15-58-104. Definitions.

15-58-104. Definitions. As used in this chapter: (1) “Affected governmental agency” means an agency which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental, social, or economic impact involved in the surface coal mining operation, or is authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards with respect to that operation; (2) “Coal” means all forms of coal, including lignite; (3) “Commission” means the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission or any department, commission, bureau, or agency as shall lawfully succeed to the powers and duties of the commission; (4) “Director” means the executive head and active administrator of the Division of Environmental Quality; (5) “Division” means the Division of Environmental Quality or any department, bureau, commission, or agency that shall lawfully succeed to the powers and duties of that division; (6) “Fund” means the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund administrated by the United States Secretary of the Interior pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-87. Moneys from the fund may be received by the division through a grant from the United States Secretary of the Interior pursuant to the state abandoned mine reclamation program; (7) “Imminent danger to the health and safety of the public” means the existence of any condition or practice, or any violation of a permit or other requirement of this chapter in a surface coal mining and reclamation operation, which condition, practice, or violation could reasonably be expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons outside the permit area before the condition, practice, or violation can be abated. A reasonable expectation of death or serious injury before abatement exists if a rational person, subjected to the same conditions or practices giving rise to the peril, would not expose himself or herself to the danger during the time necessary for abatement; (8) “Lands eligible for remining” means those lands that would otherwise be eligible for expenditures under § 15-58-401; (9) “Operator” means any person, partnership, or corporation engaged in coal mining who removes or intends to remove more than two hundred fifty (250) tons of coal from the earth by coal mining within twelve (12) consecutive calendar months in any one (1) location; (10) “Permit” means a permit to conduct surface coal mining and reclamation operations issued by the director; (11) “Person” means an individual, partnership, association, society, joint-stock company, firm, company, corporation, or other business organization; (12) “Small operator” means an operator whose probable annual production at all locations will not exceed three hundred thousand (300,000) tons of coal per year; (13) “State abandoned mine reclamation program” means a plan established by the division and approved by the United States Secretary of the Interior pursuant to Title IV of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-87, to reclaim mined areas of the state which were left without adequate reclamation prior to August 3, 1977; (14) “State program” means a program established by the division and approved by the United States Secretary of the Interior pursuant to section 503 of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-87, to regulate surface coal mining and reclamation operations on lands within the state; (15) “Surface coal mining and reclamation operations” means surface coal mining operations and all activities necessary and incident to the reclamation of such operations; (16) “Surface coal mining operations” means: (A) Activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface coal mine and surface impacts incident to an underground coal mine. The activities include excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal, including such common methods as contours strip, auger, mountaintop removal, box cut, open pit, and area mining, the use of explosives and blasting, and in situ distillation or retorting, leaching, or other chemical or physical processing, and the cleaning, concentrating, or other processing or preparation, the loading of coal at or near the mine site; and (B) The area upon which activities occur or where activities disturb the natural land surface. The area shall also include any adjacent land the use of which is incidental to those activities, all lands affected by the construction of new roads or the improvement or use of existing roads to gain access to the site of activities and for haulage, and excavations, working, impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entry ways, 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, resulting from or incident to these activities; (17) “Unanticipated event or condition” means an event or condition encountered in a remining operation that was not contemplated by the applicable surface coal mining and reclamation permit; and (18) “Unwarranted failure to comply” means the failure of a permittee to prevent the occurrence of any violation of his or her permit or any requirement of this chapter or the rules issued pursuant to this chapter due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate any violation of a permit, this chapter, or the rules issued pursuant to this chapter due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care.