Administrative Rules of Montana › Department 17 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 17.24 - RECLAMATION › Subchapter 17.24.3 - Strip and Underground Mine Reclamation Act: Definitions and Strip Mine Permit Application Requirements › Rule 17.24.301 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 13, July 5, 2024
The following definitions apply to all terms used in the
				  Strip and Underground Mine Reclamation Act and subchapters 3 through 13 of this
				  chapter:
(1) "Abandoned" is defined in
				82-4-203, MCA.
(2) "Acid drainage" means water with a pH of
				less than 6.0 and in which total acidity exceeds total alkalinity, and that is
				discharged from an active, inactive or abandoned strip or underground mining
				operation or from an area affected by such operations.
(3) "Acid-forming materials" means earth
				materials that contain sulfide minerals or other materials which, if exposed to
				air, water, or microbiological or weathering processes, form acids.
(4) "Act" means the Montana Strip and
				Underground Mine Reclamation Act (Title 82, chapter 4, part 2, MCA).
(5) "Active mining operation" means an
				operation at which mining and reclamation activities are regularly occurring on
				an ongoing basis. See also "inactive mining operation."
(6) "Adjacent area" is defined in
				82-4-203, MCA, as "the area
				outside the permit area where a resource or resources, determined in the
				context in which the term is used, are or could reasonably be expected to be
				adversely affected by proposed mining operations, including probable impacts
				from underground workings."
(7)
				"Administratively complete application" means an application that contains
				information addressing application requirements in
				82-4-222 and
				82-4-231, MCA, and subchapters 3
				through 13, and all information necessary to initiate processing and public
				review.
(8) "Agricultural
				activities or farming" means, with respect to alluvial valley floors, use of
				any tract of land for the production of plant or domestic animal life where the
				use is enhanced or facilitated by subirrigation or flood irrigation associated
				with alluvial valley floors. These uses include, but are not limited to, the
				pasturing, grazing, or watering of livestock, and the cropping, cultivation, or
				harvesting of plants whose production is aided by the availability of water
				from subirrigation or flood irrigation. Those uses do not include agricultural
				practices which do not benefit from the availability of water from
				subirrigation or flood irrigation.
(9) "Agricultural use" means the use of any
				tract of land for the production of plant or domestic animal life. The uses
				include, but are not limited to, the pasturing, grazing, and watering of
				livestock, and the cropping, cultivation, and harvesting of plants.
(10) "Alluvial valley floor" is defined in
				82-4-203, MCA.
(11) "Alternative postmining land use" is
				discussed in
				82-4-232(7) and
				(8), MCA.
(12) "Amendment" means any change in the mine
				or reclamation plan that results in expansion or decrease of the operation's
				permitted boundaries, excluding incidental boundary changes. See also "major
				revision," "minor revision," and "incidental boundary change."
(13) "Applicant/violator system" or "AVS"
				means an automated information system of applicant, permittee, operator,
				violation, and related data that the Office of Surface Mining maintains to
				assist in implementing the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of
				1977.
(14) "Approximate original
				contour" is defined in
				82-4-203, MCA.
(15) "Aquifer" is defined in
				82-4-203, MCA.
(16) "Area of land affected" is defined in
				82-4-203, MCA.
(17) "Arid and semiarid area" means, in the
				context of alluvial valley floors, an area experiencing water deficits, where
				water use by native vegetation equals or exceeds that supplied by
				precipitation.
(18) "Auger mining"
				means a method of mining coal at a cliff or highwall by drilling holes into an
				exposed coal seam from the highwall and transporting the coal along an auger
				bit to the surface.
(19) "Bench" is
				defined in
				82-4-203, MCA.
(20) "Best technology currently available" or
				"BTCA" means equipment, devices, systems, methods, or techniques that will:
(a) prevent, to the extent possible,
				additional contributions of suspended solids to stream flow or runoff outside
				the permit area, but in no event will result in contributions of suspended
				solids in excess of requirements set by applicable state or federal laws;
				and
(b) minimize, to the extent
				possible, disturbances and adverse impacts on fish, wildlife and related
				environmental values, and achieve enhancement of those resources where
				practicable. The term includes equipment, devices, systems, methods, or
				techniques that are currently available anywhere as determined by the
				department, even if they are not in routine use. The term includes, but is not
				limited to, construction practices, siting requirements, vegetative selection
				and planting requirements, animal stocking requirements, scheduling of
				activities and design of sedimentation structures.
(c) within the constraints of the Act and
				subchapters 3 through 13, the department has the discretion to determine the
				BTCA on a case-by-case basis.