444.800. Citation of law--legislative intent declared--rules and regulations authorized, procedure.
Citation of law--legislative intent declared--rules and regulationsauthorized, procedure.
444.800. 1. This law, sections 444.800 to 444.940, may be known andcited as the "Surface Coal Mining Law".
2. The general assembly finds and declares that:
(1) Extraction of coal from the earth can be accomplished by variousmethods of mining, including surface mining;
(2) Coal mining operations presently contribute significantly to thestate's energy requirements;
(3) Many surface mining operations result in disturbances of surfaceareas that burden and adversely affect the public welfare by destroying ordiminishing the utility of land for commercial, industrial, residential,recreational, agricultural, and forestry purposes, by causing erosion andlandslides, by contributing to floods, by polluting the water, bydestroying fish and wildlife habitats, by impairing natural beauty, bydamaging the property of citizens, by creating hazards dangerous to lifeand property by degrading the quality of life in local communities, and bycounteracting governmental programs and efforts to conserve soil, water,and other natural resources;
(4) The expansion of coal mining to meet energy needs makes even moreurgent the establishment of appropriate standards to minimize damage to theenvironment and to productivity of the soil and to protect the health andsafety of the public; and
(5) Surface mining and reclamation technology are now developed sothat effective and reasonable regulation of surface coal mining operationsis an appropriate and necessary means to minimize so far as practicable theadverse social, economic, and environmental effects of such miningoperations.
3. Therefore, it is the purpose of this law to:
(1) Provide such regulation and control of surface coal mining as tominimize or prevent its injurious effects on the people and resources ofthe state;
(2) Assure that the rights of surface landowners and other personswith a legal interest in the land or appurtenances thereto are fullyprotected from such operations;
(3) Assure that surface coal mining operations are not conductedwhere reclamation is not feasible;
(4) Assure that surface coal mining operations are so conducted as toprotect the environment;
(5) Assure that adequate procedures are undertaken to reclaim surfaceareas as contemporaneously as possible with the surface coal miningoperations;
(6) Assure that the coal supply essential to the state's energyrequirements, and to its economic and social well-being is provided andstrike a balance between protection of the environment and agriculturalproductivity and the need for coal as an essential source of energy;
(7) Promote the reclamation of mined areas left without adequatereclamation prior to August 3, 1977, and which continue, in theirunreclaimed condition, to substantially degrade the quality of theenvironment, prevent or damage the beneficial use of land or waterresources, or endanger the health or safety of the public;
(8) Assure that appropriate procedures are provided for the publicparticipation in the development, revision, and enforcement of regulations,standards, reclamation plans, or programs.
4. To that end, the commission is directed to rigidly enforce thislaw and to adopt whatever rules and regulations necessary to accomplishthese purposes, but such rules and regulations shall be no more stringentthan the comparable federal regulations promulgated by the Office ofSurface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement under P.L. 95-87, the FederalSurface Coal Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, unless it can beaffirmatively shown that such more stringent rule or regulation isessential to the proper administration and enforcement of this law.
(L. 1979 H.B. 459, A.L. 1987 H.B. 669, A.L. 1995 S.B. 3)