Title XXVIII, Mines and Minerals

of mine closings under authority of cabinet. The cabinet shall notify the secretary of the Transportation Cabinet every six (6) months of permits issued for mine openings and mine closings under the authority of the cabinet.

Limitations. The cabinet is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt, after public hearing, reasonable regulations in order to formulate and establish effective programs for the control of surface soil disturbance in connection with mining as defined by the Interstate Mining Comp…

Administrative regulations -- Secretary may designate deputy to sign final orders. (1) Any person who considers himself or herself aggrieved by any determination made by the cabinet under this chapter may file, in accordance with administrative regulations promulgated by the cabi…

Any party aggrieved by a final order resulting from the hearing conducted pursuant to KRS 350.0301(1) on cabinet determinations may appeal to the Franklin Circuit Court; except that judicial review of a final order resulting from a hearing on the issuance of a notice of noncompli…

performance bond -- Temporary relief pending final determination. (1) In case of refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any person, any Circuit Court of competent jurisdiction, upon application by any party, may issue to that person an order requiring him to appear before the cabin…

The Energy and Environment Cabinet under the supervision of the secretary of the Energy and Environment Cabinet shall have and exercise the following authority and powers: (1) To exercise general supervision and administration and enforcement of this chapter and all rules and reg…

Control. (1) There is established a special fund to be known as the "Illegal Mining and Conveyance Reclamation Fund" which shall be under the control of the Energy and Environment Cabinet. (2) The fund shall consist of all moneys from the sale or forfeiture of all instrumentaliti…

Notification of various local government bodies by cabinet. (1) An applicant for a permit required by KRS 350.060 shall publish public notice of his filing of an application for that permit. The publication shall be made by advertisement in a newspaper of largest bona fide circul…

(1) The secretary of the Energy and Environment Cabinet shall promulgate regulations for the permitting and performance of coal exploration operations which substantially disturb the natural land surface. The regulations shall include at a minimum provisions for giving notice of …

Administrative regulations -- Successive renewal -- Auger mining of previously mined area -- Exempt operations. (1) (a) No person shall engage in surface coal mining and reclamation operations without having first obtained from the cabinet a permit designating the area of land af…

Subsoil augmentation -- Cabinet to compile hydrologic data -- Abandoned land projects classified as government financed construction. (1) Applicants for permits may submit such hydrologic information on the general area prior to mining as may be made available by the cabinet purs…

disturb access roads. Prior to the issuance of a permit, if the operation will disturb any roads used as access to an oil or gas well or other oil and gas facility, the permit applicant shall certify that he has met and conferred with, or offered to meet and confer with, the well…

(1) After a surface coal mining and reclamation permit application has been approved but before the permit is issued, the applicant shall file with the regulatory authority, on a form prescribed and furnished by the regulatory authority, a reclamation bond for performance payable…

All bonds required to be filed in accordance with KRS 350.060 and 350.064 shall not be required to be filed until the applicant for the permit has been notified in writing by the cabinet that the application for the permit has been approved, with the exception of the bond.

A surety upon receipt of a copy of a notice of noncompliance for failure to maintain contemporaneous reclamation issued to its insured, may notify the insured by certified mail, return receipt requested, that surety on any area disturbed after thirty (30) days from the effective …

To make the state program no more stringent than the federal program, effective October 1, 1984, the cabinet shall, within thirty (30) days of publication of final rulemaking in the Federal Register, promulgate those regulations that are consistent with and no less effective than…

(1) Any extensions of the area covered by the permit, except incidental boundary revisions, shall be made by application for another permit or an amendment to the permit. (2) For an amendment, the permittee shall file an application, map, and revised reclamation plan in the same …

regulations. (1) In order to bring about a more desirable land use or promote the public interest and the environment, the cabinet may, at its discretion, issue special permits for the remining of previously affected areas, including but not limited to, secondary coal recovery op…

reclamation. A permittee may conduct other mining operations from premises covered by a strip mining permit with approval of the cabinet, subject to the provisions of KRS Chapters 351 and 352. In applying to the cabinet for the approval, he shall furnish the cabinet with a revise…

(1) No application for a permit and no operation shall be approved or allowed by the cabinet if there is found on the basis of the information set forth in the application that the requirements of this chapter or administrative regulations will not be observed or that there is no…

Funding from reclamation development fund -- Waste materials in permit area only -- Exclusions. (1) Under the provisions of this chapter and administrative regulations adopted by the cabinet, a permittee shall prepare and the permittee or operator shall carry out a method of oper…

other underground mining -- Variances -- Release of bond. (1) 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 e…

regulations. (1) The permittee shall assume responsibility for successful revegetation as required in KRS 350.435 for a period of five (5) full years after the last year in which augmented seeding, fertilizing, irrigation, or other work occurs. The cabinet shall promulgate admini…

sites. The General Assembly finds that the reclamation of coal mine sites can benefit from pollinator habitat sites. These sites are an important conservation resource which will encourage and protect the habitat for pollinators like honeybees, bumble bees, and other bee species.…

planting. (1) It shall be the duty of a permittee and operator to commence the reclamation of the area of land affected by the operation as contemporaneously as practicable after the beginning of operations on that area in accordance with plans previously approved by the cabinet.…

(1) An easement of necessity for the completion of reclamation activities, created by this subsection, requires satisfaction of these circumstances: (a) An entity has, by court order or approved plan of reorganization, become responsible for performance of reclamation under a sur…

(1) When the planting of a permit area is completed, the permittee shall file a planting report with the cabinet on a form to be prescribed and furnished by the cabinet, giving the following information: (a) Identification of the operation; (b) The type of planting or seeding, in…

All trees, shrubs, grasses, and legumes required by this chapter and regulations to be planted or seeded on the area of land affected shall become the property of the landowner, unless the permittee and the landowner agree otherwise.

Within sixty (60) days after the date of expiration of a permit, the permittee shall file with the cabinet a report stating the exact number of acres of land affected by the operation, the extent of the reclamation already accomplished by him, and such other information as may be…

Ineligibility for future permits -- Notice or order effective upon delivery. (1) When any of the requirements of this chapter or administrative regulations adopted pursuant thereto or the orders of the cabinet have not been complied with, the cabinet shall forthwith cause a notic…

disturbed area for which bond has been forfeited and collected. (1) When a bond for an interim or preinterim program permit was forfeited prior to July 15, 1988, by the cabinet, and the entire forfeited amount is not necessary to establish proper drainage and revegetation on the …

Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the mountaintop removal method of strip mining coal under the conditions set forth in this chapter or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto.

-- Regulations -- Approval by cabinet. (1) No surface coal mining permit issued pursuant to this chapter shall be transferred by sale, assignment, lease, or otherwise except upon the written approval by the cabinet of a joint application submitted by both the transferor and the t…

transferred to fiscal courts -- Remainder for Division of Mine Permits. (1) All prior enactments of this General Assembly to the contrary notwithstanding, all funds received by the Energy and Environment Cabinet through the payment of fees and civil penalties shall be deposited i…

other funds -- Access to land. (1) In the reclamation of land affected by surface coal mining operations for which it has funds available, the cabinet may avail itself of any services which may be provided by other state agencies or by agencies of the federal government, and may …

reclamation -- Bond. (1) The Energy and Environment Cabinet shall promulgate permanent program administrative regulations for the mining and reclamation of land disturbed or removed by operations resulting from or incident to underground coal mining. The regulations shall recogni…

(1) The Commonwealth, acting by and through its Energy and Environment Cabinet, shall have the power to acquire, either by negotiation or by exercise of the power of eminent domain, land which has been affected or disturbed by strip or auger mining, or by other surface coal minin…

The cabinet shall have the power to backfill, grade, plant and perform other acts of restoration and reclamation, or contract for the performance of such restoration work, on any lands acquired under KRS 350.152 to 350.163 and 350.240, to the extent and subject to such conditions…

subdivision -- Return of money to revolving fund. (1) After restoration of the acquired land, the cabinet may, with the approval of the Governor, transfer jurisdiction of such land, or any portion thereof, to any state agency that can best utilize such land for public purposes. (…

No land, with respect to which a bond conditioned upon the restoration thereof is in effect, shall be acquired pursuant to the provisions of KRS 350.152 to 350.163 and 350.240, nor shall this chapter be construed to relieve any person from any obligation to backfill, grade, plant…

All acquisitions and disposals of land or any interests therein pursuant to the authority granted by KRS 350.152 to 350.163 and 350.240 shall be governed by the applicable provisions of KRS Chapters 45 and 56.

(1) The cabinet is authorized and empowered to receive and accept from the Commonwealth or any of its agencies and from federal agencies, appropriations or grants to accomplish the purposes of this chapter, and to receive and accept aid or contributions from any source of either …

This chapter shall not be construed as repealing any of the laws of the Commonwealth relating to the pollution of the waters thereof, any conservation or mining laws, but shall be held and construed as ancillary and supplemental thereto.

Any agency, unit, or instrumentality of federal, state, or local government, including any publicly owned utility or publicly owned corporation of federal, state, or local government, which proposes to engage in surface coal mining operations, as defined by KRS 350.010(1), shall …

All surface coal mining operations operating under a permit from the cabinet shall display appropriate signs at the entrances, clearly setting forth the name, business address, phone number of the permittee and the permit number of the surface coal mining and reclamation operatio…

of regulation. Irrespective of date of issuance of a permit, all permittees, operators, and persons shall immediately conform to any statutes enacted or regulations adopted on the effective date of the statute or regulation. This section shall not require the regrading or replant…