Opinion ID: 2123921
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: appellee amax

Text: The land in Sullivan County, Indiana, is rich with seams of coal. Underground coal mining commenced in Sullivan County around the turn of the century. Today, the area is honeycombed with abandoned underground mine tunnels at different depths below ground. Many of the abandoned mines are filled with ground water that has seeped or flowed into the cavities. One AMAX surface coal mining operation in that county  the Minnehaha Mine, located in Cass Field  mines the seam closest to the surface there, coal seam number seven. Two abandoned shaft mines, the Regent Mine and Vandalia Number 17 Mine, lie within coal seam six, partially below the Minnehaha Mine. As with the other abandoned mines in the area, these mines are filled with ground water that percolated into the mined-out areas. The ground water in these mines is under hydrostatic pressure, and the pressure forces the water to flow up into the Minnehaha through cracks and fissures caused by the mining process. In the Fall of 1988, AMAX applied to the NRC, the ultimate authority of the DNR, [2] to amend its surface coal mining permit (designated by the parties as the Cass-2 permit), in order to expand its mining area. Appellant Jack L. Jarrett (Jarrett), an owner of surface property adjacent to the property AMAX was mining, opposed AMAX's Cass-2 permit application. On May 17, 1989, a partial panel of the NRC approved AMAX's permit, pursuant to I-SMCRA. However, the panel attached thirteen conditions to the permit, requiring that AMAX comply with each. One condition, Condition 12, prohibited the use of requested dewatering wells until AMAX conducted additional surveys and provided additional information about the possible effects of the depressurizing wells. Both AMAX and Jarrett sought administrative review of the NRC panel decision, pursuant to I.C. § 4-21.5-3-7 and 310 IAC 0.6-1-3. On June 21, 1989, AMAX requested administrative review of the NRC permit approval, challenging the addition of Condition 12 to the permit. On June 23, 1989, Jarrett requested administrative review of the permit approval, arguing that the NRC had issued the permit without finding whether the dewatering would cause subsidence on Jarrett's land. Following the procedure outlined in I.C. § 4-21.5-3-7(d), the DNR appointed an administrative law judge (ALJ) to conduct the review. The ALJ issued an order on July 27, 1990. The NRC considered the ALJ's report at its August 21, 1990 meeting, and held that I-SMCRA authorized the DNR to regulate the use of ground water by surface coal mining permittees so that such use does not result in damage to property located outside the surface coal mining permit area. Pursuant to I.C. § 4-21.5-3-29, the NRC issued its written final order on October 26, 1990. The NRC order included the following pertinent provisions: IC 13-2-2-2 and IC 13-14.1-8-1(21) authorize the Department of Natural Resources to regulate the use of groundwater by a surface coal mining permittee so that such use does not result in damage to property located outside the surface coal mining permit area. IC 13-4.1-4-7 expressly provides for the attachment of conditions to the approval of a surface coal mining permit application... . [T]he Commission and the Commission's delegates ... have used the procedure of attaching substantive conditions to the approval of portions of an application as a means of deferring action on other portions of the application. That being the case, it was lawful and proper for the Commission's delegates to defer certain decision with respect to portions of the Cass-2 Permit application by attaching Conditions 12 and 13 to their approval of other aspects of that application... . The NRC order stated that the DNR possessed the statutory authority to regulate the use of ground water by a surface coal mine operator, and approved the manner in which Condition 12 was imposed to regulate that use. That condition states: No additional wells to dewater Coal VI and Coal VII shall be activated until sufficient detail is added to the statement of probable hydrological consequences to determine the effects that the dewatering may have on potential subsidences both within the permit and adjacent off-site areas. In addition, a ground water monitoring well must be installed in Coal VI at a location approved by the Division of Reclamation and a monitoring plan approved and initiated before any additional dewatering wells are activated. As prescribed by I.C. § 4-21.5-5-2, both AMAX and Jarrett filed petitions for judicial review of the NRC action, AMAX on September 19, 1990, and Jarrett on September 25, 1990. On November 7, 1990, AMAX filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the water rights issue. Jarrett filed his motion for partial summary judgment of these issues on January 29, 1991. On June 17, 1991, the trial court issued its Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Judgment. The text of the final judgment and order reads as follows: The Court, having granted AMAX's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment On Water Rights Issues, denied Jarrett's Motion, and made its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, now enters its final judgment thereon. IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the imposition of Condition 12 to the Cass Permit Amendment (S-00041-2) was unlawful and in excess of [the NRC's] authority and jurisdiction. This matter as to all issues related thereto is remanded to [the NRC] for further actions not inconsistent with this judgment.