AN
ACT Relating to the reclamation of surface disturbances caused by underground
mining; amending RCW 78.44.031; and adding a new section to 78.44 RCW.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
78.44.031 and 1997 c 142 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
Unless
the context clearly indicates otherwise, the definitions in this section apply
throughout this chapter.
(1)
"Approved subsequent use" means the post surface-mining land use contained
in an approved reclamation plan and approved by the local land use authority.
(2)
"Completion of surface mining" means the cessation of mining and
directly related activities in any segment of a surface mine that occurs when
essentially all minerals that can be taken under the terms of the reclamation
permit have been depleted except minerals required to accomplish reclamation
according to the approved reclamation plan.
(3)
"Department" means the department of natural resources.
(4)
"Determination" means any action by the department including permit
issuance, reporting, reclamation plan approval or modification, permit
transfers, orders, fines, or refusal to issue permits.
(5)
"Disturbed area" means any place where activities clearly in
preparation for, or during, surface mining have physically disrupted, covered,
compacted, moved, or otherwise altered the characteristics of soil, bedrock,
vegetation, or topography that existed prior to such activity. Disturbed areas
may include but are not limited to: Working faces, water bodies created by
mine-related excavation, pit floors, the land beneath processing plant and
stock pile sites, spoil pile sites, and equipment staging areas. Disturbed
areas shall also include aboveground waste rock sites and tailing facilities,
and other surface manifestations of underground mines.
Disturbed
areas do not include:
(a)
Surface mine access roads unless these have characteristics of topography,
drainage, slope stability, or ownership that, in the opinion of the department,
make reclamation necessary; ((and))
(b)
Lands that have been reclaimed to all standards outlined in this chapter, rules
of the department, any applicable SEPA document, and the approved reclamation
plan; and
(c)
Subsurface aspects of underground mines, such as portals, tunnels, shafts,
pillars, and stopes.
(6)
"Miner" means any person or persons, any partnership, limited
partnership, or corporation, or any association of persons, including every
public or governmental agency engaged in surface mining ((from the
surface)).
(7)
"Minerals" means clay, coal, gravel, industrial minerals, metallic
substances, peat, sand, stone, topsoil, and any other similar solid material or
substance to be excavated from natural deposits on or in the earth for commercial,
industrial, or construction use.
(8)
"Operations" means all mine-related activities, exclusive of
reclamation, that include, but are not limited to activities that affect noise
generation, air quality, surface and ground water quality, quantity, and flow,
glare, pollution, traffic safety, ground vibrations, and/or significant or
substantial impacts commonly regulated under provisions of land use or other
permits of local government and local ordinances, or other state laws.
Operations
specifically include:
(a)
The mining or extraction of rock, stone, gravel, sand, earth, and other
minerals;
(b)
Blasting, equipment maintenance, sorting, crushing, and loading;
(c)
On-site mineral processing including asphalt or concrete batching, concrete
recycling, and other aggregate recycling;
(d)
Transporting minerals to and from the mine, on site road maintenance, road
maintenance for roads used extensively for surface mining activities, traffic
safety, and traffic control.
(9)
"Overburden" means the earth, rock, soil, and topsoil that lie above
mineral deposits.
(10)
"Permit holder" means any person or persons, any partnership, limited
partnership, or corporation, or any association of persons, either natural or
artificial, including every public or governmental agency engaged in surface
mining and/or the operation of surface mines, whether individually, jointly, or
through subsidiaries, agents, employees, operators, or contractors who holds a
state reclamation permit.
(11)
"Reclamation" means rehabilitation for the appropriate future use of
disturbed areas resulting from surface mining including areas under associated
mineral processing equipment ((and)), areas under stockpiled
materials, and aboveground waste rock and tailing facilities, and all other
surface disturbances associated with underground mines. Although both the
need for and the practicability of reclamation will control the type and degree
of reclamation in any specific surface mine, the basic objective shall be to
reestablish on a perpetual basis the vegetative cover, soil stability, and
water conditions appropriate to the approved subsequent use of the surface mine
and to prevent or mitigate future environmental degradation.
(12)
"Reclamation setbacks" include those lands along the margins of
surface mines wherein minerals and overburden shall be preserved in sufficient
volumes to accomplish reclamation according to the approved plan and the
minimum reclamation standards. Maintenance of reclamation setbacks may not
preclude other mine-related activities within the reclamation setback.
(13)
"Recycling" means the reuse of minerals or rock products.
(14)
"Screening" consists of vegetation, berms or other topography,
fencing, and/or other screens that may be required to mitigate impacts of
surface mining on adjacent properties and/or the environment.
(15)
"Segment" means any portion of the surface mine that, in the opinion
of the department:
(a)
Has characteristics of topography, drainage, slope stability, ownership, mining
development, or mineral distribution, that make reclamation necessary;
(b)
Is not in use as part of surface mining and/or related activities; and
(c)
Is larger than seven acres and has more than five hundred linear feet of
working face except as provided in a segmental reclamation agreement approved
by the department.
(16)
"SEPA" means the state environmental policy act, chapter 43.21C RCW
and rules adopted thereunder.
(17)(a)
"Surface mine" means any area or areas in close proximity to each
other, as determined by the department, where extraction of minerals ((from
the surface)) results in:
(i)
More than three acres of disturbed area;
(ii)
Surface mined slopes greater than thirty feet high and steeper than 1.0
foot horizontal to 1.0 foot vertical; or
(iii)
More than one acre of disturbed area within an eight acre area, when the
disturbed area results from mineral prospecting or exploration activities.
(b)
Surface mines include areas where mineral extraction from the surface or
subsurface occurs by the auger method or by reworking mine refuse or
tailings, when ((these activities)) the disturbed area exceeds
the size or height thresholds listed in (a) of this subsection.
(c)
Surface mining occurs when operations have created or are intended to create
a surface mine as defined by this subsection.
(d)
Surface mining shall exclude excavations or grading used:
(i)
Primarily for on-site construction, on-site road maintenance, or on-site
landfill construction;
(ii)
For the purpose of public safety or restoring the land following a natural
disaster;
(iii)
For the purpose of removing stockpiles;
(iv)
For forest or farm road construction or maintenance on site or on contiguous
lands;
(v)
Primarily for public works projects if the mines are owned or primarily
operated by counties with 1993 populations of less than twenty thousand
persons, and if each mine has less than seven acres of disturbed area; and
(vi)
For sand authorized by RCW 43.51.685((; and
(vii)
For underground mines)).
(18)
"Topsoil" means the naturally occurring upper part of a soil profile,
including the soil horizon that is rich in humus and capable of supporting
vegetation together with other sediments within four vertical feet of the ground
surface.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. A
new section is added to chapter 78.44 RCW to read as follows:
Surface
disturbances caused by an underground metals mining and milling operation are
subject to the requirements of this chapter if the operation is proposed after
June 30, 1999. An operation is proposed when an agency is presented with an
application for an operation or expansion of an existing operation having a
probable significant adverse environmental impact under chapter 43.21C RCW.
The department of ecology shall retain authority for reclamation of surface
disturbances caused by an underground operation operating at any time prior to
June 30, 1999, unless the operator requests that authority for reclamation of surface
disturbances caused by such operation be transferred to the department under
the requirements of this chapter.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 3. If
any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is
held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to
other persons or circumstances is not affected.
