Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart C - Protection of Natural Resources › Article I - Land Resources › Chapter 87 - SURFACE MINING OF COAL › Subchapter A - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 87.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
						  chapter, have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
						  otherwise:
Abandoned
-Any operation where no coal
						  has been produced or overburden removed for a period of 6 months, verified by
						  monthly reports submitted to the Department by the operator and by inspections
						  made by the Department, unless an operator within 30 days after receipt of
						  notification by the Secretary terming an operation abandoned submits sufficient
						  evidence to the Secretary that the operation is in fact not abandoned and
						  submits a timetable satisfactory to the Secretary regarding plans for the
						  reactivation of the operation.
Access roads
-Roads located and
						  constructed, reconstructed, improved or maintained for minimal and infrequent
						  use to transport equipment and personnel to current and future activity sites.
						  The term includes the entire area within the right-of-way, including the
						  roadbed, shoulders, parking and side areas, approaches, structures and
						  ditches.
Acid drainage
-Water with a pH of less
						  than 6.0 and in which total acidity exceeds total alkalinity, discharged from
						  an active, inactive or abandoned surface coal mine and reclamation operation or
						  from an area affected by surface mining activities.
Acid-forming materials
-Earth materials
						  that contain sulfide minerals or other materials which, if exposed to air,
						  water or weathering processes, form acids that may create acid drainage.
Adjacent area
-Land located outside
						  the permit area, where air, surface or groundwater, fish, wildlife, vegetation
						  or other resources protected by this chapter may be adversely affected by
						  surface mining activities.
Affected area
-Land or water upon or in
						  which surface mining activities are conducted or located. The term includes
						  land in which the natural land surface has been disturbed as a result of or
						  incidental to the surface activities of the operator, including, but not
						  limited to, private ways and roads appurtenant to the area, land excavations,
						  workings, refuse banks, spoil banks, culm banks, tailings, repair areas,
						  storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas and areas in which structures,
						  facilities, equipment, machines, tools or other materials or property which
						  result from or are used in, surface mining operations are situated. The term
						  includes the land affected by the construction of new roads or the improvement
						  or substantial use of an existing road to gain access to the site or for
						  hauling from the site.
Aquifer
-A zone, stratum or group of
						  strata that can store and transmit water in sufficient quantities for a
						  specific use.
Auger mining
-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.
Best technology currently
						  available
-Equipment, devices, systems, methods or techniques which
						  will:
(i) Prevent, to the extent
						possible, additional contributions of suspended solids to stream flow or runoff
						outside the permit area, but in no event result in contributions of suspended
						solids in excess of requirements set by applicable State or Federal
						laws.
(ii) Minimize, to the extent
						possible, disturbances and adverse impacts on fish, wildlife and related
						environmental values, and achieve enhancement of those resources when
						practicable. The term includes equipment, devices, systems, methods or
						techniques which are currently available anywhere as determined by the
						Secretary, 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, scheduling of activities and design of sedimentation
						ponds in accordance with this chapter.
Blast
-A detonation of
						  explosives.
Blasting
-The detonation of
						  explosives
Coal processing waste
-Earth materials
						  which are separated and wasted from the product coal during cleaning,
						  concentrating or other processing or preparation of coal.
Coal refuse
-Any waste coal, rock,
						  shale, slurry, culm, gob, boney, slate, clay and related materials, associated
						  with or near a coal seam, which are either brought aboveground or otherwise
						  removed from a coal mine in the process of mining coal or which are separated
						  from coal during the cleaning or preparation operations. Coal refuse shall
						  include underground development wastes, and coal processing wastes, excess
						  spoil, but does not mean overburden from surface mining.
Combustible material
-aterial that is
						  capable of burning, either by fire or through oxidation, accompanied by the
						  evolution of heat and a significant temperature rise.
Compaction
-Increasing the density of a
						  material by reducing the voids between the particles and is generally
						  accomplished by controlled placement and mechanical effort such as from
						  repeated application of wheel, track or roller loads from heavy
						  equipment.
Contouring
-Reclamation of the land
						  affected to approximate original contour so that it 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 no highwall,
						  spoil piles or depressions to accumulate water and with adequate provision for
						  drainage.
Cropland
-Land used for the production
						  of adapted crops for harvest, alone or in a rotation with grasses and legumes,
						  and includes row crops, small grain crops, hay crops, nursery crops, orchard
						  crops and other similar agronomic and horticultural crops.
Degree
-The inclination from the
						  horizontal.
Disturbed area
-An area where
						  vegetation, topsoil or overburden is removed or upon which topsoil, spoil, coal
						  processing waste or noncoal waste is placed by surface coal mining activities.
						  Those areas are classified as disturbed until reclamation is complete, and the
						  performance bond or other assurance of performance required by Chapter 86
						  Subchapter F (relating to bonding and insurance requirements) is
						  released.
Diversion
-A channel, embankment or
						  other manmade structure constructed at a controlled slope to divert water from
						  one area to another.
Downslope
-The land surface between the
						  projected outcrop of the lowest coalbed being mined along each highwall and a
						  valley floor.
Dry weather flow
-The base flow or
						  surface discharge from an area or treatment facility which occurs immediately
						  prior to a precipitation event and which resumes 24 hours after the
						  precipitation event ends.
Embankment
-An artificial deposit of
						  material that is raised above the natural surface of the land and used to
						  contain, divert or store water, support roads or railways or for other similar
						  purposes.
Ephemeral stream
-A water conveyance
						  which lacks substrates associated with flowing waters and flows only in direct
						  response to precipitation in the immediate watershed or in response to melting
						  snowpack and which is always above the local water table.
Fugitive dust
-That particulate matter
						  not emitted from a duct or stack which becomes airborne due to the forces of
						  wind or surface coal mining activities, or both. During surface coal mining
						  activities, it may include emissions from haul roads; wind erosion of exposed
						  surfaces; storage piles and spoil piles; reclamation operations; and other
						  activities in which material is either removed, stored, transported or
						  redistributed.
Ground cover
-The area of ground
						  covered by the combined aerial parts of vegetation and the litter that is
						  produced naturally onsite, expressed as a percentage of the total area of
						  measurement.
Groundwater
-All subsurface waters of
						  the Commonwealth.
Haul road
-Includes the
						  following:
(i) Roads that are planned,
						designed, located, constructed, reconstructed or improved, utilized and
						maintained for the transportation of equipment, fuel, personnel, coal, spoil
						and other operating resources from a public road to points within the surface
						mine or between principal operations on the mine site or both, but not
						including roads within the pit or on unreclaimed spoil areas.
(ii) Roads (including public roads) which are
						constructed, reconstructed, improved, maintained or substantially used as an
						integral part of the coal mining activities.
(iii) The entire area within the
						right-of-way, including the roadbed, shoulders, parking and side areas,
						approaches, structures and ditches.
Highwall
-The face of exposed
						  overburden and coal in an open cut of a surface mining activity or for entry to
						  underground mining activities.
Historically used for cropland-
(i) Lands that have been used for cropland
						for any 5 years or more out of the 10 years immediately preceding the
						acquisition, including purchase, lease or option of the land for the purpose of
						conducting or allowing, through resale, lease or option, the conduct of surface
						coal mining activities.
(ii) Lands
						that the Department determines, on the basis of additional cropland history of
						the surrounding lands and the lands under consideration, that the permit area
						is clearly cropland but falls outside the specific 5-years-in-10 criterion. In
						which case, the regulations from prime farmland may be applied to include more
						years of cropland history only to increase the prime farmland acreage to be
						preserved.
(iii) Lands that would
						likely have been used as cropland for any 5 out of the last 10 years
						immediately preceding the acquisition, but for the same fact of ownership or
						control of the land unrelated to the productivity of the land.
Hydrologic balance
-The relationship
						  between the quality and quantity of water inflow to, water outflow from and
						  water storage in a hydrologic unit such as a drainage basin, aquifer, soil
						  zone, lake or reservoir. It encompasses the dynamic relationships among
						  precipitation, runoff, evaporation and changes in groundwater and surface water
						  storage.
Hydrologic regime
-The entire state of
						  water movement in a given area. It is a function of the climate and includes
						  the phenomena by which water first occurs as atmospheric water vapor, passes
						  into a liquid or solid form, falls as precipitation, moves along or into the
						  ground surface, and returns to the atmosphere as vapor by means of evaporation
						  and transpiration.
Impoundment
-A closed basin, naturally
						  formed or artificially built, which is dammed or excavated for the retention of
						  water, sediment or waste.
Include
-Including but not limited
						  to.
Intermittent stream
-A body of water
						  flowing in a channel or bed composed primarily of substrates associated with
						  flowing water, which, during periods of the year, is below the local water
						  table and obtains its flow from both surface runoff and groundwater
						  discharges.
Land use
-Specific uses or
						  management-related activities, rather than the vegetation or cover of the land.
						  Land uses may be identified in combination when joint or seasonal uses occur.
						  Changes of land use from one of the following categories to another shall be
						  considered as a change to an alternative land use which is subject to approval
						  by the Department. Land use may be defined as:
(i)
Cropland
. Includes land
						used for the production of adapted crops for harvest, alone or in a rotation
						with grasses and legumes, and includes row crops, small grain crops, hay crops,
						nursery crops, orchard crops and other similar agronomic and horticultural
						crops. Land used for facilities in support of cropland farming operations which
						is adjacent to or an integral part of these operations is also included for
						purposes of these land use categories.
(ii)
Pastureland or land occasionally
						cut for hay
. Land used primarily for the long-term production of
						adapted, domesticated forage plants to be granted by livestock or occasionally
						cut and cured for livestock feed. Land used for facilities in support of
						partureland or land occasionally cut for hay which is adjacent to or an
						integral part of these operations is also included.
(iii)
Forestland
. Land used
						for the long-term production of wood, wood fiber or wood-derived products;
						watershed protection; site stabilization and for the production, protection and
						management of species of fish and wildlife. Land used for facilities in support
						of forestry and watershed management operations which is adjacent to or an
						integral part of these operations is also included.
(iv)
Commercial forestland
.
						Land used and managed primarily for the long-term production of wood, wood
						fiber or wood-derived products. Land used for facilities in support of forest
						harvest and management operations which is adjacent to or an integral part of
						these operations is also included.
(v)
Residential
. Includes
						single and multiple family housing, mobile home parks and other residential
						lodgings. Land used for facilities in support of residential operations which
						is adjacent to or an integral part of these operations is also included.
						Support facilities include, but are not limited to, vehicle parking and open
						space that directly relate to the residential use.
(vi)
Industrial/commercial
.
						Land used for one or more of the following:
(A) Extraction or transformation of materials
						for fabrication of products, wholesaling of products or for long-term storage
						of products. This includes heavy and light manufacturing facilities such as
						lumber and wood processing, chemical manufacturing, petroleum refining and
						fabricated metal products manufacture. Land used for facilities in support of
						these operations which is adjacent to or an integral part of these operations
						is also included. Support facilities include, but are not limited to, rail,
						road and other transportation facilities.
(B) Retail or trade of goods or services,
						including hotels, motels, stores, restaurants and other commercial
						establishments. Land used for facilities in support of commercial operations
						which is adjacent to or an integral part of these operations is also included.
						Support facilities include, but are not limited to, parking, storage or
						shipping facilities.