2023 Tennessee Code › Title 59 - MINES AND MINING (§§ 59-1-101 — 59-13-144) › Chapter 8 - STRIP AND OPEN PIT MINES (§§ 59-8-101 — 59-8-421) › Part 1 - PRIMACY AND RECLAMATION ACT OF TENNESSEE (§§ 59-8-101 — 59-8-133) › Section 59-8-102 - Part definitions

As used in this part
(1)
"Affected area":
(A)
Means any land or water surface area that is used to facilitate, or is physically altered by, surface coal mining and reclamation operations; and
(B)
Includes:
(i)
The disturbed area;
(ii)
Any area upon which surface coal mining and reclamation operations are conducted;
(iii)
Any adjacent lands, the use of which is incidental to surface coal mining and reclamation operations;
(iv)
All areas covered by new or existing roads used to gain access to, or for hauling coal to or from, surface coal mining and reclamation operations;
(v)
Any area covered by surface excavations, workings, impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entryways, refuse banks, dumps, stockpiles, overburden piles, spoil banks, culm banks, tailings, holes or depressions, repair areas, storage areas, or shipping areas;
(vi)
Any areas upon which are sited structures, facilities, or other property or materials on the surface resulting from, or incidental to, surface coal mining and reclamation operations; and
(vii)
The area located above underground workings;
(2)
"Alluvial valley floors" means the unconsolidated stream laid deposits holding streams where water availability is sufficient for subirrigation or flood irrigation agricultural activities but does not include upland areas that are generally overlain by a thin veneer of colluvial deposits composed chiefly of debris from sheet erosion, deposits by unconcentrated runoff or slope wash, together with talus, other mass movement accumulation, and windblown deposits;
(3)
"Approximate original contour" means that surface configuration achieved by backfilling and grading of the mined area so that the reclaimed area, including any terracing or access roads, closely resembles the general surface configuration of the land prior to mining, and blends into and complements the drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain, with all highwalls and spoil piles eliminated; water impoundments may be permitted where the commissioner determines that the water impoundments comply with §
59-8-110(b)(8)
;
(4)
"Commissioner" means the commissioner of environment and conservation or the commissioner's designee;
(5)
"Department" means the department of environment and conservation;
(6)
"Federal lands" means any land, including mineral interests, owned by the United States without regard to how the United States acquired ownership of the land and without regard to the agency having responsibility for management thereof, except Indian land; provided, that for the purposes of this part, lands or mineral interests east of the one hundredth meridian west longitude owned by the United States and entrusted to or managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority are not subject to
30 U.S.C. §§ 1304
and
1305
;
(7)
"Federal program" means a program established by the secretary pursuant to
30 U.S.C. § 1254
to regulate surface coal mining and reclamation operations on lands within a state in accordance with the requirements of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (
30 U.S.C. § 1201
et seq.);
(8)
"Imminent danger to the health and safety of the public" means the existence of any condition or practice, or any violation of a permit or other requirement of this part in a surface coal mining and reclamation operation, which condition, practice, or violation could reasonably be expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons outside the permit area before the condition, practice, or violation could be abated. A reasonable expectation of death or serious injury before abatement exists if a rational person, subjected to the same conditions or practices giving rise to the peril, would not expose himself or herself to the danger during the time necessary for abatement;
(9)
"Lands eligible for remining" means those lands that would otherwise be eligible for expenditures under
30 U.S.C. §§ 1232(g)(4)
or
1234
;
(10)
"Locality" means the county where all or the majority of a surface coal mining and reclamation operation is located;
(11)
"Office" means the office of surface mining reclamation and enforcement, established by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (
30 U.S.C. § 1201
et seq.);
(12)
"Operator" means any person, partnership, or corporation engaged in coal mining who removes or intends to remove more than two hundred fifty (250) tons of coal from the earth by coal mining within twelve (12) consecutive months in any one (1) location;
(13)
"Other minerals" means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous and nonmetalliferous ores, and any other solid material or substances of commercial value excavated in solid form from natural deposits on or in the earth, exclusive of coal and those minerals that occur naturally in liquid or gaseous form;
(14)
"Permit" means a permit to conduct surface coal mining and reclamation operations issued by the commissioner;
(15)
"Permit applicant" or "applicant" means a person applying for a permit;
(16)
"Permit area" means the area of land indicated on the approved map submitted by the operator with the operator's application, which area of land is covered by the operator's bond as required by §
59-8-108
and shall be readily identifiable by appropriate markers on the site as required by §
59-8-112(j)
;
(17)
"Permittee" means a person holding, or required by this part or rules promulgated by the commissioner to hold, a permit;
(18)
"Person" means an individual, partnership, association, society, governmental agency or entity, joint stock company, firm, company, corporation, or other business organization;
(19)
"Prime farmland" has the same meaning as that previously prescribed by the United States secretary of agriculture on the basis of such factors as moisture availability, temperature regime, chemical balance, permeability, surface layer composition, susceptibility to flooding, and erosion characteristics; which historically has been used for intensive agricultural purposes; and as published in
7 CFR 657.5
;
(20)
"Reclamation plan" means a plan submitted by an applicant for a permit under §
59-8-109
, that sets forth a plan for reclamation of the proposed surface coal mining operations pursuant to §
59-8-109
;
(21)
"Secretary" means the secretary of the interior;
(22)
"Spoil bank" means the overburden as it is piled or deposited in the process of mining;
(23)
"Surface coal mining and reclamation operations" means surface coal mining operations and all activities necessary and incident to the reclamation of surface coal mining operations occurring on and after May 26, 2021;
(24)
"Surface coal mining operations" means:
(A)
Activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface coal mine or subject to §
59-8-111
relative to surface operations and surface impacts incident to an underground coal mine. Such activities include excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal, including such common methods as contour, strip, auger, mountaintop removal, cross ridge, box cut, open pit, and area mining, the uses of explosives and blasting, and in situ distillation or retorting, leaching, or other chemical or physical processing, and the cleaning, concentrating, or other processing or preparation, loading of coal at or near the mine site; provided, however, that such activities do not include the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of other minerals where coal does not exceed sixteen and two-thirds percent (162/3%) of the tonnage of minerals removed for purposes of commercial use or sale or coal explorations subject to §
59-8-105
; and
(B)
The areas upon which the activities described in subdivision (24)(A) occur or where the activities disturb the natural land surface. Such areas also include any adjacent land, the use of which is incidental to any of the activities described in subdivision (24)(A); all lands affected by the construction of new roads or the improvement or use of existing roads to gain access to the site of any of the activities described in subdivision (24)(A) and for haulage; and excavations, workings, impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entryways, refuse banks, dumps, stockpiles, overburden piles, spoil banks, culm banks, tailings, holes or depressions, repair areas, storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas, and other areas upon which are sited structures, facilities, or other property or materials on the surface, resulting from or incident to any of the activities described in subdivision (24)(A);
(25)
"Unwarranted failure to comply" means the failure of a permittee to prevent the occurrence of any violation of a permit or any requirement of this part due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate any violation of a permit or this part due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care; and
(26)
"Willful" or "willfully" means that a person acted:
(A)
Intentionally, voluntarily, or consciously; and
(B)
With intentional disregard or plain indifference to legal requirements.
Repealed and reenacted by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 548, s 3, eff. 5/26/2021.
Added by 2018 Tenn. Acts, ch. 839, s 1, eff. eight (8) months immediately following the receipt of notification from the secretary of the interior that this state has been approved to exercise primacy over the regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation operations within its territorial boundaries.