§ 1291. — Definitions.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 30USC1291]
TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
CHAPTER 25--SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION
SUBCHAPTER VII--ADMINISTRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Sec. 1291. Definitions
For the purposes of this chapter--
(1) ``alluvial valley floors'' means the unconsolidated stream
laid deposits holding streams where water availability is sufficient
for subirrigation or flood irrigation agricultural activities but
does not include upland areas which are generally overlain by a thin
veneer of colluvial deposits composed chiefly of debris from sheet
erosion, deposits by unconcentrated runoff or slope wash, together
with talus, other mass movement accumulation and windblown deposits;
(2) ``approximate original contour'' means that surface
configuration achieved by backfilling and grading of the mined area
so that the reclaimed area, including any terracing or access roads,
closely resembles the general surface configuration of the land
prior to mining and blends into and complements the drainage pattern
of the surrounding terrain, with all highwalls and spoil piles
eliminated; water impoundments may be permitted where the regulatory
authority determines that they are in compliance with section
1265(b)(8) of this title;
(3) ``commerce'' means trade, traffic, commerce, transportation,
transmission, or communication among the several States, or between
a State and any other place outside thereof, or between points in
the same State which directly or indirectly affect interstate
commerce;
(4) ``Federal lands'' means any land, including mineral
interests, owned by the United States without regard to how the
United States acquired ownership of the land and without regard to
the agency having responsibility for management thereof, except
Indian lands: Provided, That for the purposes of this chapter lands
or mineral interests east of the one hundredth meridian west
longitude owned by the United States and entrusted to or managed by
the Tennessee Valley Authority shall not be subject to sections 1304
(Surface Owner Protection) and 1305 (Federal Lessee Protection) of
this title.\1\
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(5) ``Federal lands program'' means a program established by the
Secretary pursuant to section 1273 of this title to regulate surface
coal mining and reclamation operations on Federal lands;
(6) ``Federal program'' means a program established by the
Secretary pursuant to section 1254 of this title to regulate surface
coal mining and reclamation operations on lands within a State in
accordance with the requirements of this chapter;
(7) ``fund'' means the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund
established pursuant to section 1231 of this title;
(8) ``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 such 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;
(9) ``Indian lands'' means all lands, including mineral
interests, within the exterior boundaries of any Federal Indian
reservation, notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and
including rights-of-way, and all lands including mineral interests
held in trust for or supervised by an Indian tribe;
(10) ``Indian tribe'' means any Indian tribe, band, group, or
community having a governing body recognized by the Secretary;
(11) ``lands within any State'' or ``lands within such State''
means all lands within a State other than Federal lands and Indian
lands;
(12) ``Office'' means the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation
and Enforcement established pursuant to subchapter II of this
chapter;
(13) ``operator'' means any person, partnership, or corporation
engaged in coal mining who removes or intends to remove more than
two hundred and fifty tons of coal from the earth by coal mining
within twelve consecutive calendar months in any one location;
(14) ``other minerals'' means clay, stone, sand, gravel,
metalliferous and nonmetalliferous ores, and any other solid
material or substances of commercial value excavated in solid form
from natural deposits on or in the earth, exclusive of coal and
those minerals which occur naturally in liquid or gaseous form;
(15) ``permit'' means a permit to conduct surface coal mining
and reclamation operations issued by the State regulatory authority
pursuant to a State program or by the Secretary pursuant to a
Federal program;
(16) ``permit applicant'' or ``applicant'' means a person
applying for a permit;
(17) ``permit area'' means the area of land indicated on the
approved map submitted by the operator with his application, which
area of land shall be covered by the operator's bond as required by
section 1259 of this title and shall be readily identifiable by
appropriate markers on the site;
(18) ``permittee'' means a person holding a permit;
(19) ``person'' means an individual, partnership, association,
society, joint stock company, firm, company, corporation, or other
business organization;
(20) the term ``prime farmland'' shall have the same meaning as
that previously prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture on the
basis of such factors as moisture availability, temperature regime,
chemical balance, permeability, surface layer composition,
susceptibility to flooding, and erosion characteristics, and which
historically have been used for intensive agricultural purposes, and
as published in the Federal Register.\2\
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(21) ``reclamation plan'' means a plan submitted by an applicant
for a permit under a State program or Federal program which sets
forth a plan for reclamation of the proposed surface coal mining
operations pursuant to section 1258 of this title;
(22) ``regulatory authority'' means the State regulatory
authority where the State is administering this chapter under an
approved State program or the Secretary where the Secretary is
administering this chapter under a Federal program;
(23) ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Interior, except
where otherwise described;
(24) ``State'' means a State of the United States, the District
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
American Samoa, and Guam;
(25) ``State program'' means a program established by a State
pursuant to section 1253 of this title to regulate surface coal
mining and reclamation operations, on lands within such State in
accord with the requirements of this chapter and regulations issued
by the Secretary pursuant to this chapter;
(26) ``State regulatory authority'' means the department or
agency in each State which has primary responsibility at the State
level for administering this chapter;
(27) ``surface coal mining and reclamation operations'' means
surface mining operations and all activities necessary and incident
to the reclamation of such operations after August 3, 1977;
(28) ``surface coal mining operations'' means--
(A) activities conducted on the surface of lands in
connection with a surface coal mine or subject to the
requirements of section 1266 of this title surface operations
and surface impacts incident to an underground coal mine, the
products of which enter commerce or the operations of which
directly or indirectly affect interstate commerce. Such
activities include excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal
including such common methods as contour, strip, auger,
mountaintop removal, box cut, open pit, and area mining, the
uses 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, loading of coal for interstate commerce at or near
the mine site: Provided, however, That such activities do not
include the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of
other minerals where coal does not exceed 16\2/3\ per centum of
the tonnage of minerals removed for purposes of commercial use
or sale or coal explorations subject to section 1262 of this
title; and
(B) the areas upon which such activities occur or where such
activities disturb the natural land surface. Such areas shall
also include any adjacent land the use of which is incidental to
any such 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 such activities and for haulage, and
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, resulting from or incident
to such activities; and \3\
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(29) ``unwarranted failure to comply'' means the failure of a
permittee to prevent the occurrence of any violation of his permit
or any requirement of this chapter due to indifference, lack of
diligence, or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate any
violation of such permit or the chapter due to indifference, lack of
diligence, or lack of reasonable care;
(30) ``lignite coal'' means consolidated lignitic coal having
less than 8,300 British thermal units per pound, moist and mineral
matter free;
(31) the term ``coal laboratory'', as used in subchapter VIII of
this chapter, means a university coal research laboratory
established and operated pursuant to a designation made under
section 1311 of this title;
(32) the term ``institution of higher education'' as used in
subchapters VIII and IX of this chapter, means any such institution
as defined by section 1001 of title 20;
(33) the term ``unanticipated event or condition'' as used in
section 1260(e) of this title means an event or condition
encountered in a remining operation that was not contemplated by the
applicable surface coal mining and reclamation permit; and
(34) the term ``lands eligible for remining'' means those lands
that would otherwise be eligible for expenditures under section 1234
of this title or under section 1232(g)(4) of this title.
(Pub. L. 95-87, title VII, Sec. 701, Aug. 5, 1977, 91 Stat. 516; Pub. L.
102-486, title XXV, Sec. 2503(c), Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 3103; Pub. L.
105-244, title I, Sec. 102(a)(10), Oct. 7, 1998, 112 Stat. 1620.)
Amendments
1998--Par. (32). Pub. L. 105-244 substituted ``section 1001'' for
``section 1141(a)''.
1992--Pars. (33), (34). Pub. L. 102-486 added pars. (33) and (34).
Effective Date of 1998 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 105-244 effective Oct. 1, 1998, except as
otherwise provided in Pub. L. 105-244, see section 3 of Pub. L. 105-244,
set out as a note under section 1001 of Title 20, Education.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 1252 of this title.
