§22-3-22. Designation of Areas Unsuitable for Surface Mining; Petition for Removal of Designation; Prohibition of Surface Mining on Certain Areas; Exceptions; Taxation of Minerals Underlying Land Designated Unsuitable
(a) The director shall establish a planning process to enable objective decisions based upon competent and scientifically sound data and information as to which, if any, land areas of this state are unsuitable for all or certain types of surface-mining operations pursuant to the standards set forth in subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection: […]
§22-3-22a. Blasting Restrictions; Site Specific Blasting Design Requirement
(a) For purposes of this section, the term "production blasting" means blasting that removes the overburden to expose underlying coal seams and does not include construction blasting. (b) For purposes of this section, the term "construction blasting" means blasting to develop haul roads, mine access roads, coal preparation plants, drainage structures or underground coal mine […]
§22-3-23. Release of Bond or Deposits; Application; Notice; Duties of Secretary; Public Hearings; Final Maps on Grade Release
(a) The permittee may file a request with the secretary for the release of a bond or deposit. The permittee shall publish an advertisement regarding the request for release in the same manner as is required of advertisements for permit applications. A copy of the advertisement shall be submitted to the secretary as part of […]
§22-3-24. Water Rights and Replacement; Waiver of Replacement
(a) Nothing in this article affects in any way the rights of any person to enforce or protect, under applicable law, the person's interest in water resources affected by a surface mining operation. (b) Any operator shall replace the water supply of an owner of interest in real property who obtains all or part of […]
§22-3-25. Citizen Suits; Order of Court; Damages
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, any person having an interest which is or may be adversely affected may commence a civil action in the circuit court of the county to which the surface mining operation is located on the person's own behalf to compel compliance with this article: (1) Against […]
§22-3-26. Surface Mining Operations Not Subject to Article
The provisions of this article do not apply to any of the following activities: (a) The extraction of coal by a landowner for the landowner's own noncommercial use from land owned or leased by the landowner. (b) The extraction of coal as an incidental part of federal, state, county, municipal or other local government-financed highway […]
§22-3-27. Leasing of Lands Owned by State for Surface Mining of Coal
No land or interest in land owned by the state may be leased, and no present lease may be renewed by the state, nor any agency of the state, for the purpose of conducting surface mining operations thereon unless said lease or renewal has been first authorized by an act of the Legislature: Provided, That […]
§22-3-28. Special Permits Authorization for Reclamation of Existing Abandoned Coal Processing Waste Piles; Coal Extraction Pursuant to a Government-Financed Reclamation Contract; Coal Extraction as an Incidental Part of Development of Land for Commercial, Residential, Industrial or Civic Use; No Cost Reclamation Contract
(a) Except where exempted by section twenty-six of this article, it is unlawful for any person to engage in surface-mining as defined in this article as an incident to the development of land for commercial, residential, industrial or civic use without having first obtained from the director a permit therefor as provided in section eight […]
§22-3-29. Experimental Practices
In order to encourage advances in surface mining and reclamation practices or to allow post-mining land use for industrial, commercial, residential, agricultural or public use, including recreational facilities, the director may authorize departures, in individual cases and on an experimental basis, from the environmental protection performance standards promulgated under this article. Such departures may be […]
§22-3-30. Certification and Training of Blasters
The director is responsible for the training, examination and certification of persons engaging in or directly responsible for blasting or use of explosives in surface mining operations.