350.085 Denial of permits and operations -- Deletion of land areas.
754 words·~3 min read·
/ky/chapter-350/350-085A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
(1)No application for a permit and no operation shall be approved or allowed by the
cabinet if there is found on the basis of the information set forth in the application
that the requirements of this chapter or administrative regulations will not be
observed or that there is not probable cause to believe that the proposed method of
operation, backfilling, grading, or reclamation of the affected area can be carried out
consistent with the purpose of this chapter.
(2)If the cabinet finds that the overburden on any part of the area of land described in
the application for a permit is such that experience in the Commonwealth with a
similar type of operation upon land with similar overburden shows that substantial
deposition of sediment in stream beds, landslides, or acid water pollution cannot
feasibly be prevented, the cabinet may delete the part of the land described in the
application upon which that overburden exists.
(3)Subject to valid existing rights, no surface coal mining operations except those
which existed on or before August 4, 1977, shall be permitted within three hundred
(300)feet from any occupied dwelling unless waived by the owner, nor within three
hundred
(300)feet of any public building, school, church, community, or
institutional building, public park, or within one hundred
(100)feet of a cemetery.
The cabinet shall not issue a permit if it finds that the operation will constitute a
hazard to or do physical damage to a dwelling house, public building, school,
church, cemetery, commercial or institutional building, public road, stream, lake, or
other public property. The cabinet shall delete the areas from the permit application
or operation.
(4)Subject to valid existing rights, no surface coal mining operations except those
which existed on or before August 4, 1977, shall be permitted within one hundred
(100)feet of the outside right-of-way line of any public road, except where mine
access roads or haulage roads join the right-of-way line. The cabinet shall permit the
roads to be relocated or the area affected to lie within one hundred
(100)feet of the
road if, after public notice and opportunity for public hearing in the locality, a
written finding is made that the interest of the public and the affected land owner
will be protected, and shall not approve the application for a permit where the
surface coal mining operation will adversely affect a wild river established pursuant
to KRS Chapter 146, a state park or place listed on the National Register of Historic
Places unless adequate screening and other measures as approved by the cabinet are
incorporated into the permit application.
(5)Subject to valid existing rights, no surface coal mining operations except those
which existed on August 4, 1977, shall be permitted on any privately owned lands
within the boundaries of units of the National Park System, the National Wildlife
Refuge Systems, the National System of Trails, the National Wilderness
Preservation System, the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, including study rivers
designated under Section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and national
recreation areas designated by Act of Congress.
(6)If based on the information provided pursuant to KRS 350.060(3)(h) and other
relevant information, the cabinet finds that any surface coal mining and reclamation
operation owned or controlled by the applicant is currently in violation of this
chapter or other requirements listed pursuant to KRS 350.060(3)(h), the cabinet
shall not issue the permit or permit renewal until the applicant submits proof
satisfactory to the cabinet that the violation has been corrected or is in the process of
being corrected. It shall be grounds to deny a permit or permit renewal if the
cabinet, based on any information available to it and after a hearing, makes a
finding that the applicant, or the operator specified in the application has
demonstrated a pattern of willful violations pursuant to KRS 350.130(3).
(7)The prohibition of subsection
(6)of this section shall not apply to a permit applicant
with a violation resulting from an unanticipated event or condition at a surface coal
mining operation on lands eligible for and under a permit for remining held by the
applicant. As used in this subsection, the term "violation" has the same meaning as
the term has under subsection (6). After September 30, 2004, the period of authority
of this subsection shall be coincident with the period of authority of sec. 510(e) of
Pub. L. No. 95-87, the "Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977," as
amended, 30 U.S.C. sec. 1260(e).