Title 9

After obtaining an appraisal on the real property and consulting with the chief executive officer of the department, board, bureau, commission, institution, corporation, or agency which desires to sell or lease the real property, the Lands Division shall establish and publish the…

Every proposal to make a sale or lease under this article shall be advertised for at least once a week for four weeks in advance of the date fixed for receiving bids or public auction. The advertisement shall appear at least once a week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper o…

Each person or corporation submitting a bid on real property or an interest therein to be sold or leased by the State of Alabama under this article shall present with his or her bid, payable to the Lands Division of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, a ce…

The expenses of the appraisal and contemplated sale or lease shall be paid by the department, board, bureau, commission, institution, corporation, or agency offering the property for sale. The Lands Division of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources shall rece…

The bids shall be publicly taken or opened in Montgomery or such other place as may be designated by the Lands Division, in case of sealed bids, by the Director of the Lands Division of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources or his or her designee and the depa…

In the event no bids are received or all the bids are rejected by the chief executive officer of the department, board, bureau, commission, institution, corporation, or agency selling or leasing the property after the approval of the Governor, the sale or lease of the real proper…

Officers and employees of the department selling or leasing the real property and officers and employees of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, as well as members of their families, shall be excluded from bidding on the property at a public auction or by sealed …

Any sale or lease of real property or any interest therein of the state made in violation of this article shall be null and void, and the person or persons violating this article shall be subject to criminal prosecution by the Attorney General. In addition to the prosecution, dam…

(a) This article shall not apply to the transfers of real property between departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, institutions, corporations, or agencies of the state. These transfers may be made by mutual agreements between the chief executive officers of the respective depa…

Whenever any real property is sold or leased under this article, the proceeds from the sale, less the expenses of the sale or lease, shall be deposited to the credit of the fund of the state department, commission, board, bureau, institution, corporation, or agency which offered …

The Lands Division is authorized to promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this article. (Acts 1995, No. 95-280, p. 507, §15.)

(a) The state, a county, a municipality, any other governmental entity, or any quasi-governmental entity, following the purchase of any real property with public funds for any reason, shall disclose information concerning the purchase within 60 days following the purchase. If the…

This article shall be known and may be cited as the “Alabama Surface Mining Act of 1969.” (Acts 1969, No. 399, p. 773, §1.)

(a) The Alabama Legislature has found and determined the following: (1) A 1991 United States Department of the Interior audit report warned that the Non-Fuel Minerals Mining Law of Alabama is outdated and that mine operators are deliberately laying waste to mined land rather than…

(a) Whenever the director determines that any operator has not complied with the provisions of this article and is therefore in violation of this article, the director may cause to have issued and served upon the person alleged to be committing such violation a written notice whi…

(a) Should the director determine that any final order or determination made by him, not then the subject of judicial review, is being violated by any operator, then the director may cause to have instituted a civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction to forfeit the bon…

(a) All fees and penalties collected under the provisions of this article shall be deposited in the General Fund of the State Treasury. (b) All funds received from the forfeiture of bonds, sureties, cash, or governmental securities shall be placed in the State Treasury and credit…

Any act authorized to be done by the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations of the State of Alabama may be performed by the inspector, assistant inspector or any employee of the department when designated by the director. The superintendent may adopt and promulgate re…

The provisions of this article shall not apply to surface mining activities of the State Department of Transportation or any city, county or municipality incident to their activities in constructing, repairing and maintaining the public road system in Alabama. The provisions of t…

It is intended that this article shall supplement existing law regarding the inspection or regulation of mining, water pollution and water impoundment and that only provisions of such law which directly conflict with or are inconsistent with this article are hereby repealed to th…

Unless clearly indicated otherwise by the context, as used in this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) AFFECTED LAND. The area of land from which overburden has been removed or upon which overburden has been deposited after October 1, 1970. (2) CONTEMPOR…

The objective of this article is to provide for the safe and reasonable reclamation of lands upon which surface disturbances will be created by certain types of surface mining so as to protect the taxable value of property and preserve natural resources within the state and to pr…

(a) No operator shall engage in any surface mining, as defined in this article, after October 1, 1970, without a valid permit from the department to engage in the surface mining. A separate permit shall be required for each such surface mining operation that is not contiguous to …

(a) Any operator desiring a permit shall file an application with the department upon a form furnished by the department containing all of the following: (1) A brief description of the tract or tracts of land and the estimated number of acres to be affected by the applicant’s sur…

(a) An operator desiring to amend a permit issued to him to include additional land may file an amended application with the department. Upon receipt of the amended application, such increase in the bond or surety as may be required under the provisions of this article and paymen…

(a) Every operator to whom a permit is issued pursuant to this article and who engages in surface mining on lands described in the permit shall: (1) Submit to the department, no later than 90 days after expiration of the permit period, a map or aerial photograph showing the locat…

(a)(1) Any bond provided in this article to be filed with the department by the operator shall be in the form as the secretary prescribes, payable to the State of Alabama and conditioned that the operator shall faithfully perform all applicable requirements of this article and co…

Inspectors of the department may enter upon the lands of the landowner at any reasonable time for the purpose of inspection to determine whether the provisions of this article have been complied with. (Acts 1969, No. 399, p. 773, §8.)

Any record, report or information required to be submitted to the regulatory authority by a licensee or permittee pursuant to this article shall be available to the public, except as provided elsewhere in this article and except that upon a verified representation to the regulato…

The regulatory authority is hereby vested with the authority and responsibility for consulting with all institutions of this state which own lands or mineral interests relating to all coal leases proposed to be entered into by such institutions. The regulatory authority is hereby…

Any person engaged in the business of coal brokering or operating a coal sales agency in the State of Alabama and each and every person, corporation or other legal entity operating an electric system for the sale of electric energy for resale, sale to the public or sale to its me…

(a) All sums received through the payment of fees, the forfeiture of bonds, the recovery of civil penalties or appropriations by the Legislature shall be placed in the State Treasury and credited to an open account designated as the Alabama Surface Mining Fund. This fund, which s…

The regulatory authority shall make every effort to obtain maximum reimbursement from the Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement for the costs of performing its duties under this article. The regulatory authority is authorized to accept, administer a…

(a) If Public Law 95-87, or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder or any part of such Public Law 95-87, is adjudged unconstitutional or invalid for any reason, then such provisions of this article, or such rules or regulations as were adopted in order to comply with the p…

This article is cumulative and is intended to preempt local, municipal, county and state regulation of surface coal mining operations and to supplement existing state law and no part hereof shall be construed to repeal or supersede an existing state law specifically enacted for t…

This article shall become effective immediately upon: (1) Its passage and approval by the Governor, or upon its otherwise becoming a law; and (2) Upon the approval of the state regulatory program by the Secretary of Interior pursuant to Section 503 of P. L. 95-87, 30 U.S.C. §1253…

This article shall be known and may be cited as “The Alabama Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1981.” (Acts 1981, No. 81-435, p. 682, §1.)

(a) The objective of this article is to provide for the safe, responsible and reasonable reclamation of lands upon which surface disturbances will be created by surface mining and the surface effects of underground mining so as to protect the taxable value of property and preserv…

The following words and phrases, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall have the following meanings: (1) APPLICANT. Any person or legal entity who or which applied for a license or a permit to engage in surface coal mining operations. (2) APPROXIMATE…

(a) There is continued as previously established the Alabama Surface Mining Reclamation Commission under the name of the Alabama Surface Mining Commission for the purpose of transition in implementing and enforcing this article and carrying out the intent and policy stated in Sec…

In addition to any other powers conferred on it by law, the commission shall have the power to do all of the following: (1) Adopt, amend, suspend, repeal, and enforce reasonably necessary rules and regulations, provided such rules and regulations shall not be more stringent than …

In adopting, amending or repealing any rule, including any regulation or standard, the commission shall observe the requirements of the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act (Section 41-22-1 et seq.). Any person may request written notification of the commission’s rule-making acti…

No officer or employee of the commission performing any function or duty under this article, shall have a direct or indirect financial interest in underground or surface coal mining operations. Whoever knowingly violates the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction, be p…

(a) There is created a Division of Hearings and Appeals within the Alabama Surface Mining Commission to enforce this article. The division shall have such powers and authority as required by law and as delegated by the director. (b) The commission may hire or contract with hearin…

(a) No hearing officer shall participate in a hearing if he or she has an interest therein. At any such hearing all testimony shall be given under oath and be recorded, but need not be transcribed unless an appeal is made. (b) The manner in which hearings before hearing officers …

Procedures for hearings and appeals under this article shall be made as herein provided and in accordance with such general rules and regulations as the regulatory authority may prescribe. These procedures shall take precedence over the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act, which…