profile of the hollow from the toe of the fill to the top of the fill is greater than ten (10) degrees. In fills with less than two hundred fifty thousand (250,000) cubic yards of material, associated with contour mining, the top surface of the fill will be at the elevation of the coal seam. In all other head-of-hollow fills, the top surface of the fill, when completed, is at approximately the same elevation as the adjacent ridge line, and no significant area of natural drainage occurs above the fill draining into the fill area.
20. “Hydrologic balance” means the relationship between the quality and quantity of inflow to, outflow from and storage in a hydrologic unit such as a drainage basin, aquifer, soil zone, lake, or reservoir. It encompasses the quantity and quality relationships between precipitation, runoff, evaporation, and the change in ground and surface water storage.
21. “Hydrologic regime” means the entire state of water movement in a given area. It is a function of the climate, and includes the phenomena by which water first occurs as atmospheric water vapor, passes into a liquid or solid form and falls as precipitation, moves along or into the ground surface, and returns to the atmosphere as vapor by means of evaporation and transpiration.
22. “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 requirements of this act in a surface coal mining and reclamation operation, which condition, practice, or violation 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 condition or practice giving rise to the peril, would not expose oneself to the danger during the time necessary for abatement.
24. “In situ processes” means activities conducted on the surface or underground in connection with in-place distillation, retorting, leaching, or other chemical or physical processing of coal, to include, but not be limited to, in situ gasification, in situ leaching, slurry mining, solution mining, bore hole mining and fluid recovery mining.
27. “Other minerals” means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous and nonmetalliferous ores, 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.
31. “Performance bond” means the indemnity instrument in a sum certain, supported by a surety's guarantee, pledge of collateral or other acceptable contractual guarantee, by which the permit applicant assures faithful performance of all the applicable permit requirements of this act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
33. “Permit area” means the area, including all natural and human resources, included within the boundaries specified in a permit, whether or not the areas will be impacted by surface coal mining and reclamation operations, which are designated on the approved maps submitted by the applicant with his permit application and covered by the performance and reclamation bonds as required.
36. “Prime farmland” means lands which meet the criteria of the Department, which shall prescribe criteria at least as stringent as criteria prescribed by the United States Secretary of Agriculture on the basis of such factors as moisture availability, temperature regime, chemical balance, permeability, surface layer composition, susceptibility to flooding, and erosion characteristics, and which historically have been used for intensive agricultural purposes.
37. “Reclamation” means, through the process of backfilling, regrading, topsoil replacement, reutilization, and revegetation activities, the bringing back of land to its approximate original contours and configuration, and resulting in an equal or better land use category, and shall be consistent with the existing surrounding environment.
38. “Reference areas” means land units of varying size and shape identified and maintained under appropriate management for the purpose of measuring ground cover, productivity and species diversity that are produced naturally or by crop production methods approved by the Department. Reference areas must be representative of geology, soils, slope, aspect and vegetation in the permit area.
47. “Substantially disturb” means, for purposes of coal exploration, to significantly impact upon land, air or water resources by such activities as blasting, mechanical excavation of land, drilling or altering coal or water exploratory holes or wells, construction or creation of roads and other access routes, and the placement of structures, excavated earth or other debris upon the surface of land.
a. Activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface coal mine or 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, the uses of explosives and blasting, in situ distillation or retorting, leaching or other chemical or physical processing, and the cleaning, concentrating, or other processing or preparation, loading of coal at or near the mine site. Such activities do not include the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of other minerals where coal does not exceed sixteen and two-thirds percent (16 2/3%) of the tonnage of minerals removed for the purposes of commercial use or sale or coal exploration, subject to Section 745.11 of this title, and
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 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.
a. Surface operations incident to underground extraction of coal or in situ processing, such as construction, use, maintenance, and reclamation of roads, above-ground repair areas, storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas, areas upon which are sited support facilities including hoist and ventilating ducts, areas utilized for the disposal and storage of waste, and areas on which materials incident to underground mining operations are placed, and
53. “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 act due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate any violation of such permit or the act due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care.
Credits
Laws 1979, c. 249, § 3, emerg. eff. June 1, 1979; Laws 1990, c. 260, § 32, operative July 1, 1990.
Footnotes
Title 45, § 742.1 et seq.
45 Okl. St. Ann. § 742.2, OK ST T. 45 § 742.2
Current with emergency effective legislation through Chapter 257 of the Second Regular Session of the 59th Legislature (2024). Some sections may be more current, see credits for details.
End of Document |