State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Utah > Title-40 > Chapter-10 > 40-10-340-10-3. Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter:
(1) "Adjudicative proceeding" means:
(a) a division or board action or proceeding determining the legal rights, duties,privileges, immunities, or other legal interests of one or more identifiable persons, includingactions to grant, deny, revoke, suspend, modify, annul, withdraw, or amend an authority, right,permit, or license; or
(b) judicial review of a division or board action or proceeding specified in Subsection(1)(a).
(2) "Alluvial valley floors" mean the unconsolidated stream laid deposits holding streamswhere water availability is sufficient for subirrigation or flood irrigation agricultural activities butdoes not include upland areas which are generally overlain by a thin veneer of colluvial depositscomposed chiefly of debris from sheet erosion, deposits by unconcentrated runoff or slope wash,together with talus, other mass movement accumulation and windblown deposits.
(3) "Approximate original contour" means that surface configuration achieved bybackfilling and grading of the mined area so that the reclaimed area, including any terracing oraccess roads, closely resembles the general surface configuration of the land prior to mining andblends into and complements the drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain, with all highwallsand spoil piles eliminated; but water impoundments may be permitted where the divisiondetermines that they are in compliance with Subsection 40-10-17(2)(h).
(4) "Board" means the Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining and the board shall not be definedas an employee of the division.
(5) "Division" means the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining.
(6) "Imminent danger to the health and safety of the public" means the existence of anycondition or practice, or any violation of a permit or other requirement of this chapter in a surfacecoal mining and reclamation operation, which condition, practice, or violation could reasonablybe expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons outside the permit area before thecondition, practice, or violation can be abated. A reasonable expectation of death or seriousinjury before abatement exists if a rational person, subjected to the same conditions or practicesgiving rise to the peril, would not expose himself or herself to the danger during the timenecessary for abatement.
(7) "Employee" means those individuals in the employ of the division and excludes theboard.
(8) "Lands eligible for remining" means those lands that would otherwise be eligible forexpenditures under Section 40-10-25 or 40-10-25.1.
(9) "Operator" means any person, partnership, or corporation engaged in coal miningwho removes or intends to remove more than 250 tons of coal from the earth by coal miningwithin 12 consecutive calendar months in any one location.
(10) "Other minerals" mean clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous and nonmetalliferousores, and any other solid material or substances of commercial value excavated in solid orsolution form from natural deposits on or in the earth, exclusive of coal and those minerals whichoccur naturally in liquid or gaseous form.
(11) "Permit" means a permit to conduct surface coal mining and reclamation operationsissued by the division.
(12) "Permit applicant" or "applicant" means a person applying for a permit.
(13) "Permitting agency" means the division.
(14) "Permit area" means the area of land indicated on the approved map submitted bythe operator with his application, which area of land shall be covered by the operator's bond asrequired by Section 40-10-15 and shall be readily identifiable by appropriate markers on the site.
(15) "Permittee" means a person holding a permit.
(16) "Person" means an individual, partnership, association, society, joint stockcompany, firm, company, corporation, or other governmental or business organization.
(17) "Prime farmland" means the same as prescribed by the United States Department ofAgriculture on the basis of such factors as moisture availability, temperature regime, chemicalbalance, permeability, surface layer composition, susceptibility to flooding, and erosioncharacteristics.
(18) "Reclamation plan" means a plan submitted by an applicant for a permit which setsforth a plan for reclamation of the proposed surface coal mining operations pursuant to Section40-10-10.
(19) "Surface coal mining and reclamation operations" mean surface mining operationsand all activities necessary and incident to the reclamation of these operations after the effectivedate of this chapter.
(20) "Surface coal mining operations" mean:
(a) Activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface coal mine orsubject to the requirements of Section 40-10-18, surface operations and surface impacts incidentto an underground coal mine, the products of which enter commerce or the operations of whichdirectly or indirectly affect interstate commerce. These activities include excavation for thepurpose of obtaining coal, including such common methods as contour, strip, auger, mountaintopremoval box cut, open pit, and area mining, the uses of explosives and blasting, and in situdistillation or retorting, leaching or other chemical or physical processing, and the cleaning,concentrating, or other processing or preparation, loading of coal for interstate commerce at ornear the mine site; but these activities do not include the extraction of coal incidental to theextraction of other minerals where coal does not exceed 16-2/3% of the tonnage of mineralsremoved for purposes of commercial use or sale or coal explorations subject to Section 40-10-8.
(b) The areas upon which the activities occur or where the activities disturb the naturalland surface. These areas shall also include any adjacent land the use of which is incidental tothe activities, all lands affected by the construction of new roads or the improvement or use ofexisting roads to gain access to the site of the 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, storageareas, 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 the activities.
(21) "Unanticipated event or condition" means an event or condition encountered in aremining operation that was not contemplated by the applicable surface coal mining andreclamation permit.
(22) "Unwarranted failure to comply" means the failure of a permittee to prevent theoccurrence of any violation of his permit or any requirement of this chapter due to indifference,lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate any violation of the permit orthis chapter due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care.
Amended by Chapter 324, 2010 General Session
