§1257 Application Requirements

Summary

Applicants must pay a fee with a surface coal mining permit application. The agency that issues the permit decides the fee. The fee can be less than, but not more than, the agency’s expected cost to review, run, and enforce the permit. The agency may let the fee be paid over the life of the permit. The application must be sent in the way the agency requires and must include basic contact info (applicant, property owners, leaseholders, buyers, operator, and, for businesses, officers and any person owning 10 percent or more), the owners of nearby land, any past or pending mining permits, and whether the applicant or related parties ever had a permit suspended, revoked, or a bond forfeited in the past five years. The application must include a legal notice run in a local newspaper at least once a week for four successive weeks that gives ownership, exact location and boundaries, and where the application can be seen. It must describe the mining method, equipment, start and end dates for each phase, and number of acres affected. The applicant must file accurate maps and a plan showing the land to be mined, the area where they have the legal right to enter, and the documents that prove that right (the agency will not decide property title disputes). The application must name the watershed and stream that will receive drainage. A study of probable hydrologic effects on surface and groundwater is required, but only after general-area hydrologic information is available from a Federal or State agency; the permit cannot be approved until that information is included. The agency can ask for local climate data. Applications must include detailed maps (including USGS topographic map information at scales of 1:24,000 or 1:25,000 or larger) showing boundaries, nearby owners, and all buildings within 1,000 feet. Cross-section maps certified by a qualified engineer or geologist must show strata, water, mine workings, spoil and control structures, and the planned final land shape. Test-boring logs and chemical analyses of coal and overburden are required, with some analyses allowed to be waived by the agency. If land might be prime farmland, a soil survey per Agriculture Department standards is needed. Most resource and sample information must be available to people who may be harmed, but chemical analysis of the coal itself (except for elements that can be toxic) can be kept confidential. If an operator’s expected total annual production at all locations is 300,000 tons or less, the agency will pay for certain required studies and tests (including the hydrologic study, cross-sections, drilling and sample analysis, archaeological work, pre-blast surveys, and fish and wildlife resource work) if the operator asks in writing. The Secretary must provide or pay for training to help small operators prepare applications and follow the rules and must make them aware of this help. Every application must include a reclamation plan that meets the law. A copy of the application (except the coal seam analysis) must be filed for public inspection at the county courthouse or another public office the agency approves. The applicant must also provide proof of a public liability insurance policy (or state/federal self-insurance) that covers personal injury and property damage, including use of explosives, in amounts adequate under state law, and keep it in force during the permit and reclamation. A blasting plan meeting the agency’s standards must be included. If an operator received the agency’s help and then actually produces more than 300,000 tons in the 12 months after the permit is issued, the operator must reimburse the agency for those assistance costs.