§1277 Special Bituminous Coal Mines

Summary

Federal regulators can make special rules for certain bituminous coal surface mines located west of the 100th meridian west longitude when they meet specific conditions. Those conditions include long-term digging on a small site; mining a coal seam that slopes fifteen degrees or more and continues downward with sideways widening to keep the pit stable; mining more than one seam and already working the deepest seam; removing a large amount of material compared to the surface area disturbed; having no practical alternative way to mine or to reclaim the land; and having actually produced coal since January 1, 1972 so the operation is committed to its current method. The special rules must also cover new mines started after August 3, 1977 next to lands with such 1972 mines, but those new mines do not have to meet the multiple-seam and prior-production rules and must follow state law. The alternative federal rules can only change how waste rock and dirt are handled, how water-collecting depressions are removed, how impoundments are created, how land is regraded back to roughly its original shape, and must require remaining highwalls be stable. All other federal performance standards still apply.