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350.010 Definitions for chapter.
As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) "Surface coal mining operations" means activities conducted on the surface of
lands in connection with a surface coal mine and surface impacts incident to an
underground coal mine. The activities shall include excavation for the purpose
of obtaining coal, including such common methods as contour, strip, auger,
extended depth secondary recovery systems, mountaintop removal, box cut,
open pit, and area mining, the use of explosives and blasting, and in situ
distillation or retorting, leaching, or other chemical or physical processing, and
cleaning, concentrating, or other processing or preparation, and the loading of
coal at or near the mine site. Excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal
includes extraction of coal from refuse piles. The activities shall not include the
extraction of coal by a landowner of fifty (50) tons or less within twelve (12)
successive calendar months for his own noncommercial use from land owned
or leased by him; the extraction of twenty-five (25) to two hundred fifty (250)
tons of coal as an incidental part of privately financed construction where the
coal is donated to a charitable or educational organization for noncommercial
use or noncommercial distribution; the extraction of coal as an incidental part of
federal, state, or local government financed highway or other construction
under administrative regulations established by the cabinet; the extraction of,
or intent to extract, twenty-five (25) tons or less of coal by any person by
surface coal mining operations within twelve (12) successive calendar months;
the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of other minerals where coal
does not exceed sixteen and two-thirds percent (16-2/3%) of the tonnage of
minerals removed for purposes of commercial use or sale; or coal exploration
subject to KRS 350.057. Surface coal mining operations shall also include the
areas upon which the activities occur or where the activities disturb the natural
land surface. The areas shall also include any adjacent land, the use of which
is incidental to the activities, all lands affected by the construction of new roads
or the improvement or use of existing 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,
storage areas, 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. This definition shall include the terms
"strip mining" of coal and the "surface effects of underground mining" of coal as
used in this chapter;
(2) "Strip mining" means the breaking of the surface soil in order to facilitate or
accomplish the extraction or removal of minerals, ores, or other solid matter;
any activity or process constituting all or part of a process for the extraction or
removal of minerals, ores, and other solid matter from its original location; and
the preparation, washing, cleaning, or other treatment of minerals, ores, or
other solid matter so as to make them suitable for commercial, industrial, or
construction use; but shall not include the extraction of coal by a landowner for
his own noncommercial use of fifty (50) tons or less within twelve (12)
successive calendar months from land owned or leased by him; the extraction
of coal as an incidental part of federal, state, or local government financed
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highway or other construction under administrative regulations established by
the cabinet; the extraction of, or intent to extract, twenty-five (25) tons or less of
coal by any person by surface coal mining operations within twelve (12)
successive calendar months; the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction
of other minerals where coal does not exceed sixteen and two-thirds percent
(16-2/3%) of the tonnage of minerals removed for purposes of commercial use
or sale; coal exploration subject to KRS 350.057; nor shall it include the
surface effects or surface impacts of underground coal mining;
"Surface coal mining and reclamation operations" means surface coal mining
operations and all activities necessary and incident to the reclamation of the
operations as required by this chapter;
"Overburden" means material of any nature, consolidated or unconsolidated,
excluding topsoil, which lies above a natural deposit of coal and also means
the material after removal from its natural state in the process of surface coal
mining;
"Area of land affected" means any area of land or water upon which surface
coal mining and reclamation operations are conducted or located or are to be
conducted or located;
"Operations" means surface coal mining operations, all of the premises,
facilities, roads, and equipment used in the process of producing coal from a
designated area or removing overburden for the purpose of determining the
location, quality, or quantity of a natural coal deposit or the activity to facilitate
or accomplish the extraction or the removal of coal;
"Method of operation" means the method or manner by which the cut or open
pit is made, the overburden is placed or handled, water is controlled, and other
acts are performed by the operator in the process of uncovering and removing
the coal;
"Operator" means any person, partnership, or corporation engaged in surface
coal mining operations who removes or intends to remove more than
twenty-five (25) tons of coal from the earth by coal mining within twelve (12)
consecutive calendar months in any one (1) location;
"Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, society,
joint stock company, firm, company, or other business organization and shall
also include any agency, unit, or instrumentality of federal, state, or local
government including any publicly-owned utility or publicly-owned corporation
of federal, state, or local government;
"Cabinet" means the Energy and Environment Cabinet;
"Secretary" means the secretary of the Energy and Environment Cabinet;
"Reclamation" means the reconditioning of the area affected by surface coal
mining operations under a plan approved by the cabinet;
"Degree" when used in this chapter shall mean from the horizontal, and in each
case shall be subject to a tolerance of five percent (5%) of error;
"Bench" means the ledge, shelf, or terrace formed in the contour method of
strip mining;
"Approximate original contour" means that surface configuration achieved by
backfilling and grading of the mined area so that the reclaimed area, including
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any terracing or access roads, closely resembles the general surface
configuration of the land prior to mining and blends into and complements the
drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain, with all highwalls and spoil piles
eliminated; water impoundments may be permitted where the cabinet
determines that they are in compliance with KRS 350.455;
"Certification" by a qualified registered professional engineer, as required by
this chapter and administrative regulations promulgated hereunder, means a
good faith representation to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, based
on adequate knowledge of the requirements of this chapter and administrative
regulations promulgated hereunder, related experience, best professional
judgment, accepted engineering practices and recognized professional
standards, and standard practice as it relates to direct participation by the
registered professional engineer or supervision of the registered professional
engineer's employees or subordinates. Certification shall not be construed to
constitute a warranty or guarantee;
"Reclamation development fund" means only that reconditioning of land
affected by surface mining, which will directly promote and benefit the fund
administered by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority to
foster economic development on surface mining land;
"Reclamation development project" means only that reconditioning of land
affected by surface mining, which will directly promote and benefit an economic
undertaking which constitutes a project under KRS 154.1-010(20);
"Reclamation development plan" means a plan submitted to the cabinet to
show compliance with reclamation standards, and submitted to the Kentucky
Economic Development Finance Authority to seek moneys from the
reclamation development fund for a reclamation development project;
"Permit applicant" or "applicant" means a person applying for a permit;
"Permittee" means a person holding a permit to conduct surface coal mining
and reclamation operations;
"Unanticipated event or condition" as used in KRS 350.085(7) means an event
or condition encountered in a remining operation that was not contemplated by
the applicable surface coal mining and reclamation permit;
"Lands eligible for remining" means those lands that would otherwise be
eligible for expenditures under KRS 350.560(1) or (2);
"Coal combustion by-products" means fly ash, bottom ash, scrubber sludge,
and waste from fluidized bed combustion, produced by the combustion of coal.
Coal combustion by-products do not include boiler slag, or residues of refuse
derived fuels, such as municipal solid waste, tires, and solvents;
"NAD 83" means the North American Datum, 1983 version, in feet units; and
"Single Zone Projection" means the Kentucky Single Zone State Plane
Coordinate System of 1983, based on the Lambert Conformal map projection
with double standard parallels on the North American Datum, as established in
10 KAR 5:010.
Effective:July 15, 2010
History: Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 1873, effective July 15, 2010. -Amended 2009 Ky. Acts ch. 79, sec. 10, effective June 25, 2009. -- Amended
2005 Ky. Acts ch. 123, sec. 49, effective June 20, 2005. -- Amended 1994 Ky.
Acts ch. 172, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1994; ch. 178, sec. 1, effective July 15,
1994; ch. 390, sec. 35, effective July 15, 1994; and ch. 459, sec. 1, effective
July 15, 1994.
Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 105, sec. 59; ch. 107, sec. 15;
ch. 120, sec. 1; ch. 429, sec. 1. -- Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 105, sec. 59,
effective July 14, 1992, ch. 107; sec. 15, effective July 1, 1992; ch. 120, sec. 1;
effective July 14, 1992; and ch. 429, sec. 1, effective July 14, 1992. -- Amended
1990 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1990; and ch. 306, sec. 4,
effective July 13, 1990. -- Amended 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 383, sec. 18, effective
July 15, 1988. -- Amended 1984 Ky. Acts ch. 145, sec. 5, effective March 28,
1984. -- Amended 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 283, sec. 1, effective April 2, 1982; and
ch. 357, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982. -- Amended 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 62,
sec. 1, effective March 21, 1980. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 330, sec. 14,
effective May 3, 1978. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 74, Art. III, sec. 13(2), (7).
-- Amended 1972 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 3, sec. 58. -- Amended 1972
Ky. Acts ch. 270, sec. 1. -- Amended 1968 Ky. Acts ch. 152, sec. 149. -Amended 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 4, sec. 1. -- Amended 1964 Ky. Acts ch. 61, sec. 1.
-- Amended 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 105, sec. 1. -- Amended 1960 Ky. Acts ch. 143,
sec. 3. -- Amended 1956 (lst Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 7, Art. VII, sec. 1. -Created 1954 Ky. Acts ch. 8, sec. 1.
Legislative Research Commission Note (2/9/99). Under KRS 7.136(1)(e), the
prior reference to "KRS 154.01-010(19)" in subsection (18) of this statute has
been changed to "KRS 154.01-010(20)" (renumbered as KRS 154.1-010(20) in
2013) because of the renumbering of the referenced subsection in 1996 Ky.
Acts ch. 113, sec. 6.
Legislative Research Commission Note (7/14/92). This section was amended by
four 1992 Acts. Where those Acts are not in conflict, they have been compiled
together. Where a conflict exists, the Act which prevails is ch. 105 pursuant to
sec. 79 of that Act.
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