Download as PDF
350.093 Time and distance limits on reclamation efforts -- Deferments -- Drift or
other underground mining -- Variances -- Release of bond.
(1)
(2)
(3)
As determined by administrative regulations of the cabinet, time and distance limits
shall be established requiring backfilling, grading, and planting to be kept current,
so that all reclamation efforts proceed in an environmentally sound manner and as
contemporaneously as practicable under regulations promulgated by the cabinet. All
backfilling and grading shall be completed before necessary equipment is moved
from the operation; except that the cabinet may for good cause approve the moving
of equipment before all backfilling and grading is completed.
(a) The cabinet may allow a permittee to defer the time criteria of
contemporaneous reclamation requirements on specified areas if the permittee
can demonstrate that the deferment is necessary to address at least one (1) of
the following:
1.
Adverse condition including weather, labor, and other conditions clearly
beyond the permittee's control;
2.
Other bona fide mining operations carried out on a strip mined area,
pursuant to KRS 350.080; or
3.
Coal marketing problems.
(b) Application for a deferment pursuant to this section shall be in the form
prescribed by the cabinet. The applicant shall have the burden of establishing
the need for the deferment. The applicant for the deferment shall demonstrate
that reclamation on the site is contemporaneous as of the date of the request
for deferment and that distance requirements for contemporaneous
reclamation will be met during the period of the deferment. Approval of the
deferment request shall be made in writing. The approval shall state that the
deferment is justified and that no environmental damage will occur during the
period of deferment. Reclamation deferments may be approved for a period
reasonably related to the specified conditions justifying the deferment, but the
aggregate deferral period shall not exceed thirty (30) months. The deferral
shall not extend beyond the expiration date of the permit. The cabinet shall
periodically reexamine and update the amount of the bond on the permit area
so that the amount of the bond is sufficient to assure completion of
reclamation if the work had to be performed by the cabinet in the event of
forfeiture.
If the permittee or operator desires to conduct drift mining or other underground
mining upon the premises or use the openings for haulageways or other lawful
purposes, the permittee or operator may designate locations to be used for purposes
at which places it will not be necessary to backfill until the drift or other
underground mining or other use is completed, during which time the bond on file
for that portion of the operation shall not be released. That portion of the locations
shall be described and designated on the map attached thereto. If the permittee or
operator wishes to combine surface operations with underground mining operations
to assure maximum practical recovery of coal resources, the cabinet may grant a
variance, pursuant to regulations promulgated by the cabinet, for specific areas
(4)
(5)
within the reclamation plan from the requirement that reclamation efforts proceed
pursuant to subsection (1) of this section so as to permit underground mining
operations prior to reclamation.
The cabinet may release in whole or in part the reclamation bond or deposit for a
particular operation if the cabinet is satisfied that the reclamation covered by the
bond or deposit or portion thereof has been accomplished as required by this
chapter. These bond releases shall be made in accordance with the following
schedule:
(a) When the permittee completes the backfilling, regrading, and drainage control
of a bonded area in accordance with his approved reclamation plan, the release
of sixty percent (60%) of the bond or collateral for the applicable permit area.
(b) After revegetation has been established on the regraded mined lands in
accordance with the approved reclamation plan, additional bond or collateral
for the applicable permit shall be released. When determining the amount of
bond to be released after successful revegetation has been established, the
cabinet shall retain that amount of the bond for the revegetated area which
would be sufficient for a third party to cover the cost of reestablishing
revegetation; this amount shall be retained for the period specified for
permittee responsibility for reestablishing revegetation. No part of the bond or
deposit shall be released under this subsection as long as the lands to which
the release would be applicable are contributing suspended solids to
streamflow or runoff outside the permit area in excess of requirements set by
this chapter or until soil productivity for prime farm lands has returned to
levels of yield equivalent to those of unmined land of the same soil type in the
surrounding area under equivalent management practices as determined from
soil surveys that may be required to be included in the permit application. If a
sedimentation pond is to be retained as a permanent impoundment, the portion
of bond may be released under this subsection so long as provisions for sound
future maintenance by the permittee or the landowner have been made with
the cabinet.
(c) When the permittee has completed successfully all surface coal mining and
reclamation activities, the release of the remaining portion of the bond, or
collateral, but not before the expiration of the period specified for permittee
responsibility. No bond shall be fully released until all reclamation
requirements of this chapter are fully met.
Upon satisfying the requirements of subsections (4)(a), (b), or (c) of this section, the
permittee may file, or the cabinet shall initiate, an application for total or partial
bond release.
(a) A permittee shall have the right to begin public advertisement of its request
for bond release at the time it files its request for the release. The cabinet may
undertake, at permittee expense, public advertisement of any cabinet initiated
bond release. If the cabinet initiates a bond release pursuant to this subsection
but chooses not to advertise the release pursuant to this section, and the
permittee does not advertise the request for the release within the time
(6)
(7)
(8)
schedules established by this subsection, the bond release application shall be
denied. All public advertisements of bond release applications, whether
authorized by the permittee or the cabinet, shall begin within sixty (60) days
after either the filing of a bond release request by the permittee or the
initiation of a bond release by the cabinet. Public advertisement shall occur at
least once a week for four (4) successive weeks in a newspaper of general
circulation in the locality of the surface coal mining operation.
(b) The public advertisement required by this subsection shall include: the permit
number and permit approval date, notification of the precise location of the
land affected, the number of acres, the type and amount of the bond filed and
the portion sought to be released, the type and appropriate dates of
reclamation work performed, a description of the results achieved as they
relate to the operator's approved reclamation plan, and the name and address
of the cabinet to which written comments, objections, or requests for public
hearings and informal conferences on the specific bond release may be
submitted. Proof of advertisement shall be placed with the bond release
application within thirty (30) days after the advertisement.
(c) Within thirty (30) days of filing of any bond release request, the permittee
shall submit copies of letters which it has sent to adjoining property owners,
local governmental bodies, planning agencies, sewage and water treatment
authorities, and water companies in the locality in which the surface coal
mining and reclamation operation took place, notifying them of the intention
to seek release from the bond. For bond releases initiated by the cabinet, the
cabinet shall undertake the notification requirements set forth in this
subsection.
(d) Upon the filing of an application for bond release by a permittee, or the
initiation of the release by the cabinet, the cabinet shall notify, within thirty
(30) days of the filing or initiation, the municipality where the surface coal
mining operation is located, pursuant to regulations promulgated by the
cabinet.
Upon the filing of any partial or total bond release request by a permittee, the
cabinet shall within thirty (30) days conduct an inspection and evaluation of the
reclamation work involved. The evaluation shall consider, among other things, the
degree of difficulty to complete any remaining reclamation, whether pollution of
surface or subsurface water is occurring, the probability of continuance of future
occurrence of the pollution, and the estimated cost of abating the pollution.
The cabinet shall notify the permittee in writing of its decision to release or not to
release all or part of the performance bond or deposit within five (5) days following
receipt of proof of public advertisement as required in subsection (5)(b), or the end
of the thirty (30) day public comment period, whichever is later, if no public hearing
is held pursuant to subsection (10) of this section; and if there has been a public
hearing held pursuant to subsection (10) of this section, within thirty (30) days
thereafter.
If the cabinet disapproves the application for release of the bond or portion thereof,
the cabinet shall notify the permittee, in writing, stating the reasons for disapproval
and recommending corrective actions necessary to serve the release and allowing
opportunity for a public hearing. The cabinet shall not disapprove an application for
release of a surety bond or a bond secured by a letter of credit as provided for under
subsection (4)(a) or (b) of this section or under the partial release provisions
applicable to an interim permit, or take any action to forfeit the surety bond, or bond
secured by letter of credit, solely upon the permittee's failure to pay penalties or
fines, if applicable reclamation requirements for the requested release have been
fully met. The cabinet shall not continue to hold under the interim or permanent
program remaining surety bond proceeds or the remaining bond secured by a letter
of credit where a forfeiture has occurred solely as a result of a failure to pay
penalties or fines, if the reclamation requirements of this chapter have been fully
met.
(9) The bond liability of the permittee shall include only those actions which the
permittee is obliged to take under the permit, including completion of the
reclamation plan.
(10) Any person having a valid legal interest which might be adversely affected by
release of the bond, and the responsible officer or head of any governmental agency
so designated by cabinet regulations, shall have the right to file written objections to
the proposed bond release with the cabinet, and to request a hearing in accordance
with procedural regulations promulgated by the cabinet.
Effective: July 12, 2006
History: Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 37, sec. 4, effective July 12, 2006. -- Amended
1992 Ky. Acts ch. 429, sec. 11, effective July 14, 1992. -- Amended 1990 Ky. Acts
ch. 210, sec. 4, effective July 13, 1990. -- Amended 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 209, sec. 1,
effective July 15, 1988; and ch. 294, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1988. -- Amended
1984 Ky. Acts ch. 145, sec. 3, effective March 28, 1984. -- Amended 1982 Ky. Acts
ch. 283, sec. 5, effective April 2, 1982. -- Amended 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 62, sec. 10,
effective March 21, 1980. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 33, sec. 18, effective May
3, 1978. -- Amended 1976 Ky. Acts ch. 341, sec. 2, -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch.
69, sec. 4; ch. 74, Art. III, sec. 13(7); and ch. 399, sec. 1, -- Amended 1972 (1st
Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 3, sec. 69. -- Created 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 4, sec. 8.
Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Kentucky may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
