444.820. Permit fees--contents of application--confidential items--copy to be filed with recorder of deeds--insurance required.
Permit fees--contents of application--confidential items--copy to befiled with recorder of deeds--insurance required.
444.820. 1. Each application for a permit shall beaccompanied by a fee:
(1) For new surface coal mining permits there shall be aninitial fee of one hundred dollars, plus an acreage fee of eitherthirty-five dollars or such different amount as determined byregulation of the commission, for each acre or fraction thereofof the permit area. Any acreage fee determined by the commissionshall reflect the costs of administering and enforcing this lawand the regulations adopted hereunder, making allowance forfederal grants and other sources of funds, surplus moneys in themined land conservation fund credited to this law, andcontingencies. For multiple-year permits, the acreage fee shallbe paid annually by dividing the total acres in the permit areaby the number of years covered by the permit and multiplying thatnumber by that year's acreage fee, and, after the first year,there shall be an annual fee of one hundred dollars. For thefirst year of any new permit, the first year's fees shall be paidwith the permit application. Thereafter, through the term of thepermit, the annual fee and acreage fee shall be paid as acondition to and prior to operating for that permit year. Theacreage fee shall be paid only once on any given acre, except inthe case of a revocation; and an allowance shall be given for anyacreage fee previously paid for a permit under sections 444.500to 444.755 when the land was not disturbed under said permit;
(2) For permit renewal there shall be a basic fee of onehundred dollars for each year of renewal, to be paid annually;
(3) For permit revision there shall be a basic applicationfee of one hundred dollars;
(4) For application of a successor to a permit there shallbe a basic fee of one hundred dollars;
(5) For coal exploration permits there shall be anapplication fee of one hundred dollars;
(6) For surface effects of underground mining there shall bea fee determined as in subdivision (1) of this subsection;
(7) For reinstatement of a permit after suspension thereshall be a fee of one hundred dollars;
(8) Any land disturbed subsequent to revocation of a permitwhich included such land, shall require a new permit applicationand fees paid as determined in subdivision (1) of thissubsection, whether such land is to be disturbed by the sameoperator or a different operator.
2. The permit application shall be submitted in a mannersatisfactory to the commission or the director and shall containamong other things:
(1) The names and addresses of:
(a) The permit applicant;
(b) Every legal owner of record of the property (surface andmineral) to be mined;
(c) The holders of record of any leasehold interest in theproperty;
(d) Any purchaser of record of the property under a realestate contract;
(e) The operator if he is a person different from theapplicant; and
(f) If any of these are business entities other than asingle proprietor, the names and addresses of the principals,officers, and resident agent;
(2) The names and addresses of the owners of record of allsurface and subsurface areas adjacent to any part of the permitarea;
(3) A statement of any current or previous surface coalmining permits in the United States held by the applicant and thepermit identification and each pending application;
(4) If the applicant is a partnership, corporation,association, or other business entity, the following whereapplicable: The names and addresses of every officer, partner,director, or person performing a function similar to a director,of the applicant, together with the name and address of anyperson owning, of record, 10 percentum or more of any class ofvoting stock of the applicant and a list of all names under whichthe applicant, partner, or principal shareholder previouslyoperated a surface mining operation within the United Stateswithin the five-year period preceding the date of submission ofthe application;
(5) A statement of whether the applicant, any subsidiary,affiliate, or persons controlled by or under common control withthe applicant, has ever held a federal or state mining permitwhich in the five-year period prior to the date of submission ofthe application has been suspended or revoked or has had a miningbond or similar security deposited in lieu of bond forfeited and,if so, an explanation of the facts involved;
(6) A copy of the applicant's advertisement to be publishedin a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of theproposed site at least once a week for four successive weeks, andwhich includes the ownership, a description of the exact locationand boundaries of the proposed site sufficient so that theproposed operation is readily locatable by local residents, andthe location of where the application is available for publicinspection;
(7) A description of the type and method of coal miningoperation that exists or is proposed, the engineering techniquesproposed or used, and the equipment used or proposed to be used;
(8) The anticipated or actual starting and termination datesof each phase of the mining operation and number of acres of landto be affected;
(9) An accurate map or plan, to an appropriate scale,clearly showing the land to be affected as of the date of theapplication, the area of land within the permit area upon whichthe applicant has the legal right to enter and commence surfacemining operations and a statement of those documents upon whichthe applicant bases his legal right to enter and commence surfacemining operations on the area affected, and whether that right isthe subject of pending court litigation; provided, that nothingin this law shall be construed as vesting in the commission thejurisdiction to adjudicate property title disputes;
(10) The name of the watershed and location of the surfacestream or tributary into which surface and pit drainage will bedischarged;
(11) A determination of the probable hydrologic consequencesof the mining and reclamation operations, both on and off themine site, with respect to the hydrologic regime, quantity andquality of water in surface and ground water systems includingthe dissolved and suspended solids under seasonal flow conditionsand the collection of sufficient data for the mine site andsurrounding areas so that an assessment can be made by thecommission of the probable cumulative impacts of all anticipatedmining in the area upon the hydrology of the area andparticularly upon water availability; provided, however, thatthis determination shall not be required until such time ashydrologic information on the general area prior to mining ismade available from an appropriate federal or state agency orperson qualified by training or experience to develop suchinformation; provided further, that the permit shall not beapproved until such information is available and is incorporatedinto the application;
(12) When requested by the commission, the climatologicalfactors that are peculiar to the locality of the land to beaffected, including the average seasonal precipitation, theaverage direction and velocity of prevailing winds, and theseasonal temperature ranges;
(13) Accurate maps to an appropriate scale clearly showing(a) the land to be affected as of the date of application and (b)all types of information set forth on topographical maps of theUnited States Geological Survey of a scale of 1:24,000 or1:25,000 or larger, including all manmade features andsignificant known archeological sites existing on the date ofapplication. Such a map or plan shall, among other thingsspecified by the commission, show all boundaries of the land tobe affected, the boundary lines and names of present owners ofrecord of all surface areas abutting the permit area, and thelocation of all buildings within one thousand feet of the permitarea;
(14) Cross-section maps or plans of the land to be affected,including the actual area to be mined, prepared by or under thedirection of and certified by a qualified registered professionalengineer, or qualified registered land surveyor, or professionalgeologist with assistance from experts in related fields such asland surveying and landscape architecture, showing pertinentelevation and location of test borings or core samplings anddepicting the following information: The nature and depth of thevarious strata of overburden; the location of subsurface water,if encountered, and its quality; the nature and thickness of anycoal or rider seam above the coal seam to be mined; the nature ofthe stratum immediately beneath the coal seam to be mined; allmineral crop lines and the strike and dip of the coal to bemined, within the area of land to be affected; existing orprevious surface mining limits; the location and extent of knownworkings of any underground mines, including mine openings to thesurface; the location of aquifers; the estimated elevation of thewater table; the location of spoil, waste, or refuse areas andtopsoil preservation areas; the location of all impoundments forwaste or erosion control; any settling or water treatmentfacility; constructed or natural drainways and the location ofany discharges to any surface body of water on the area of landto be affected or adjacent thereto; and profiles at appropriatecross-sections of the anticipated final surface configurationthat will be achieved pursuant to the operator's proposedreclamation plan;
(15) A statement of the result of test borings or coresamplings from the permit area, including logs of the drillholes; the thickness of the coal seam found, an analysis of thechemical properties of such coal; the sulfur content of any coalseam; chemical analysis of potentially acid or toxic formingsections of the overburden; and chemical analysis of the stratumlying immediately underneath the coal to be mined except that theprovisions of this subdivision may be waived by the commissionwith respect to the specific application by a writtendetermination that such requirements are unnecessary;
(16) For those lands in the permit application which areconnaissance inspection suggests may be prime farm lands, asoil survey shall be made or obtained according to standardsestablished by the United States Secretary of Agriculture inorder to confirm the exact location of such prime farm lands, ifany;
(17) The written consent of the applicant and any otherpersons necessary to grant access to the commission or thedirector to the area of land affected under application from thedate of application until the expiration of any permit grantedunder the application and thereafter for such time as isnecessary to assure compliance with all provisions of this law orany rule or regulation promulgated under them.
3. Information pertaining to coal seams, test borings, coresamplings, or soil samples as required by this section shall bemade available to any person with an interest which is or may beadversely affected; provided, that information which pertainsonly to the analysis of the chemical and physical properties ofthe coal (excepting information regarding such mineral orelemental content which is potentially toxic in the environment)shall be kept confidential and not made a matter of publicrecord.
4. If the commission finds that the probable total annualproduction at all locations of any coal surface mining operatorwill not exceed one hundred thousand tons, the determination ofprobable hydrologic consequences required by subdivision (11) ofsubsection 2 and the statement of the result of test borings orcore samplings required by subdivision (15) of subsection 2 ofthis section shall, upon the written request of the operator, beperformed by a qualified public or private laboratory designatedby the commission, and the cost of the preparation of suchdetermination and statement shall be assumed by the commission.
5. Each applicant for a permit shall be required to submitto the commission as part of the permit application a reclamationplan which shall meet the requirements of this law.
6. Each applicant for a permit shall, simultaneous to filingwith the commission, file a copy of his application for publicinspection with the recorder of deeds at the courthouse of thecounty where the mining is proposed to occur, except for thatinformation pertaining to the coal seam itself.
7. Each applicant for a permit shall be required to submitto the commission as part of the permit application a certificateissued by an insurance company authorized to do business in thestate certifying that the applicant has a public liabilityinsurance policy in force for the surface mining and reclamationoperations for which such permit is sought. Such policy shallprovide for personal injury and property damage protection in anamount adequate to compensate any persons damaged as a result ofsurface coal mining and reclamation operations including use ofexplosives. Such policy shall be maintained in full force andeffect during the terms of the permit or any renewal, includingthe length of all reclamation operations.
8. Each applicant for a permit shall submit to thecommission as part of the permit application a blasting planwhich shall outline the procedures and standards by which theoperator will meet the provisions of subdivision (15) ofsubsection 2 of section 444.855.
(L. 1979 H.B. 459, A.L. 1980 H.B. 1839)Effective 5-9-80
CROSS REFERENCE:
Additional information to be filed with application, RSMo 444.835