93D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1411 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 6, 1973 Mr. PEYSER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs A BILL To provide for the regulation of surface coal mining, for the conservation, acquisition, and reclamation of surface areas affected by coal mining activities, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Coal Mine 4 Surface Area Protection Act of 1973". 5 6 7 8 9 10 I FINDINGS AND PURPOSE SEC. 2. (a) The Congress finds and declares— (1) that there are coal mining operations on public and private lands in the Nation which adversely affect the environmental and natural and manmade resources; and 2 1 (2) that efficient and well conducted coal mining 2 operations are essential activities affecting interstate 3 commerce which contribute to the economic well-being, 4 security, and general welfare of the Nation. 5 (b) It is the purpose of this Act to encourage a nation6 wide effort to regulate coal mining surface operations to pre7 vent their adverse environmental effects; to return lands 8 already damaged by coal mining surface operations to pro9 ductive and useful purposes; to abate the adverse effects from 10 previously coal mined lands; to prevent further detriment 11 to the Nation from coal mining surface operations through 12 the establishment of criteria and standards for coal mined 13 lands; and to encourage the States to carry out programs for 14 these purposes. 15 (c) It is the further purpose of this Act to encourage a 16 nationwide effort to abate the adverse surface environmental 17 effects resulting from surface operations of underground coal 18 mining. 19 20 27 21 DEFINITIONS SEC. 3. For the purposes of this Act (a) The term "surface coal mining" means (1) all or 22 any part of the process followed in the production of coal from 23 a natural coal deposit whereby the coal may be extracted 24 after removing the overburden therefrom or mining by the 25 auger method or any similar method which penetrates a coal 3 1 seam and removes coal therefrom directly through a series 2 of openings made by a machine which enters the coal seam 3 from a surface excavation or the removing of overburden 4 for the purpose of determining the location, quality, or quan5 tity of natural coal deposit; (2) any area of land from 6 which coal is extracted by a surface coal mining process, in7 cluding private ways and roads pertinent to such area; and 8 (3) land, facilities, or processes resulting from or used in 9 extracting coal from natural deposits. 10 (b) The term "overburden" means all of the earth and 11 other materials removed or excavated for the purpose of ex12 posing a coal seam as may be necessary in order to surface 13 mine, and also means such earth and other materials after 14 removal from their natural state in the process of surface 15 mining. 16 (c) The term "spoil bank" means a deposit of removed 17 overburden, waste, dump, or culm banks from either surface or underground coal mining operations or other similar 19 material. 18 20 (d) The term "area of land affected" means the land 21 from which coal is removed by surface mining, any land in which the natural land surface has been disturbed as a 2223 23 result of, or incident to, surface mining activities, and any 24 land on which are conducted the surface activities of deep 25 mining, including but not limited to private ways and roads 4 1 appurtenant to any such land excavations, workings, refuse 2 banks, spoilage banks, culm banks, tailings, repair areas, 3 storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas, and areas 4 on which structures, facilities, equipment, machines, tools, 5 or other materials or property which result or are used in, 6 coal mining operations are situated. 7 (e) The term "operation" means the surface activities 8 relating to the extraction of coal on a single tract of land or on contiguous tracts of land. 9 10 (f) The term "operator" means any person, partner 11 ship, or corporation engaged in coal mining who removes 12 or intends to remove more than 250 tons of coal from the 13 earth by coal mining within twelve consecutive calendar 14 months in any one location, or who removes more than 250 15 tons of overburden for the purpose of determining the loca16 tion, quality, or quantity of a natural coal deposit. 17 (g) The term "person" includes corporations, com18 panies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, joint stock 19 companies, and individuals. 20 (h) The term "reclamation" or "reclaim" means the 21 process of restoring an area of land affected by coal mining 22 to a condition that it may be used for the purpose for which 23 it was used prior to coal mining or other useful purposes. 24 The process may require backfilling, terracing, backfilling to 5 1 approximate original contouring, grading, resoiling, reveg2 etation, soil compaction and stabilization, in order to elimi3 nate water or soil pollution, erosion, flooding resulting from 4 surface mining, or any other activity to accomplish reclamation of land to a useful purpose. 5 6 9 10 11 (i) The term "terracing" means grading where the 7 steepest contour of the highwall shall not be greater than 8 twenty-five degrees from the horizontal, with the table portion of the restored area a flat terrace without depressions to hold water except where the retention of water is required or desirable for reclamation purposes with adequate provision. 12 for drainage unless otherwise approved by the Secretary. (j) The term "backfilling to approximate original con14 tour" means reclamation achieved by beginning at or beyond 15 the top of the highwall and sloped to the toe of the spoil bank 16 at a maximum angle not to exceed the approximate original contour of the land, with no depressions to accumulate water 18 and with adequate provision for drainage. 13 17 19 (k) The term "commerce" means trade, traffic, com20 merce, transportation, or communication between any State, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, 21 22 or any territory or possession of the United States and any 23 other place outside the respective boundaries thereof, or 24 wholly within the District of Columbia or any territory or |