444.835. Permit to be granted or application to be modified or denied--notification required--requirements to be met before permit to be issued--additional items to be filed with application--exemptio
Permit to be granted or application to be modified ordenied--notification required--requirements to be met beforepermit to be issued--additional items to be filed withapplication--exemptions.
444.835. 1. Upon the basis of a complete mining applicationand reclamation plan for a permit or a revision or renewalthereof, including public notification and an opportunity for apublic hearing as required by section 444.850, the commission orthe director shall grant, require modification of, or deny theapplication for a permit and notify the applicant in writing.The applicant shall have the burden of establishing that theapplication is in compliance with all the requirements of the lawand rules and regulations. Within ten days after the granting ofa permit, the commission or the director shall notify the localgovernmental officials in the county and/or city in which thearea of land to be affected is located that a permit has beenissued and shall describe the location of the land.
2. No permit shall be approved unless the applicationaffirmatively demonstrates and the commission or the directorfinds in writing on the basis of the information set forth in theapplication or from information otherwise available which will bedocumented in the approval, and made available to the applicant,that:
(1) The permit application is accurate and complete and thatall the requirements of this law and the rules and regulationshave been complied with;
(2) The applicant has demonstrated that reclamation asrequired can be accomplished under the reclamation plan containedin the permit application;
(3) The assessment of the probable cumulative impact of allanticipated mining in the area on the hydrologic balancespecified in subsection 2 of section 444.820 has been made by thecommission and the proposed operation thereof has been designedto prevent material damage to hydrologic balance outside thepermit area;
(4) The area proposed to be mined is not included within anarea designated unsuitable for surface coal mining pursuant tosection 444.890 or is not within an area under study for suchdesignation in an administrative proceeding commenced pursuant toparagraph (c) of subdivision (4) of subsection 1 of section444.890 or section 444.890 (unless in such an area as to which anadministrative proceeding has commenced pursuant to paragraph (c)of subdivision (4) of subsection 1 of section 444.890, theoperator making the permit application demonstrates that, priorto January 1, 1977, he has made substantial legal and financialcommitments in relation to the operation for which he is applyingfor a permit);
(5) In cases where the private mineral estate has beensevered from the private surface estate, the applicant hassubmitted to the commission:
(a) The written consent of the surface owner to theextraction of coal by surface mining methods; or
(b) A conveyance that expressly grants or reserves the rightto extract the coal by surface mining methods; or
(c) If the conveyance does not expressly grant the right toextract coal by surface mining methods, the surface-subsurfacelegal relationship shall be determined by a final court decree;provided, that nothing in this law shall be construed toauthorize the commission to adjudicate property rights disputes.
3. The applicant shall file with his permit application aschedule listing any and all notices of violations of this lawand any law, rule, or regulation of this state or the UnitedStates, or of any department or agency in this state or theUnited States pertaining to air or water environmental protectionincurred by the applicant in connection with any surface coalmining operation during the three-year period prior to the dateof application. The schedule shall also indicate the finalresolution of any such notice of violation. Where the scheduleor other information available to the commission indicates thatany surface coal mining operation owned or controlled by theapplicant is currently in violation of this law, Public Law95-87, or such other laws referred to in this subsection, thepermit shall not be issued until the applicant submits proof thatsuch violation has been corrected or is in the process of beingcorrected to the satisfaction of the commission, department, oragency which has jurisdiction over such violation and no permitshall be issued to an applicant after a finding by thecommission, after opportunity for hearing, that the applicant, orthe operator specified in the application, controls or hascontrolled mining operations with a demonstrated pattern ofwillful violations of this law of such nature and duration withsuch resulting irreparable damage to the environment as toindicate an intent not to comply with the provisions of this law.
4. (1) In addition to finding the application in compliancewith subsection 2 of this section, if the area proposed to bemined contains prime farmland pursuant to subdivision (16) ofsubsection 2 of section 444.820, the commission or the directorshall, after consultation with the United States Secretary ofAgriculture, and pursuant to regulations issued hereunder by thecommission, grant a permit to mine on prime farmland if thecommission or the director finds in writing that the operator hasthe technological capability to restore such mined area, within areasonable time, to equivalent or higher levels of yield asnonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalentlevels of management and can meet the soil reconstructionstandards in subdivision (7) of subsection 2 of section 444.855.
(2) Nothing in this subsection shall apply to any permitissued prior to September 28, 1979, or to any revisions orrenewals thereof, or to any existing surface mining operationsfor which a permit was issued prior to September 28, 1979.
(L. 1979 H.B. 459)