Chapter 130. Coal Surface Mining Reclamation Regulations

(a) General. All coal mine waste disposed of in an area other than the mine workings or excavations shall be placed in new or existing disposal areas within a permit area, which are approved by the division for this purpose. Coal mine waste shall be hauled or conveyed and placed …

Refuse piles shall meet the requirements of 4VAC25-130-816.81, the additional requirements of this section, and the requirements of 30 CFR 77.214 and 77.215. (a) Drainage control. (1) If the disposal area contains springs, natural or manmade water courses, or wet weather seeps, t…

New and existing impounding structures constructed of coal mine waste or intended to impound coal mine waste shall meet the requirements of 4VAC25-130-816.81 and the additional requirements of this section. (a) Coal mine waste shall not be used for construction of impounding stru…

(a) Coal mine waste fires shall be extinguished by the person who conducts the surface mining activities, in accordance with a plan approved by the division and the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The plan shall contain, at a minimum, provisions to ensure that only those p…

(a) Noncoal mine wastes including, but not limited to grease, lubricants, paints, flammable liquids, garbage, abandoned mining machinery, lumber and other combustible materials generated during mining activities shall be placed and stored in a controlled manner in a designated po…

(a) All exposed surface areas shall be protected and stabilized to effectively control erosion and air pollution attendant to erosion. (b) Rills and gullies which form in areas that have been regraded and topsoiled and which either (1) disrupt the approved postmining land use or …

(a) The permittee shall, to the extent possible using the best technology currently available, minimize disturbances and adverse impacts on fish, wildlife, and related environmental values and shall achieve enhancement of such resources where practicable. (b) Endangered and threa…

(a) An undisturbed natural barrier shall be provided beginning at the elevation of the lowest coal seam to be mined and extended from the outslope for such distance as may be determined by the division as is needed to assure stability. The barrier shall be retained in place to pr…

(a) General. Reclamation efforts, including but not limited to backfilling, grading, topsoil replacement, and revegetation, on all areas affected by surface impacts incident to an underground coal mine shall occur as contemporaneously as practicable with mining operations, except…

(a) Disturbed areas shall be backfilled and graded to: (1) Achieve the approximate original contour, except as provided in subsection (k) of this section; (2) Eliminate all highwalls, spoil piles, and depressions, except as provided in subsection (h) (small depressions) and in su…

(a) Remining operations on previously mined areas that contain a preexisting highwall shall comply with the requirements of 4VAC25-130-817.102 through 4VAC25-130-817.107, except as provided in this section. (b) The requirements of 4VAC25-130-817.102(a)(1) and (a)(2) requiring the…

(a) Underground mining activities on steep slopes shall be conducted so as to meet the requirements of 4VAC25-130-817.102 through 4VAC25-130-817.106 and the requirements of this section. (b) The following materials shall not be placed or allowed to remain on the downslope: (1) Sp…

(a) Specifications. Signs and markers required under this part shall— (1) Be posted, maintained, and removed by the person who conducts the underground mining activities; (2) Be of a uniform design throughout the operation that can be easily seen and read; (3) Be made of durable …

(a) The permittee shall establish on regraded areas and on all other disturbed areas except water areas and surface areas of roads that are approved as part of the postmining land use, a vegetative cover that is in accordance with the approved permit and reclamation plan and that…

Disturbed areas shall be planted during the first normal period for favorable planting conditions after replacement of the plant-growth medium. The normal period for favorable planting is that planting time generally accepted locally for the type of plant materials selected. When…

Suitable mulch or other soil stabilizing practices shall be used on all areas that have been regraded and covered by topsoil or topsoil substitutes. The division may waive this requirement if seasonal, soil, or slope factors result in a condition where mulch or other soil stabili…

(a) Success of revegetation shall be judged on the effectiveness of the vegetation for the approved postmining land use, the extent of cover compared to the cover occurring in natural vegetation of the area, and the general requirements of 4VAC25-130-817.111. (1) Statistically va…

(a) Measures to prevent or minimize damage. (1) The permittee shall either adopt measures consistent with known technology which prevent subsidence from causing material damage to the extent technologically and economically feasible, maximize mine stability, and maintain the valu…

At least six months prior to mining, or within that period if approved by the division, the permittee shall mail a notification to all owners and occupants of surface property and structures above the underground workings. The notification shall include, at a minimum, identificat…

Each exploration hole, other drill or borehole, shaft, well, or other exposed underground opening shall be cased, sealed, or otherwise managed, as approved by the division, to prevent acid or other toxic drainage from entering ground and surface waters, to minimize disturbance to…

(a) The permittee shall effectively support and maintain all surface access openings to underground operations, and secure surface facilities in areas in which there are no current operations, but in which operations are to be resumed under an approved permit. Temporary abandonme…

(a) Persons who cease underground mining activities permanently shall close or backfill or otherwise permanently reclaim all affected areas, in accordance with this chapter and the permit approved by the division. (b) All surface equipment, structures or other facilities not requ…

(a) General. All disturbed areas shall be restored in a timely manner to conditions that are capable of supporting-- (1) The uses they were capable of supporting before any mining; or (2) Higher or better uses. (b) Determining premining uses of land. The premining uses of land to…

(a) Each mine entry which is temporarily inactive, but has a further projected useful service under the approved permit application, shall be protected by barricades or other covering devices, fenced, and posted with signs, to prevent access into the entry and to identify the haz…

When no longer needed for monitoring or other use approved by the division upon a finding of no adverse environmental or health and safety effects, or unless approved for transfer as a water well under 4VAC25-130-817.41, each shaft, drift, adit, tunnel, exploratory hole, entrance…

(a) Road classification system. (1) Each road, as defined in 4VAC25-130-700.5, shall be classified as either a primary road or an ancillary road. (2) A primary road is any road which is-- (i) Used for transporting coal or spoil; (ii) Frequently used for access or other purposes f…

Primary roads shall meet the requirements of 4VAC25-130-817.150 and the additional requirements of this section. (a) Certification and construction. (1) The construction or reconstruction of primary roads shall be certified in a report to the division by a qualified registered pr…

Where existing roads that are to be used meet the performance standards of 4VAC25-130-817.150 and 4VAC25-130-817.151 or it can be demonstrated that reconstruction to meet the design standards of 4VAC25-130-817.150 and 4VAC25-130-817.151 would result in greater environmental harm,…

All underground mining activities shall be conducted in a manner which minimizes damage, destruction, or disruption of services provided by oil, gas, and water wells; oil, gas, and coal-slurry pipelines; railroads; electric and telephone lines; and water and sewage lines which pa…

(a) Support facilities shall be operated in accordance with a permit issued for the mine or coal preparation plant to which it is incident or from which its operation results. (b) In addition to the other provisions of this Part, support facilities shall be located, maintained, a…

(a) Removal. (1)(i) All topsoil shall be removed as a separate layer from the area to be disturbed, and segregated. (ii) Where the topsoil is of insufficient quantity or of poor quality for sustaining vegetation, the materials approved by the division in accordance with Paragraph…

(a) General. All underground mining and reclamation activities shall be conducted to minimize disturbance of the hydrologic balance within the permit and adjacent areas, to prevent material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area, and to support approved postmini…

Discharges of water from areas disturbed by underground mining activities shall be made in compliance with all applicable State and Federal water quality laws, standards and regulations and with the effluent limitations for coal mining promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protec…

(a) General requirements. (1) With the approval of the division, any flow from mined areas abandoned before May 3, 1978, and any flow from undisturbed areas or reclaimed areas, after meeting the criteria of 4VAC25-130-817.46 for siltation structure removal, may be diverted from d…

(a) Appropriate sediment control measures shall be designed, constructed, and maintained using the best technology currently available to: (1) Prevent, to the extent possible, additional contributions of sediment to stream flow or to runoff outside the permit area; (2) Meet the m…

(a) For the purposes of this section only "disturbed area" shall not include those areas— (1) In which the only underground mining activities include diversion ditches, siltation structures, or roads that are designed, constructed and maintained in accordance with this Part; and …

Discharge from sedimentation ponds, permanent and temporary impoundments, coal processing waste dams and embankments, and diversions shall be controlled, by energy dissipators, riprap channels, and other devices, where necessary, to reduce erosion, to prevent deepening or enlarge…

(a) General requirements. The requirements of this subsection apply to both temporary and permanent impoundments. (1) Impoundments meeting the Class B or C criteria for dams in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service Technical Release No. 60 (210-VI-TR60, Oc…

Before abandoning a permit area or seeking bond release, the permittee shall ensure that all temporary structures are removed and reclaimed, and that all permanent sedimentation ponds, diversions, impoundments, and treatment facilities meet the requirements of this chapter for pe…

(a) No land within 100 feet of a perennial stream or an intermittent stream shall be disturbed by underground mining activities, unless the division specifically authorizes underground mining activities closer to, or through, such a stream. The division may authorize such activit…

Underground mining activities shall be conducted so as to maximize the utilization and conservation of the coal, while utilizing the best technology currently available to maintain environmental integrity, so that reaffecting the land in the future through surface coal mining ope…

(a) Applicability. 4VAC25-130-817.61 through 4VAC25-130-817.68 apply to surface blasting activities incident to underground coal mining, including, but not limited to, initial rounds of slopes and shafts. (b) Compliance with other laws. Each permittee shall comply with all applic…

(a) At least 30 days before initiation of blasting, the permittee shall notify, in writing, all residents or owners of dwellings or other structures located within 1/2 mile of the permit area how to request a preblasting survey. (b) A resident or owner of a dwelling or structure …

(a) The permittee shall notify, in writing, residents within 1/2 mile of the blasting site and local governments of the proposed times and locations of blasting operations. Such notice of times that blasting is to be conducted may be announced weekly, but in no case less than 24 …

(a) Blasting signs. Blasting signs shall meet the specifications of 4VAC25-130-817.11. (b) Warnings. Warning and all-clear signals of different character or pattern that are audible within a range of ½ mile from the point of the blast shall be given. Each person within the permit…

(a) General requirements. Blasting shall be conducted to prevent injury to persons, damage to public or private property outside the permit area, adverse impacts on any underground mine, and change in the course, channel, or availability of surface or ground water outside the per…

The permittee shall retain a record of all blasts for at least 3 years. Upon request, copies of these records shall be made available to the division and to the public for inspection. Such records shall contain the following data: (a) Name of the permittee conducting the blast. (…