Virginia Administrative Code › Title 4 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES › Agency 25 - DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY › Chapter 130 - COAL SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION REGULATIONS › Part 824 - Special Permanent Program Performance Standards-Mountaintop Removal › Section 4VAC25-130-824.11 - Mountaintop removal; performance standards

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
(a) Surface coal mining activities may be
				  conducted under a variance from the requirement of this Subchapter for
				  restoring affected areas to their approximate original contour, if--
(1) The division grants the variance under a
				  permit, in accordance with 4VAC25-130-785.14;
(2) The activities involve the mining of an
				  entire coal seam running through the upper fraction of a mountain, ridge, or
				  hill, by removing all of the overburden and creating a level plateau or gently
				  rolling contour with no highwalls remaining;
(3) An industrial, commercial, agricultural,
				  residential, or public facility (including recreational facilities) use is
				  proposed and approved for the affected land;
(4) The alternative land-use requirements of
				  4VAC25-130-816.133(a) through (c) are met;
(5) All applicable requirements of this
				  chapter, other than the requirements to restore affected areas to their
				  approximate original contour, are met;
(6) An outcrop barrier of sufficient width,
				  consisting of the toe of the lowest coal seam, and its associated overburden,
				  are retained to prevent slides and erosion, except that the division may permit
				  an exception to the retention of the coal barrier requirement if the following
				  conditions are satisfied:
(i) The proposed
				  mine site was mined prior to May 3, 1978, and the toe of the lowest seam has
				  been removed; or
(ii) A coal
				  barrier adjacent to a head-of-hollow fill may be removed after the elevation of
				  a head-of- hollow fill attains the elevation of the coal barrier if the
				  head-of-hollow fill provides the stability otherwise ensured by the retention
				  of a coal barrier;
(7)
				  The final graded slopes on the mined area are less than 1v:5h so as to create a
				  level plateau or gently rolling configuration, and the outslopes of the plateau
				  do not exceed 1v:2h except where engineering data substantiates, and the
				  division finds, in writing, and includes in the permit under 4VAC25-130-785.14,
				  that a minimum static safety factor of 1.5 will be attained;
(8) The resulting level or gently rolling
				  contour is graded to drain inward from the outslope, except at specified points
				  where it drains over the outslope in stable and protected channels. The
				  drainage shall not be through or over a valley or head-of-hollow
				  fill;
(9) Natural watercourses
				  below the lowest coal seam mined are not damaged;
(10) All waste and acid-forming or
				  toxic-forming materials, including the strata immediately below the coal seam,
				  are covered with non-toxic spoil to prevent pollution and achieve the approved
				  postmining land use; and
(11) Spoil
				  is placed on the mountaintop bench as necessary to achieve the postmining land
				  use approved under Paragraphs (a)(3) and (a)(4) of this section. All excess
				  spoil material not retained on the mountaintop shall be placed in accordance
				  with 4VAC25-130-816.41, 4VAC25-130-816.43 and 4VAC25-130-816.71 through
				  4VAC25-130-816.75.