(1) The Energy and Environment Cabinet shall promulgate permanent program administrative regulations for the mining and reclamation of land disturbed or removed by operations resulting from or incident to underground coal mining. The regulations shall recognize the distinct differences between underground mining and strip mining of coal, shall be promulgated pursuant to this chapter, and shall be enforced as provided in KRS § 350.130 and KRS § 350.990. Those activities may include but not be limited to the construction of new roads or the improvement or use of existing roads to gain access to the site of the activities and all lands affected by haulage, excavations, workings, impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entryways, refuse banks, dumps, stockpiles, overburden piles, spoil banks, culm banks, tailings, holes or depressions, repair areas, storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas, and other areas upon which are sited structures, facilities, or other property or materials on the surface, but the regulations shall not be more stringent than those applied to strip mining of coal.
(2) The permit applicant shall file with the cabinet a reclamation bond payable to the Commonwealth of Kentucky with surety satisfactory to the cabinet in the sum to be determined by the cabinet for each acre or fraction thereof of the area of land affected, with a minimum bond of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) conditioned upon the faithful performance of the requirements set forth in this section and of the administrative regulations of the cabinet. The cabinet shall forfeit the entire amount of the bond for the permit area or increment in the event of forfeiture. The cabinet shall accept, in lieu of the surety provided in this subsection, the deposit by the operator of United States government securities, cash or its equivalent in a sum equal to the principal amount of the required bond, or a self-bond pursuant to administrative regulations promulgated by the cabinet.

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 350.151

  • applicant: means a person applying for a permit. See Kentucky Statutes 350.010
  • Area of land affected: means any area of land or water upon which surface coal mining and reclamation operations are conducted or located or are to be conducted or located. See Kentucky Statutes 350.010
  • Cabinet: means the Energy and Environment Cabinet. See Kentucky Statutes 350.010
  • Operations: means surface coal mining operations, all of the premises, facilities, roads, and equipment used in the process of producing coal from a designated area or removing overburden for the purpose of determining the location, quality, or quantity of a natural coal deposit or the activity to facilitate or accomplish the extraction or the removal of coal. See Kentucky Statutes 350.010
  • Operator: means any person, partnership, or corporation engaged in surface coal mining operations who removes or intends to remove more than twenty-five (25) tons of coal from the earth by coal mining within twelve (12) consecutive calendar months in any one (1) location. See Kentucky Statutes 350.010
  • Overburden: means material of any nature, consolidated or unconsolidated, excluding topsoil, which lies above a natural deposit of coal and also means the material after removal from its natural state in the process of surface coal mining. See Kentucky Statutes 350.010
  • Reclamation: means the reconditioning of the area affected by surface coal mining operations under a plan approved by the cabinet. See Kentucky Statutes 350.010

(3) In order to protect the stability of the land, the cabinet shall suspend underground mining activities under urbanized areas, and adjacent to industrial or commercial buildings, major impoundments, or permanent streams, if the cabinet finds imminent danger to inhabitants of the urbanized areas.
Effective: July 15, 2010
History: Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 1880, effective July 15, 2010. — Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 429, sec. 20, effective July 14, 1992. — Amended 1990
Ky. Acts ch. 210, sec. 8, effective July 13, 1990. — Amended 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 417, sec. 3, effective July 15, 1988. — Amended 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 62, sec. 17. — Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 330, sec. 22, effective May 3, 1978. — Amended 1976
Ky. Acts ch. 291, sec. 3. — Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 256, sec. 1.