Wyoming Administrative Code › Agency 020 - Environmental Quality, Dept. of › Sub-Agency 0006 - Land Quality - Coal › Chapter 1 - AUTHORITIES AND DEFINITIONS FOR SURFACE COAL MINING OPERATIONS › Section 1-2 - Definitions

Current through July 13, 2024
The definitions included in the Wyoming Environmental
				  Quality Act, are hereby adopted by this reference. All references to the "Act"
				  herein refer to the Wyoming Environmental Quality Act, as amended.
(a) "Acid drainage" means water with a pH of
				less than 6.0 and in which total acidity exceeds total alkalinity, discharged
				from an active or inactive mine or from an area affected by mining and
				reclamation operations.
(b)
				"Acid-forming materials" means earth materials that contain sulfide minerals or
				other minerals which exist in a natural state or if exposed to air, water or
				weathering processes, will cause acid conditions that may hinder plant
				establishment or create acid drainage.
(c) "Adjacent areas" means land located
				outside the permit area upon which air, surface water, groundwater, fish,
				wildlife, or other resources protected by the Act may reasonably be expected to
				be adversely impacted by mining or reclamation operations. Unless otherwise
				specified by the Administrator, this area shall be presumptively limited to
				lands within one-half mile of the proposed permit area.
(d) "Administrator" means the Administrator
				of the Division of Land Quality.
(e) "Amendment" means the addition of new
				lands to a previously approved permit area, as allowed by W. S. §
									35 -
				1 l-406(a)(xii).
(f) "Annual" means a plant which completes
				its life cycle in 12 months or fewer.
(g) "Applicant" means any "person" seeking a
				permit, permit revision, renewal, transfer, or other approval from the
				Administrator to conduct mining and reclamation operations, or "person" seeking
				a license to explore, but does not include subsidiaries or parents of the
				"person", as "person" is defined in W.S. §
									35 -
				1 l-103(a)(vi).
(h) "Approximate original contour" means that
				surface configuration achieved by backfilling and grading of the mined areas so
				that the reclaimed land surface closely resembles the general surface
				configuration of the land prior to mining and blends into and complements the
				drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain.
(i) "Applicant violator system or AVS" means
				an automated information system of applicant, permittee, operator, violation
				and related data the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
				maintains to assist in implementing the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation
				Act of 1977, as amended.
(j)
				"Aquifer" is a zone, stratum or group of strata that stores and transmits water
				in sufficient quantities for a specific use.
(k) "Augmented seeding" means reseeding in
				response to the unsuccessful germination, establishment or permanence of
				revegetation efforts. Augmented seeding resets the applicable liability period.
				A synonym is reseeding.
(l)
				"Barren" means any land unit devoid of vegetation, or practically so.
(m) "Baseline vegetation inventory" means a
				vegetation sampling program executed prior to any significant surface
				disturbance cause by proposed mining activities. The inventory will
				quantitatively and qualitatively classify the different plant communities to
				the specification of Wyoming State Law.
(n) "Belt transect" means a rectangular
				sampling plot used for the estimation of shrub density (premining and
				postmining) and postmining species diversity and species composition, each belt
				transect shall be at least 100 square meters and a minimum of 50 meters in
				length.
(o) "Best practicable
				Technology" means a technology based on methods and processes that are both
				practicable and reasonably economic and is justifiable in terms of existing
				performance and achievability in relation to the establishment of shrubs in the
				required density, aerial extent and species.
(p) "Best technology currently available"
				means equipment, devices, systems, methods, or techniques which, as determined
				by the Administrator, are currently available and practicable, and will:
(i) Prevent, to the extent possible,
				additional contributions of suspended solids to streamflow or runoff outside
				the affected land or permit area. But in no case shall contributions exceed
				requirements set by applicable State or Federal laws, and
(ii) Minimize, to the extent possible,
				disturbances and adverse impacts on fish, wildlife and related environmental
				values, and achieve enhancement of those resources where practicable.