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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 363

To require the Secretary of the Interior to establish a program to insure

the stockpiling and replacement of topsoil on public lands and other

lands which are moved or covered by surface mining projects, reclamation

projects, and other Federal and federally assisted projects, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. SMITH of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly

to the Committees on Agriculture and Natural Resources

A BILL

To require the Secretary of the Interior to establish a program to insure the stockpiling and replacement of topsoil

on public lands and other lands which are moved or

covered by surface mining projects, reclamation projects,

and other Federal and federally assisted projects, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 That this Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Topsoil Pres4 ervation Act of 1993’’.

5 SEC. 2. The Congress finds and declares that—
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1 (1) topsoil is a valuable, unique, and peculiar

2 natural resource upon which future generations will

3 be dependent and that while ownership of land in

4 the United States, both privately and under the con5 trol of government agencies, provides those in con6 trol with certain rights, it also carries with it a re7 sponsibility not to destroy the topsoil or so inter8 mingle or bury it that it will not be easily and eco9 nomically accessible for use at a later date;

10 (2) in order to promote the general welfare and

11 to protect the natural resources of the Nation for

12 both present and future generations, it is necessary

13 in the use and management of the Nation’s land re14 sources to provide minimum standards which incor15 porate environmental, ecological, social, esthetic, eco16 nomic, conservation, and other factors and prevent

17 the destruction of topsoil and unnecessary interrup18 tion of plant reproduction and soil-building proc19 esses; and

20 (3) failure to establish minimum standards for

21 the use of land which will protect against the loss of

22 topsoil in and of itself causes those using inadequate

23 standards to move to areas where destructive prac24 tices are permitted and therefore such failure to es-
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1 tablish such minimum standards affect and is a bur2 den upon commerce among the States.

3 SEC. 3. Each project or activity which is carried out

4 on Federal land (including lands under the jurisdiction of

5 the Secretary of the Interior), for which any direct or indi6 rect Federal assistance is provided, or which is carried out

7 by the Secretary of the Interior or any other agency or

8 instrumentality of the United States, and which involves

9 the moving or covering of topsoil in changing an area of

10 land from its natural state shall be subject to this Act.

11 Such projects and activities shall hereinafter in this Act

12 be referred to as ‘‘projects’’.

13 SEC. 4. (a) There is hereby established a National

14 Land Resources Protection Commission, hereinafter in

15 this Act referred to as ‘‘the Commission’’, which shall be

16 composed of the Secretary of the Interior and four other

17 members. The President shall designate the Secretary of

18 the Interior as Chairman of the Commission.

19 (b) Members of the Commission shall be appointed

20 by the President, by and with the advice and consent of

21 the Senate, for terms of four years beginning July 1 of

22 the year following each Presidential election. Vacancies on

23 the Commission shall be filled in the same manner as

24 original appointments but only for the unexpired term and

25 any member of the Commission may be removed by the
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1 President at any time. Each member shall receive com2 pensation at the rate of $67,500 per annum.

3 (c) The Commission is authorized, subject to the civil

4 service and classification laws, to select, appoint, employ,

5 and fix the compensation of such officers and employees

6 as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act

7 and to prescribe their authority and duties.

8 (d) The Commission shall hold such meetings, con9 duct such hearings, and establish such rules and regula10 tions in accordance with chapter 5, title 5, United States

11 Code, relating to administrative procedure, as may be rea12 sonably necessary to enable it to carry out the provisions

13 of this Act.

14 (e) The Commission may delegate responsibilities

15 hereunder within any particular State to a commission or

16 commissions within that State under terms and conditions

17 assuring that at least the Federal minimum standards es18 tablished under the provisions of this Act will be adhered

19 to in such State. In each State where responsibilities have

20 been delegated hereunder, the Commission shall exercise

21 a continuing oversight to assure that the purposes of this

22 Act are being constantly carried out and the Commission

23 is also authorized to cancel such delegation of authority

24 at any time.
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1 (f) The Commission or any member may administer

2 oaths or affirmations or take evidence; and may by a ma3 jority vote subpoena and compel the attendance of wit4 nesses or the production of materials.

5 SEC. 5. (a) The Commission shall establish minimum

6 standards for all projects which assure that a minimum

7 of twelve inches of topsoil or such lesser amount of topsoil

8 as may exist shall be stockpiled from those areas of each

9 project where the shape or contour of the land is changed

10 or where the land is covered. Such topsoil shall not be

11 intermingled with other materials or buried so that it will

12 not be easily and economically accessible for use at a later

13 date; and, to the extent it is sufficient or adequate to do

14 so, such topsoil shall be used to form a top layer of uni15 form depth and a minimum of twelve inches deep on all

16 areas of the completed project where soil will be exposed

17 to natural elements. Any excess topsoil from such stockpile

18 which is not so used or needed to cover such exposed areas

19 to a depth of twelve inches or more shall be stockpiled

20 permanently in a place where it will improve plant produc21 tion or be easily and economically accessible for use at

22 a later date.

23 (b) Where sufficient subsoil which is nontoxic to

24 plantlife will not otherwise be available on the exposed

25 areas of a completed project and to the extent available
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1 from the project, the Commission shall require the sepa2 rate stockpiling and replacement in a sublayer of sufficient

3 quantities of appropriate soil to provide such a nontoxic

4 layer of subsoil as if necessary for the production of such

5 plantlife as is normally considered environmentally, eco6 logically, esthetically, and economically acceptable to the

7 area.

8 (c) The overriding objective of this section is to re9 quire that the areas of a completed project where the earth

10 is normally exposed shall be left in at least substantially

11 as good a condition to sustain vegetation as existed prior

12 to the beginning of the project and to protect against the

13 destruction of the productive capacity of existing topsoil

14 which has currently been exposed to the elements or used

15 to sustain plantlife; and the Commission shall establish

16 rules and regulations and provide interpretations consist17 ent with such objective.

18 (d) For the purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘topsoil’’

19 shall mean the surface layer of soil, commonly known as

20 the A-horizon, which contains organic and mineral matter

21 in such quantities as are needed to provide the fertility

22 necessary for the production of vegetation.

23 SEC. 6. The Commission shall establish minimum

24 standards to assure that projects covered by this Act will

25 not cause pollution of existing streams, land slides, flood-
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1 ing or substantially change the volume of water to be car2 ried by natural waterways on land adjoining the imme3 diate construction area except where such change is con4 sistent with an approved State or Federal water resource

5 policy or law.

6 SEC. 7. No soil shall be moved on any project where

7 the moving or covering of topsoil covers an area in excess

8 of one hundred thousand square feet until a license or let9 ter of approval to do so has been issued by the Commission

10 or by a commission to whom authority has been delegated

11 under section 4(e) of this Act. A letter of approval from

12 the director of the appropriate State soil conservation

13 service shall be deemed sufficient for purposes of the pre14 ceding sentence with regard to any agricultural lands

15 being restructured for the purpose of increased productiv16 ity, soil conservancy, water conservancy, or reduction of

17 air or water pollution.

18 SEC. 8. On all projects where the Commission deems

19 it necessary to assure the fulfillment of the purposes of

20 this Act, the Commission may require prior to the begin21 ning of any moving of earth, the submission of a plan pre22 pared by a professional engineer or surveyor. Where ap23 propriate, aerial photographs showing details in sufficient

24 contour to the satisfaction of the Commission or a United

25 States Department of the Interior Geological Survey topo-
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1 graphic map may be substituted to show the area in its

2 current state. Such plan may require the showing of

3 boundaries of the area of land affected and the elevation

4 involved, drainage plans below, above, and away from the

5 area of land affected both before and after construction,

6 the topography of the land involved and its relationship

7 to adjoining property, the direct flow of the water and its

8 relationship to natural waterways, a definite and detailed

9 plan in accordance with section 5 herein for removing and

10 stockpiling and replacing the soil from the land in separate

11 layers and a segregated state so as to assure that it will

12 be kept and replaced in a usable condition for sustaining

13 vegetation, and such other information as the Commission

14 deems necessary to assure that the particular project will

15 not violate the minimum standards established under this

16 Act. The Commission may also require the posting of such

17 bond or deposit of cash or securities as it deems necessary

18 to assure that such standards will be met prior to comple19 tion of the project and within a reasonable time during

20 the completion of various stages of the project.

21 SEC. 9. The Commission shall submit a report to the

22 Congress by July 31 of each year setting forth the activi23 ties of the Commission and shall also submit to the Con24 gress such other reports as may be requested by commit25 tees of the Congress established by either the United
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1 States Senate or the United States House of Representa2 tives.

3 SEC. 10. There is authorized to be appropriated not

4 more than $6,000,000 annually for the administration of

5 this Act for each fiscal year commencing after September

6 30, 1993.

7 COMPLIANCE WITH BUDGET ACT

8 SEC. 11. No authority under this Act to enter into

9 contracts or to make payments shall be effective except

10 to the extent and in such amounts as provided in advance

11 in appropriations Acts. Any provision of this Act which,

12 directly or indirectly, authorizes the enactment of new

13 budget authority shall be effective only for fiscal years be14 ginning after September 30, 1993.

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