Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 460 - Department of Mines › Chapter 20 - The Permanent Regulations Governing the Coal Reclamation Act of 1979 › Subchapter 1 - General Provisions › Section 460:20-1-5 - Definitions

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
As used throughout this Chapter, the following terms have
				  these specified meanings except where otherwise indicated:
"Act"
means the Coal Reclamation Act of
				  1979.
"Coal"
means combustible carbonaceous rock,
				  classified as anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous, or lignite by ASTM
				  Standard D 388-77.
"Department"
means the Department of
				  Mines.
"Director"
means the Director of the State of
				  Oklahoma or such officer, bureau, or commission as may lawfully succeed to the
				  powers and duties of such Director or such employee, agent, deputy, or
				  representative of the Director as shall be designated by the Director to
				  perform any actions required by this Act.
"Federal lands"
means any land, including
				  mineral interests, owned by the United States, without regard to how the United
				  States acquired ownership of the lands or which agency manages the lands. It
				  does not include Indian lands.
"Federal lands program"
means a program
				  established by the Secretary pursuant to Section 523 of the Federal Act to
				  regulate surface coal mining and reclamation operations on Federal
				  lands.
"Fund"
means the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund
				  established pursuant to Section 401 of the Federal Act.
"Indian lands"
means all lands, including
				  mineral interests, within the exterior boundaries of any Federal Indian
				  reservation, notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and including
				  rights-of-way, and all lands including mineral interests held in trust for or
				  supervised by an Indian tribe.
"Indian tribe"
means any Indian tribe, band,
				  group, or community having a governing body recognized by the Secretary.
"Office"
means the Office of Surface Mining
				  Reclamation and Enforcement established under Title II of Public Law
				  95-87.
"Person"
means an individual, Indian tribe when
				  conducting surface coal mining and reclamation operations on non-Indian lands,
				  partnership, association, society, joint venture, joint stock company, firm,
				  company, corporation, cooperative or other business organization and any
				  agency, unit, or instrumentality of Federal, State or local government
				  including any publicly owned utility or publicly owned corporation of Federal,
				  State, or local government.
"Person having an interest which is or may be adversely
				  affected or person with a valid legal interest"
shall include any
				  person:
(A) Who uses any resource of economic, recreational,
				  aesthetic, or environmental value that may be adversely affected by coal
				  exploration or surface coal mining and reclamation operations or any related
				  action of the Secretary or the Department; or
(B) Whose property is or may be adversely affected by coal
				  exploration or surface coal mining and reclamation operations or any related
				  action of the Secretary or the Department.
"Public office"
means a facility under the
				  direction and control of a governmental entity which is open to public access
				  on a regular basis during reasonable business hours.
"Regulatory authority"
means the department or
				  agency in each State which has primary responsibility at the State level for
				  administering the Act in the initial program, or the State regulatory authority
				  where the State is administering the Act or permanent program where the
				  Secretary is administering the Act, or the Secretary when administering a
				  Federal program or Federal lands program or when enforcing a State program
				  pursuant to Section 521 (b) of the P.L. 95-87 or SB 299.
"Regulatory program"
means any approved State of
				  Federal program
"Secretary"
means the Secretary of the Interior
				  or the Secretary's representative.
"State regulatory authority"
means the Oklahoma
				  Department of Mines which has primary responsibility at the State level for
				  administering the initial or permanent State regulatory program.
"Surface coal mining operations"
means:
(A) Activities conducted on the surface of lands in
				  connection with a surface coal mine or, subject to the requirements of Section
				  760 of the Act, surface operations and surface impacts incident to an
				  underground coal mine, the products of which enter commerce or the operations
				  of which directly or indirectly affect interstate commerce. Such activities
				  include excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal, including such common
				  methods as contour, strip, auger, mountain top removal, box cut, open pit, and
				  area mining; the use of explosives and blasting; in situ distillation or
				  retorting; leaching or other chemical or physical processing or preparation of
				  coal. Such activities also include the loading of coal for interstate commerce
				  at or near the mine site. Provided, these activities do not include the
				  extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of other minerals, where coal
				  does not exceed 16 2/3 percent of the tonnage on minerals removed for purposes
				  of commercial use or sale, or coal exploration subject to Section 745.11 of the
				  Act; and Provided further, that excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal
				  includes extraction of coal from coal refuse piles, and
(B) The areas upon which the activities described in
				  Subsection (a) of this definition occur or where such activities disturb the
				  natural land surface. These areas shall also include any adjacent land the use
				  of which is incidental to any such activities, all lands affected by the
				  construction of new roads or the improvement or use of existing roads to gain
				  access to the site of those activities and for haulage and excavation,
				  workings, impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entryways, refuse banks,
				  dumps, stockpiles, overburden piles, spoil banks, culm banks. tailings, holes
				  or depressions, repair areas, areas upon which are sited structures,
				  facilities, or other property or material on the surface, resulting from or
				  incident to those activities.
"Surface coal mining and reclamation operations"
means surface coal mining operations and all activities necessary or incidental
				  to the reclamation of such operations. This term includes the term surface coal
				  mining operations.
"Ton"
means 2,000 pounds avoirdupois (0.90718
				  metric ton).