Alabama Administrative Code › Title 335 - ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT › WATER DIVISION - WATER QUALITY PROGRAM › Chapter 335-6-9 - SURFACE MINING RULES › Section 335-6-9-.02 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
The following words and phrases, unless a different meaning
				  is plainly required by the context, shall have the following meanings:
(a) "advance prospecting" shall mean the
				removal of overburden for the purpose of determining the location, quality or
				quantity of a natural deposit in an area not to exceed two acres per forty acre
				tract.
(b) "discharge" shall mean
				any addition of any pollution to any stream.
(c) "non-point source pollution" shall mean
				sources, other than point sources, from which pollution is or may be added to
				any stream.
(d) "NPDES Rules" shall
				mean applicable National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Rules of the
				Department.
(e) "overburden" shall
				mean the strata or material overlying a natural deposit of coal, lignite,
				bauxite, gravel, gold, marble, or any other mineral in its natural state, and
				shall mean such strata or material both before and after its removal by surface
				mining.
(f) "pit" shall mean any
				tract of land from which overburden has been or is being removed for the
				purpose of surface mining.
(g)
				"point source pollution" shall mean any discernible, confined and discrete
				conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel,
				conduit or well from which pollution is or may be added to any
				stream.
(h) "sedimentation basin,
				settling pond or collection pool" shall mean any natural or artificial
				structure, depression or body of water into which waters used in any phase of
				the mineral washing process are discharged for treatment, to include solids
				removal, pH adjustment or other necessary operations.
(i) "stream" shall mean any body of water
				having a drainage area in excess of one square mile.
(j) "surface mining" shall mean all or any
				part of the process of recovering coal, lignite, iron, clay, sand, bauxite,
				gravel, ores, gold, marble or any other material or mineral by removal of such
				mineral from the surface or by removal or displacement of the strata or
				material which overlies such mineral deposits in its natural condition, and
				shall include but not be limited to the open-pit or open-cut method, the auger
				method and the highwall mining method. As used in this Chapter, "surface
				mining" shall not be interpreted to include dredging operations or advance
				prospecting.
(k) "surface mining
				operation" shall mean all of the premises, facilities, roads and equipment used
				for the process of surface mining in a designated area.
(l) "surface mining operator" shall mean any
				person, firm, corporation or partnership engaged in or controlling a surface
				mining operation including any agent or independent contractor engaged in
				surface mining under a contract with such person, firm, corporation or
				partnership.
Author:
Joe Myers
Statutory Authority:
Code of Ala.
					 1975
, §
											§
											22-22-9,
					 22-22A-5,
					 22-22A-6,
					 22-22A-8.