2013 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 350 - SURFACE COAL MINING 350.518 Permittee to submit permit-specific bond under KRS 350.060(11) -- Tonnage fees -- Assignment of mine type classification -- Inclusion of future permits of existing classification -- Inclusion of future permits of existing voluntary bond pool fund members -- Permit-specific penal bond -- Administrative regulations -- Suspension of permit for arrearage in fees -- Distribution of penalties collected under KRS 350.990(1) -- Rights and remedies.
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350.518 Permittee to submit permit-specific bond under KRS 350.060(11) -Tonnage fees -- Assignment of mine type classification -- Inclusion of
future permits of existing classification -- Inclusion of future permits of
existing voluntary bond pool fund members -- Permit-specific penal bond
-- Administrative regulations -- Suspension of permit for arrearage in fees
-- Distribution of penalties collected under KRS 350.990(1) -- Rights and
remedies.
(1)
(2)
In addition to the provisions of KRS 350.500 to 350.521, each permittee shall
submit a permit-specific bond in accordance with KRS 350.060(11) and all
administrative regulations promulgated thereunder.
Each permittee subject to KRS 350.515(1) shall pay to the fund a fee for each
ton of coal mined and sold by surface and underground coal mining operations
from each permit area. For the purposes of assessing tonnage fees, all permits
subject to eligibility for expenditures from the fund shall be assigned to one (1)
of the following classifications:
(a) Surface coal mining operations, including auger and highwall mining, for
which an initial rate of seven and fifty-seven hundredths cents ($0.0757)
per ton of coal shall be paid to the fund;
(b) Underground coal mining operations, for which an initial rate of three and
fifty-seven hundredths cents ($0.0357) per ton of coal shall be paid to the
fund;
(c) Permits that consist of combined surface and underground mining
operations shall pay a fee in accordance with the predominant method of
coal extraction;
(d) All permits previously subject to the voluntary bond pool fund at the time
of its repeal by 2013 Ky. Acts ch. 78, sec. 12, shall:
1.
Be excluded from the start-up fee established in KRS 350.515;
2.
Pay the tonnage fees set forth in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this
subsection to the fund in lieu of tonnage fees otherwise due under
KRS 350.725(2); and
3.
Continue to receive subsidization of the reclamation bonding
authorized under KRS 350.500 to 350.521 and the administrative
regulations adopted pursuant thereto.
The fund shall continue to provide coverage for existing bonds previously
issued for them by the voluntary bond pool;
(e) Permits which are used exclusively for coal preparation and processing
operations, loading activities, disposal of refuse operations, coal haulage
and access roads, mine maintenance areas, and other support facilities,
and other permits not subject to the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b)
of this subsection as determined by the commission, shall pay an annual
fee of ten dollars ($10) per acre to the fund in equal quarterly installments;
and
(f) Any permits, or expired permits, not subject to the fees in paragraphs (a)
to (e) of this subsection shall pay an annual fee of six dollars ($6) per
surface acre to the fund in equal quarterly installments. The fee shall not
apply to permits that:
1.
(3)
(a)
Have not been initially disturbed after permit issuance by the
permittees;
2.
Contain underground acreage only; or
3.
Have received an initial bond release in accordance with KRS
350.093(4)(a).
The commission shall include in the fund under the terms set forth in
subsection (2)(d) of this section, future permits obtained by entities that
are members of the voluntary bond pool fund at the date of the
establishment of the fund, provided the entity and the entity's owners
seeking permit coverage have:
1.
Never committed a violation for mining without having first obtained
the required permit under this chapter;
2.
Never forfeited a bond or had a permit revoked under this chapter;
3.
Never avoided forfeiture of a bond under this chapter because of a
surety-performed reclamation work to avoid forfeiture;
4.
Never been determined to have demonstrated a pattern of violations
pursuant to KRS 350.028(4), 350.130(3), or 350.465(3)(f);
5.
Not been issued more than four (4) orders for cessation and
immediate compliance pursuant to a failure to perform remediation
within the time or under the terms specified by the cabinet in a
notice of noncompliance and order for remedial measures in the
most recent thirty-six (36) months of operation and the order was
abated as ordered by the cabinet in a timely manner and was not for
a violation of contemporaneous reclamation requirements as
prescribed in administrative regulations promulgated by the cabinet
and have reached final dispositions;
6.
Not committed more than three (3) violations for contemporaneous
reclamation requirements as prescribed in administrative regulations
promulgated by the cabinet in the most recent thirty-six (36) months
of operation and the order was abated as ordered by the cabinet in a
timely manner and have reached final disposition, except the
commission may for good cause shown and by unanimous vote
exclude violations that have been terminated by the cabinet with no
civil penalty;
7.
Not committed more than eight (8) violations of surface mining
permanent program requirements set forth in this chapter or any
performance standards for mining established in administrative
regulations promulgated by the cabinet pursuant to this chapter and
which have reached final disposition on any one (1) permit in any
twelve (12) month period of the most recent thirty-six (36) months of
operation, except the commission may for good cause shown and
by unanimous vote exclude the twelve (12) month period on one (1)
permit during which the largest number of violations occurred and
may for good cause shown and by unanimous vote exclude
violations that were timely abated and terminated by the cabinet with
no civil penalty; or
8.
Not had civil penalties under this chapter or imposed pursuant to
administrative hearing of the cabinet remaining unpaid more than
thirty (30) days after they were due and payable, within the most
recent thirty-six (36) months of operation.
(b) The existing members of the voluntary bond pool are deemed to qualify
as members thereof under the provisions of this subsection, and the
provisions of this subsection shall only apply to the existing members of
the voluntary bond pool prospectively from March 22, 2013.
(4) The increase in the total amount of bonds issued to any one (1) member of the
voluntary bond pool under subsection (3) of this section shall not exceed
twenty-five percent (25%) of the greater of:
(a) The member's aggregate amount of bonds in force and issued by the
voluntary bond pool as of March 22, 2013; or
(b) The total of that member's aggregate amount of bonds in force and
issued by the voluntary bond pool as of March 22, 2013, plus fifty-five
percent (55%) of that total.
(5) The commission may consider for inclusion in the fund under the terms set
forth in subsection (2)(d) of this section permits obtained by an entity which is
not a participant of the fund as of March 22, 2013, provided the entity and the
entity's owners can meet eligibility standards established in administrative
regulations promulgated by the commission.
(6) Any permits accepted into the fund under the terms set forth in subsection (3)
of this section shall require payment of a permit-specific penal bond computed
at a rate of two thousand dollars ($2,000) for each acre or fraction of an acre
included in the proposed permit area, and shall pay the actuarially determined
tonnage rates set forth in subsection (2)(a) to (c) of this section.
(7) Changes to the rates set forth in this section and others, including those set out
in subsection (2)(d) of this section, shall be made by the commission through
administrative regulation and shall be in an amount sufficient to maintain
actuarial soundness of the fund in accordance with the annual actuarial study.
(8) Reporting and payment of fees shall be made in accordance with
administrative regulations promulgated by the commission. The commission
may request and review documents and reports from the Kentucky Department
for Natural Resources and the United States Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement to verify production records submitted by
permittees.
(9) Upon the receipt of notification from the commission that a permittee is in
arrearage in the payment of any fees assessed to a permit, the cabinet shall
forthwith suspend the permit. A suspension of a permit under this subsection
may be appealed pursuant to the hearing provisions of KRS 350.0301.
(10) A permit suspended by the cabinet under subsection (9) of this section shall
have that suspension immediately lifted upon notification by the commission
that the arrearage has been paid in full by the permittee.
(11) Penalties collected pursuant to KRS 350.990(1) in excess of eight hundred
thousand dollars ($800,000) in any fiscal year shall be deposited in the
following manner:
(a)
Fifty percent (50%) shall be applied to the fund for purposes set forth in
this chapter; and
(b) Fifty percent (50%) shall be applied to the abandoned mine land
supplemental fund established in KRS 350.139.
(12) Any person who considers himself or herself to be aggrieved by any
determination made by the commission under KRS 350.500 to 350.521 shall
have all of the rights and remedies provided in KRS 350.0301.
Effective:March 22, 2013
History: Created 2013 Ky. Acts ch. 78, sec. 7, effective March 22, 2013.
Legislative Research Commission Note (3/22/2013). Under the authority of KRS
7.136(1), the Reviser of Statutes has modified the internal numbering of
subsection (2)(d) of this statute from the way it appeared in 2013 Ky. Acts ch.
78, sec. 7. The words in the text were not changed.
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