State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Utah > Title-40 > Chapter-10 > 40-10-1140-10-11. Division action on permit application -- Requirements for approval --List of applicant's mining law violation -- Restoration of prime farmland.
(1) (a) (i) After a complete mining application and reclamation plan or a revision orrenewal of an application and plan is submitted to the division as required by this chapter and thepublic is notified and given an opportunity for a hearing as required by Section 40-10-13, thedivision shall grant, require modification of, or deny the permit application.
(ii) The division shall make its decision within a reasonable time set by the division andnotify the applicant in writing.
(b) The applicant for a permit, or a revision of a permit shall have the burden ofestablishing that the application is in compliance with all requirements of this chapter.
(c) Within 10 days after the granting of a permit, the division shall provide to the localgovernmental officials in the local political subdivision in which the area of affected land islocated:
(i) notification that a permit has been issued; and
(ii) a description of the location of the land.
(2) No permit or revision application shall be approved unless the applicationaffirmatively demonstrates and the division finds in writing on the basis of the information setforth in the application, or from information otherwise available which will be documented in theapproval and made available to the applicant, that:
(a) the permit application is accurate and complete and that all requirements of thischapter have been complied with;
(b) the applicant has demonstrated that the reclamation requirements under this chaptercan 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 areaon the hydrologic balance specified in Subsection 40-10-10(2)(c) has been made by the divisionand the proposed operation has been designed to prevent material damage to the hydrologicbalance 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
(ii) under study for this designation in an administrative proceeding commenced underSubsection 40-10-24(2), unless the operator demonstrates that prior to January 1, 1977,substantial legal and financial commitments were made to the operation;
(e) the proposed surface coal mining operation would not:
(i) interrupt, discontinue, or preclude farming on alluvial valley floors that are irrigatedor naturally subirrigated other than on:
(A) undeveloped range lands that are not significant to farming on alluvial valley floors;or
(B) lands which the division finds are of such small acreage that if farming is interrupted,discontinued, or precluded, the impact on the farm's agricultural production will be negligible; or
(ii) materially damage the quantity or quality of water in surface or underground watersystems that supply 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 alluvialvalley floors or had obtained specific permit approval by the division to conduct surface coalmining operations within these alluvial valley floors; and
(f) if the private mineral estate has been severed from the private surface estate, theapplicant has submitted to the division:
(i) the written consent of the surface owner to the extraction of coal by surface miningmethods provided that nothing in this Subsection (2) shall be construed to:
(A) increase or diminish any property right established under the laws of the state; 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 surfacemining methods; or
(iii) documentation consistent with state law that establishes the status of thesurface-subsurface legal relationship.
(3) (a) (i) The applicant shall file with the permit application a list of any notices ofviolations of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 or its implementingregulations, this chapter, any state or federal program or law approved under the Surface MiningControl and Reclamation Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. Sec. 1201 et seq., and any law, rule, orregulation of the United States, State of Utah, or any department or agency in the United Statespertaining to air or water environmental protection incurred by the applicant in connection withany surface coal mining operation during the three-year period prior to the date of application.
(ii) The list required in Subsection (3)(a)(i) shall also indicate the final resolution of anynotice of violation.
(b) If the list or other information available to the division indicates that any surface coalmining operation owned or controlled by the applicant is currently in violation of this chapter orother laws and regulations referred to in this Subsection (3), the permit shall not be issued untilthe applicant submits proof that the violation has been corrected or is in the process of beingcorrected to the satisfaction of the division, department, or agency which has jurisdiction over theviolation.
(c) No permit shall be issued to an applicant after a finding by the board, afteropportunity for hearing, that the applicant, or the operator specified in the application, controls orhas 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., theimplementing federal regulations, any state or federal programs enacted under the SurfaceMining Control and Reclamation Act, or other provisions of the approved Utah program of suchnature and duration with such resulting irreparable damage to the environment as to indicate anintent not to comply with the provisions of this chapter.
(4) (a) (i) In addition to finding the application in compliance with Subsection (2), if thearea proposed to be mined contains prime farmland pursuant to division rules, the division shallgrant a permit to mine on prime farmland if the division finds in writing that the operator has thetechnological capability to restore the mined area within a reasonable time to an equivalent orhigher level of yield as nonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalent levelsof management and can meet the soil reconstruction standards specified in division rules.
(ii) Except for compliance with Subsection (2), the requirements of this subsection shallapply to all permits issued after August 3, 1977.
(b) This Subsection (4) shall not apply to any permit issued prior to August 3, 1977, or toany revisions or renewals of the permit, or to any existing surface mining operations for which apermit was issued prior to August 3, 1977.
(5) (a) After October 24, 1992, the prohibition of Subsection (3) shall not apply to a
permit application if the violation resulted from an unanticipated event or condition that occurredat a surface coal mining operation on lands eligible for remining under a permit held by theperson making the application.
(b) As used in this Subsection (5), the term "violation" has the same meaning as the termhas under Subsection (3).
Amended by Chapter 309, 2009 General Session
