405 KAR 20:060 - Steep slopes
RELATES TO: KRS 350.090, 350.093, 350.100, 350.405, 350.410, 350.445, 350.450, 350.465, 30 C.F.R. Parts 730-733, 735, 785.15, 785.16, 816.107, 817.107, 917, 30 U.S.C. 1253, 1255, 1257, 1258, 1265(d)
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 350.028(1) and (5), 350.151(1), and 350.465(2) authorize the cabinet to promulgate administrative regulations relating to surface and underground coal mining operations. This administrative regulation establishes special performance standards and limited variance procedures for operations conducted on steep slopes.
Section
1. Applicability.
(1) Surface
coal mining and reclamation operations on steep slopes shall meet the
requirements of this administrative regulation.
(2) The standards of this administrative
regulation shall not apply to:
(a) Mining
conducted on a flat or gently rolling terrain with an occasional steep slope
through which the mining proceeds and leaves a plain or predominantly flat
area; or
(b) Operations covered by
405 KAR
20:050.
Section 2. Performance Standards.
(1) Surface coal mining and reclamation
operations conducted on steep slopes shall comply with requirements of this
section and all other requirements of 405 KAR Chapters 7 through 24, except to
the extent a variance is approved under Section 3 of this administrative
regulation.
(2)
(a) The permittee shall prevent the following
materials from being placed or allowed to remain on the downslope:
1. Spoil;
2. Waste materials, including waste mineral
matter;
3. Debris, including that
from clearing and grubbing of haul road construction; and
4. Abandoned or disabled equipment.
(b) Nothing in this subsection
shall prohibit the placement of material in road embankments located on the
downslope, if the material used and embankment design comply with the
requirements for roads and other transportation facilities in 405 KAR Chapters
16 and 18 and the material is moved and placed in a controlled
manner.
(3) The highwall
shall be completely covered with compacted spoil and the disturbed area graded
to comply with the provisions of 405 KAR Chapters 16 and 18, with respect to
backfilling and grading, including the return of the site to the approximate
original contour. The permittee shall demonstrate to the cabinet, using
standard geotechnical analyses, that the minimum static factor of safety for
the stability of all portions of the reclaimed land is at least one and
three-tenths (1.3).
(4) Land above
the highwall shall not be disturbed unless the cabinet finds that the
disturbance facilitates compliance with the requirements of 405 KAR Chapters 16
through 20, provided, however, that the land disturbed above the highwall shall
be limited to that amount necessary to facilitate compliance.
(5) Material in excess of that required by
the grading and backfilling provisions of subsection (3) of this section shall
be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of
405 KAR
16:130 or
405 KAR
18:130.
(6) Woody materials shall not be buried in
the backfilled area unless the cabinet determines that the proposed method for
placing woody material within the backfill will not deteriorate the stable
condition of the backfilled area as required in subsection 3 of this section.
Woody materials may be chipped and distributed over the surface of the backfill
as mulch, if special provision is made for their use and approved by the
cabinet.
(7) Unlined or unprotected
drainage channels shall not be constructed on backfills unless approved by the
cabinet as stable and not subject to erosion.
Section 3. Limited variances for
nonmountaintop removal, steep slope sites. Surface coal mining operations may
be conducted under a variance from the requirement to restore disturbed areas
to their approximate original contour, if the following requirements are
satisfied:
(1) The cabinet grants the
variance and the operation is conducted and reclaimed in accordance with the
plan approved under
405 KAR
8:050, Section 6.
(2)
(a)
After reclamation, the lands to be affected by the variance within the permit
area shall be suitable for an industrial, commercial, residential, or public
postmining land use (including recreational facilities);
(b) After consultation with the appropriate
land use planning agencies, if any, the potential use is shown to constitute an
equal or better economic or public use;
(c) The alternative postmining land use
requirements of
405 KAR
16:210, Section 4 are met; and
(d) Federal, state, and local government
agencies with an interest in the proposed land use have an adequate period in
which to review and comment on the proposed use.
(3) The applicant has demonstrated in the
permit application that the watershed of lands within the proposed permit and
adjacent areas will be improved by the operations when compared with the
condition of the watershed before mining or with its condition if the
approximate original contour were to be restored. The watershed shall be deemed
improved only if:
(a) The amount of total
suspended solids or other pollutants discharged to ground or surface water from
the permit area will be reduced, so as to improve the public or private uses or
the ecology of ground or surface water, or flood hazards from precipitation
events or thaws within the watershed containing the permit area will be reduced
by decreasing the peak flow discharge, or there will be an increase in stream
flow during times of the year when streams within the watershed are normally at
low flow or dry and the increase in stream flow is determined by the cabinet to
be beneficial to public or private users or to the ecology of the
streams;
(b) The total volume of
flow from the proposed permit area, during every season of the year, will not
vary in a way that adversely affects the ecology of any surface water or any
existing or planned use of surface or groundwater; and
(c) The cabinet has considered any agency
comments under subsection (2) of this section regarding watershed
improvement.
(4) The
proposed use is designed and certified by a qualified, registered, professional
engineer in conformance with professional standards established to assure the
stability, drainage, and configuration necessary for the intended use of the
site.
(5) The surface landowner of
the permit area has knowingly requested, in writing in the permit application,
that a variance be granted, so as to render the land, after reclamation,
suitable for an industrial, commercial, residential, or public postmining land
use (including recreational facilities).
(6) All applicable requirements of KRS
Chapter 350 and 450 KAR Chapters 7 through 24, other than the requirement to
restore disturbed areas to their approximate original contour, are
met.
(7) The highwall is completely
backfilled with spoil material, in a manner which results in a static factor of
safety of at least one and three-tenths (1.3), using standard geotechnical
analysis.
(8) Only the amount of
spoil as is necessary to achieve the postmining land use, ensure the stability
of spoil retained on the bench, and meet all other applicable requirements of
KRS Chapter 350 and 405 KAR Chapters 7 through 24 is placed off the mine bench.
All spoil not retained on the bench shall be placed in accordance with
405 KAR
16:130.
Notes
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