444.890. Commission to designate areas unsuitable for surface mining--review required--excepted lands--procedure.
Commission to designate areas unsuitable for surface mining--reviewrequired--excepted lands--procedure.
444.890. 1. (1) The commission shall establish a planningprocess enabling objective decisions based upon competent andscientifically sound data and information as to which, if any,land areas are unsuitable for all or certain types of surfacecoal mining operations pursuant to the standards set forth insubdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection but such designationshall not prevent the mineral exploration of any area sodesignated.
(2) Upon petition pursuant to subsection 2 of this section,the commission shall designate an area as unsuitable for all orcertain types of surface coal mining operations if the commissiondetermines that reclamation is not technologically andeconomically feasible.
(3) Upon petition pursuant to subsection 2 of this section,a surface area may be designated unsuitable for certain types ofsurface coal mining operations if such operations will:
(a) Be incompatible with existing state or local land useplans or programs; or
(b) Affect fragile or historic lands in which suchoperations could result in significant damage to importanthistoric, cultural, scientific, and esthetic values and naturalsystems; or
(c) Affect renewable resource lands in which such operationscould result in a substantial loss or reduction of long-rangeproductivity of water supply or of food or fiber products, andsuch lands to include aquifers and aquifer recharge areas; or
(d) Affect natural hazard lands in which such operationscould substantially endanger life and property, such lands toinclude areas subject to frequent flooding and areas of unstablegeology;
(4) To provide for surface coal mining lands review, thecommission shall:
(a) Develop a data base and an inventory system which willpermit proper evaluation of the capacity of different land areasof the state to support and permit reclamation of surface coalmining operations;
(b) Develop a method or methods for implementing land useplanning decisions, concerning surface coal mining operations;and
(c) Provide proper notice and opportunities for publicparticipation, including a public hearing prior to making anydesignation or redesignation, pursuant to this section.
(5) Determinations of the unsuitability of land for surfacecoal mining shall be integrated as closely as possible withpresent and future land use planning and regulation processes atthe federal, state, and local levels.
(6) The requirements of this section shall not apply tolands on which surface coal mining operations are being conductedon September 28, 1979, or under a permit issued pursuant to thislaw, or where substantial legal and financial commitments in suchoperation were in existence prior to January 4, 1977.
2. Any person having an interest which is or may beadversely affected shall have the right to petition thecommission to have an area designated as unsuitable for surfacecoal mining operations, or to have such a designation terminated.Such a petition shall contain allegations of facts withsupporting evidence which would tend to establish theallegations. Within ten months after receipt of the petition thecommission shall hold a public hearing in the locality of theaffected area, after appropriate notice and publication of thedate, time, and location of such hearing. After a person havingan interest which is or may be adversely affected has filed apetition and before the hearing, any person may intervene byfiling allegations of facts with supporting evidence which wouldtend to establish the allegations. Within sixty days after suchhearing, the commission shall issue and furnish to thepetitioner, and any other party to the hearing, a writtendecision regarding the petition, and the reasons therefor. Inthe event that all the petitioners stipulate agreement prior tothe requested hearing, and withdraw their request, such hearingneed not be held.
3. Prior to designating any land areas as unsuitable forsurface coal mining operations, the commission shall prepare adetailed statement on
(1) The potential coal resources of the area;
(2) The demand for coal resources; and
(3) The impact of such designation on the environment, theeconomy, and the supply of coal.
4. After September 28, 1979, and subject to valid existingrights, no surface coal mining operations except those whichexist on September 28, 1979, shall be permitted:
(1) On any lands within the boundaries of units of theNational Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge Systems, theNational System of Trails, the National Wilderness PreservationSystem, the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, including study riversdesignated under section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Actand National Recreation Areas designated by Act of Congress;
(2) On any federal lands within the boundaries of anynational forest unless permitted by the United States Secretaryof the Interior;
(3) Which will adversely affect any publicly owned park orplaces included in the National Register of Historic Sites unlessapproved jointly by the commission and the federal, state, orlocal agency with jurisdiction over the park or the historicsite;
(4) Within one hundred feet of the outside right-of-way lineof any public road, except where mine access roads or haulageroads join such right-of-way line and except that the commissionmay permit such roads to be relocated or the area affected to liewithin one hundred feet of such road, if after public notice andopportunity for public hearing in the locality a written findingis made that the interests of the public and the landownersaffected thereby will be protected; or
(5) Within three hundred feet from any occupied dwelling,unless waived by the owner thereof, nor within three hundred feetof any public building, school, church, community, orinstitutional building, public park, or within one hundred feetof a cemetery.
(L. 1979 H.B. 459)