Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart C - Protection of Natural Resources › Article I - Land Resources › Chapter 86 - SURFACE AND UNDERGROUND COAL MINING: GENERAL › Subchapter D - AREAS UNSUITABLE FOR MINING › GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 86.101 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
							 subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
							 otherwise:
Cemetery
-An area of land where human
							 bodies are interred.
Community or institutional
							 building
-A structure other than a public building or an occupied
							 dwelling, which is used primarily for meetings, gatherings or functions of
							 local civic organizations or other community groups; functions as an
							 educational, cultural, historic, religious, scientific, correctional, mental
							 health or physical health care facility; or is used for public services,
							 including, but not limited to, water supply, power generation or sewage
							 treatment.
Fragile lands
-Geographic areas
							 containing natural, ecologic, scientific or esthetic resources that could be
							 significantly damaged or destroyed by surface mining operations. Examples
							 include, but are not limited to, valuable habitats for fish or wildlife,
							 critical habitats for endangered or threatened species of animals or plants,
							 uncommon geologic formations, paleontological sites, National Natural Landmark
							 sites, areas where mining may cause flooding, environmental corridors
							 containing a concentration of ecologic and esthetic features and areas of
							 recreational value due to high environmental quality.
Historic lands
-Areas containing
							 historic, cultural or scientific resources. Examples of historic lands include
							 archaeological sites, properties listed on or eligible for listing on a State
							 or National Register of Historic Places, National historic landmarks,
							 properties having religious or cultural significance to native Americans or
							 religious groups, and properties for which historic designation is
							 pending.
Natural hazard lands
-Geographic
							 areas in which natural conditions exist which pose, or as a result of surface
							 mining operations, may pose a threat to the health, safety or welfare of
							 people, property or the environment, including areas subject to landslides,
							 cave-ins, severe wind or soil erosion, frequent flooding, avalanches and areas
							 of unstable geology.
Public building
-A structure that is
							 owned or leased and principally used by a government agency for public business
							 or meetings.
Public park
-An area or portion of an
							 area dedicated or designated by a Federal, State or local agency primarily for
							 public recreational use, whether or not the use is limited to certain times or
							 days, including land leased, reserved or held open to the public because of
							 that use.
Publicly owned park
-A public park
							 owned by a Federal, State or local governmental agency.
Renewable resource lands
-Areas which
							 contribute significantly to the long-range productivity of water supply or of
							 food or fiber products. These lands include aquifers and aquifer recharge
							 areas.
Significant recreational, timber, economic or
							 other values incompatible with surface mining operations
-Significant
							 values which could be damaged by, and are not capable of existing together
							 with, surface mining operations because of the undesirable effects mining would
							 have on those values, either on the area included in the permit application or
							 on other affected areas which could be affected by mining. Values to be
							 evaluated for their importance include:
(i) Nature recreation, including hiking,
						  boating, camping, skiing, fishing, hunting or other related outdoor
						  activities.
(ii) Timber management
						  and silviculture.
(iii)
						  Agriculture, aquaculture or production of other natural, processed or
						  manufactured products which enter commerce.
(iv) Scenic, historic, archaeologic,
						  esthetic, fish, wildlife, plants or cultural interests.
Substantial legal and financial commitments
							 in a surface mining operation
-Significant investments that have been
							 made prior to January 4, 1977, on the basis of a long-term contract in power
							 plants, railroads, mineral handling, preparation, extraction or storage
							 facilities and other capital-intensive activities. Costs of acquiring the
							 mineral in place or of the right to mine it without an existing mine are not
							 sufficient commitments, standing alone, to constitute substantial legal and
							 financial commitments.
Surface mining operations
-The
							 extraction of coal from the earth or from waste or stock piles or from pits or
							 banks by removing the strata or material which overlies or is above or between
							 them or otherwise exposing and retrieving them from the surface, including, but
							 not limited to, strip and auger mining, dredging, quarrying and leaching and
							 surface activity connected with surface or underground coal mining, including,
							 but not limited to, exploration, site preparation, entry, tunnel, slope, drift,
							 shaft and borehole drilling and construction and activities related thereto,
							 coal refuse disposal, coal processing and preparation facilities.
The provisions of this §
															86.101 amended under the Surface
								Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act (52 P. S.
								§§
																1396.1-1396.19a); the Coal
								Refuse Disposal Control Act (52 P. S. §§
																30.51-30.66); The Clean Streams Law
								(35
								P. S. §§
																691.1-691.1001); sections
								1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. §§
																510-20 and
								510-30).
This section cited in 25 Pa. Code §
															89.5 (relating to
								definitions).