Sec. 6. (a) The director may designate an area as unsuitable for coal mining if the designation is based on competent and scientifically sound data.

     (b) The director may designate an area as unsuitable for certain types of coal mining operations if the operation will:

(1) be incompatible with existing state or local land use plans or programs;

(2) affect fragile or historic lands in which the operation could result in significant damage to important historic, cultural, scientific, and esthetic values and natural systems;

(3) affect renewable resource lands, including aquifers and aquifer recharge areas, in which the operation could result in a substantial loss or reduction of long range productivity of water supply or of food or fiber products; or

(4) affect natural hazard lands, including the following:

(A) Areas subject to frequent flooding.

(B) Areas of unstable geology in which the operation could substantially endanger life and property.

     (c) The director shall designate an area as unsuitable for all or certain types of surface coal mining if the director determines that reclamation under this article is not technologically and economically feasible.

     (d) The director shall integrate determinations of the unsuitability of land for surface coal mining with the land use planning and regulation processes at the federal, state, and local levels.

[Pre-1995 Recodification Citation: 13-4.1-14-4.]

As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.27.