Illinois Administrative Code › Title 35 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part 402 - DEFINITIONS › Section 402.101 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
For purposes of this Subtitle D, the following terms are
				defined:
"Abandon": to transfer ownership of or to close down mining
				activities, a mine or mine refuse area with no intention by the operator to
				reopen the affected land. A mine or mine refuse area that has been inoperative
				for one year is rebuttably presumed abandoned.
"Acid or Ferruginous Mine Drainage": mine drainage that, before
				any treatment, has a pH of less than 6.0 or a total iron concentration greater
				than 10 mg/L.
"Acid-producing Material": material that, when exposed to air
				and water, may cause drainage containing sulfuric acid. In determining whether
				material is acid-producing, consideration must be given to the sulfur content
				of the material, the size and spatial distribution of pyritic compounds and
				other compounds of sulfur, the neutralizing effect of surrounding intermixed
				materials, and the quality of drainage produced by mining on sites with similar
				soils.
"Affected Land": any land owned, controlled, or otherwise used
				by the operator in connection with mining activities, except the surface area
				above underground mine workings that is not otherwise used for mining
				activities. The term does not include offsite office buildings and farming
				operations or recreational activities on undisturbed land. Land described in a
				certificate of abandonment issued by the Agency under 35 Ill. Adm. Code
				405.110(e)
				is no longer part of the affected land.
"Alkaline Mine Drainage": mine drainage that, prior to
				treatment, has a pH equal to or greater than 6.0 and a total iron concentration
				of less than 10 mg/L.
"Aquifer":
saturated (with groundwater) soils and
				geologic materials that are sufficiently permeable to readily yield
				economically useful quantities of water to wells, springs, or streams under
				ordinary hydraulic gradients.
[
				415 ILCS
				55/3(b) ]
"Base Flow": any flow that is not a result of immediate runoff
				from precipitation. It includes groundwater flow, mechanical pumpages, springs,
				discharges from subsurface drainage systems, and controlled outfalls from other
				treatment works. It is normally any flow beyond 24 hours after the rainfall
				ceases.
"Coal Preparation Plant": a facility where coal is subjected to
				cleaning, concentrating, or other processing or preparation to separate coal
				from its impurities.
"Coal Preparation Plant Associated Areas": coal preparation
				plant yards, immediate access roads, coal refuse piles, and coal storage piles
				and facilities.
"Coal Refuse Disposal Pile": any coal refuse permanently
				deposited on the earth or stored for more than 180 days. It does not include
				coal refuse deposited within the active mining area or coal refuse never
				removed from the active mining area.
"Coal Transfer Facility" or "Coal Storage Yard": any area where
				coal is transferred from one mode of transportation to another or where coal is
				dumped, piled, stored or blended. The term includes coal docks, blending yards,
				conveyor belts and pipelines. As used in this Subtitle D, the terms mining
				activity and mine related facility include coal transfer facilities and coal
				storage yards.
"Construction Authorization": authorization under 35 Ill. Adm.
				Code
				403.104
				to prepare land for mining activities or to construct mine related facilities.
				Construction authorization is issued to a person who holds or is required to
				have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
"Construction Permit": a State permit issued under 35 Ill. Adm.
				Code
				404.101
				that allows the operator to prepare land for mining activities or to construct
				mine related facilities.
"Controlled Surface Mine Drainage": any surface mine drainage
				that is pumped or siphoned from a mine area or mined area.
"Domestic Retail Sales Yard": a business that stockpiles coal
				or other minerals solely to supply homeowners, small businesses, small
				industries or other institutions with minerals for individual consumption. The
				term does not include any sales yard located at a mine.
"Drainage Course": any natural or man-made channel or ditch
				that directs the flow of water into a natural waterway.
"Facility": a contiguous area of land, including all structures
				above or below the ground, owned or controlled by one person.
"Mine Area" or "Mined Area": the surface and subsurface land
				where mining has occurred or is occurring. The term does not include the
				unmined surface land directly above underground mine workings that is not
				otherwise disturbed by mining activities.
"Mine Discharge": any point source discharge, whether natural
				or man-made, from a mine related facility. Such discharges include mechanical
				pumpages, pit overflows, spillways, drainage ditches, seepage from mine or mine
				refuse areas, and effluent from processing and milling or mineral preparation
				plants. Other discharges including sanitary sewers and sewage treatment works
				are not mine discharges. The term mine discharge includes surface runoff
				discharged from a sedimentation pond but does not include non-point source mine
				discharges.
"Mine Refuse": gob, coal, rock, slate, shale, mill tailings,
				boney, clay, pyrites and other unmerchantable solid or slurry material intended
				to be discarded that results from cleaning and preparation of mined materials
				at a preparation plant or washery. It includes sludge or other precipitated
				matter produced by the treatment of acid mine drainage but does not generally
				include sediment from alkaline mine drainage. The term also includes
				acid-producing spoil.
"Mine Refuse Area": any land used for dumping, storing or
				disposing of mine refuse.
"Mine Refuse Pile": any deposit of solid mine refuse intended
				for permanent disposal.
"Mine Related Facility": a portion of a facility that is
				related to mining activities. The term includes the following:
Affected land;
Coal storage yard or transfer facility;
Mine;
Mine drainage treatment facility;
Mine refuse area; and
Processing or mineral preparation plant.
"Mining": the surface or underground extraction or processing
				of natural deposits of coal, clay, fluorspar, gravel, lead bearing ores, peat,
				sand, stone, zinc bearing ores or other minerals using any mechanical operation
				or process. The term also includes recovering or processing minerals from a
				mine refuse area. It does not include drilling for oil or natural gas.
"Mining Activities": all activities on a facility that directly
				further mining, including activities before, during and after mining. The term
				does not include land acquisition, exploratory drilling, surveying and similar
				activities. The term includes the following:
Preparation of land for mining activities;
Construction of mine related facilities that could generate
				refuse, result in a discharge or have the potential to cause water
				pollution;
Ownership or control of a mine related facility;
Ownership or control of a coal storage yard or transfer
				facility;
Generation or disposal of mine refuse;
Mining;
Opening a mine;
Production of a mine discharge or non-point source mine
				discharge;
Surface drainage control; and
Use of acid-producing mine refuse.
"Mountaintop Removal": surface coal mining and reclamation
				operations that remove entire coal seams running through the upper fraction of
				a mountain, ridge, or hill by removal of all of the overburden and create a
				level plateau or gently rolling contour with no highwalls remaining.
"New Source Coal Mine": a coal mine, including an abandoned
				mine that is being remined, at which:
Construction commenced after May 4, 1984; or
A major alteration has resulted in a new, altered or increased
				discharge of pollutants. Major alterations are:
Extraction from a coal seam not previously extracted by that
				mine;
Discharge into a drainage area not previously affected by
				wastewater discharge from that mine;
Extensive new surface disruption at the mining operation;
				and
Construction of a new shaft, slope or drift.
"Non-point Source Mine Discharge": surface runoff from the
				affected land. The term does not include surface runoff discharged from a
				sedimentation pond or seepage from a mine or mine refuse area.
"Opening a Mine": any construction activity related to
				preparation for mining on a facility.
"Operating Permit": a State permit required of a person
				carrying out mining activities.
"Operator": a person who carries out mining activities.
"Permittee": a person who holds a State or NPDES permit issued
				under Subtitle D. In some contexts, the term permittee also includes a permit
				applicant.
"Person": any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm,
				company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate,
				political subdivision, State agency, or any other legal entity, or their legal
				representative, agent or assigns.
"Processing or Mineral Preparation Plant": a facility used to
				size or separate coal, clay, fluorspar, gravel, lead bearing ores, peat, sand,
				stone, zinc bearing ores, or other materials from the ore or raw
				mineral.
"Reclamation Area": the surface area of a coal mine returned to
				the contour required by permit and on which revegetation work has begun.
"Slurry": mine refuse separated from the mineral in the
				cleaning process, consisting of readily pumpable fines and clays and other
				materials in the preparation plant effluent. This term includes mill
				tailings.
"Spoil": the accumulation of excavated overburden or other
				earth, dirt or rock overlying the mineral seam or other deposit excavated from
				its original location by surface or underground mining.
"State Permit": a construction permit or operating permit
				issued by the Agency. NPDES permits are not State permits.
"Steep Slope": any slope of more than 20 degrees.
"Surface Drainage Control": control of surface water on the
				affected land by a person engaging in mining activities. Control of surface
				water includes diverting surface waters around or away from the active mining
				area or mine refuse area and diverting, redirecting or impounding a stream or
				impounding water to augment flow or control release of effluents.
"Surface Mining": mining conducted in an open pit, including
				area and contour strip mining.
"Underground Mining": mining conducted below the surface by
				means of constructing an access facility to the mineral deposit. The term
				includes slope, drift, shaft mines and auger or punch mining.
"Use of Acid-producing Mine Refuse": use of acid-producing mine
				refuse includes any use, offer for sale, sale or offer for use in roadway
				projects, mine roads, mine yards or elsewhere.