HOUSE BILL NO. 2737 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE WOODS.
5205H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT To repeal sections 444.070, 444.090, 444.100, 444.110, 444.352, 444.765, 444.770, 444.771, 444.772, 444.773, and 444.786, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof seventeen new sections relating to mining, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 444.070, 444.090, 444.100, 444.110, 444.352, 444.765, 444.770, 2 444.771, 444.772, 444.773, and 444.786, RSMo, are repealed and seventeen new sections 3 enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 444.070, 444.090, 444.100, 444.110, 444.352, 4 444.765, 444.770, 444.771, 444.772, 444.773, 444.786, 444.791, 444.991, 444.992, 444.993, 5 444.994, and 444.995, to read as follows: 444.070. When any owner, tenant or subtenant of a lot or lots or tracts of land, shall 2 file with any associate circuit judge within the county in which said lot or lots or tract of land 3 may be situated, his or her affidavit, or the affidavit of any other credible person for them, 4 stating that from knowledge, information or belief, the party or parties owning, controlling or 5 working the adjoining lot or lots or tract of land, and upon which said party or parties are 6 sinking shafts, mining, excavating and running drifts, and that said drifts in which said parties 7 are digging, mining and excavating mineral ore or veins of coal or any other mineral as 8 defined under section 444.765 extend beyond the lines and boundaries of said lot or lots or 9 tract of land, owned, controlled or worked by them, and have entered in and upon the 10 premises of the party or parties making said affidavit, or for whom said affidavit is made, the 11 associate circuit judge, after first being tendered his lawful fees, shall issue his written order 12 and deliver or cause the same to be delivered to the county surveyor or his deputy, 13 commanding him, after his reasonable fees have been tendered, to proceed without delay to
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. HB 2737 2
14 survey said drift by entering any and all shafts upon said lot or lots or tract of land that he (the 15 surveyor) may see fit, for the purpose of ascertaining the course and distance of said drift or 16 drifts, and to locate the same upon the surface. 444.090. If said party or parties owning, controlling or working said shaft or shafts on 2 said lot or lots or tract of land shall refuse, hinder or prevent said county surveyor or his 3 deputy and his assistant from entering said shaft or shafts or drifts, to make the survey so 4 ordered by the associate circuit judge, and every person so offending shall, on conviction, be 5 adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a term 6 of not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding [three hundred] one thousand dollars, or 7 by both said fine and imprisonment. 444.100. No person, company or corporation shall hereafter sink a shaft, mine, 2 tunnel, excavate or drift for coal, cobalt, rare earth elements, or silica sand or take out any 3 coal, cobalt, rare earth elements, or silica sand of any kind within the corporate limits or 4 designated boundaries of any city, town or village in this state containing one thousand 5 inhabitants or more, without having first applied and filed, and have approved, an indemnity 6 bond as provided for in this chapter; and any person or persons violating the provisions of this 7 section, and any member or stockholder or officer of any company or corporation who shall 8 violate the provisions of this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on 9 conviction thereof shall be punished by fine of not less than [five hundred] one thousand 10 dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail for not less than [six months] one year, or by both 11 such fine and imprisonment. 444.110. 1. In addition to the requirements in subsections 2 and 3 of this section, 2 the department of natural resources shall provide notice, as required under section 3 444.773, for all permits to mine minerals, as such term is defined under section 444.765. 4 2. Every person, company or corporation desiring to carry on any of the mining 5 operations provided for in section 444.100 shall give at least thirty days' notice of such 6 intention by notice printed and published in some newspaper printed in such town, city or 7 village wherein such mining operations are proposed to be carried on, or if no newspaper be 8 printed in such city, town or village, then in some newspaper printed in said county, or if no 9 newspaper be printed in such county, then by written or printed handbills posted up in six 10 public places in the city, town or village wherein such mining operations are proposed to be 11 carried on. 12 [2.] 3. Such notice shall contain an accurate description of the locality where such 13 mining operations are to be carried on, giving the number of lot and block, and shall also state 14 the nature of such mining operations, and name some day the circuit court in said county is in 15 session when such person, company or corporation will offer for filing and approval the 16 indemnity bond provided for in this chapter. HB 2737 3
444.352. As used in sections 444.352 to 444.380, the following words and terms shall 2 mean: 3 (1) "Beneficiation", the process of concentrating minerals from ore; 4 (2) "Closure", those actions taken pursuant to a comprehensive plan to contain 5 metallic mineral wastes on site, ensure the integrity of waste management structures and 6 achieve the designated final uses of the metallic minerals waste management area; 7 (3) "Conference, conciliation and persuasion", a process of verbal or written 8 communications consisting of meetings, reports, correspondence or telephone conferences 9 between authorized representatives of the department and the alleged violator. The process 10 shall, at a minimum, consist of one offer to meet with the alleged violator tendered by the 11 department. During any such meeting, the department and the alleged violator shall negotiate 12 in good faith to eliminate the alleged violation and shall attempt to agree upon a plan to 13 achieve compliance; 14 (4) "Director", the director of the department of natural resources; 15 (5) "Disposal", the placing of metallic mineral wastes on or under the ground; 16 (6) "Facility", an integrated metallic mineral mine or mill complex or primary metal 17 smelter or refinery complex; 18 (7) "Inspection-maintenance", those actions taken after closure to maintain the waste 19 management area in accordance with a closure plan; 20 (8) "Metallic mineral waste", mine waste rock, mine water, tailings, chat, blast 21 furnace slag from primary lead smelters and pot liners from primary aluminum smelters, 22 which is disposed of and not put to beneficial use; 23 (9) "Metallic minerals", minerals or mineral ores containing lead, iron, zinc, 24 aluminum, copper, gold and silver; 25 (10) "Metallic minerals waste management areas" or "waste management areas", 26 those areas designated and used for the disposal of metallic mineral wastes from metallic 27 minerals mining, beneficiation and processing; 28 (11) "Mining", any activity conducted on or under the surface of the earth for the 29 extraction of metallic minerals or mineral ores from the earth; 30 (12) "Minor violation", a violation which possesses a small potential to harm the 31 environment or human health or cause pollution, was not knowingly committed, and is not 32 defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as other than minor; 33 (13) "Operator", any person, firm, or corporation engaged in and controlling a 34 facility; 35 (14) "Person", any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, public or 36 private corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, political subdivision, or HB 2737 4
37 any agency, board, department or bureau of the state or federal government, or any other legal 38 entity whatever, which is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties. 444.765. Wherever used or referred to in sections 444.760 to [444.790] 444.791, 2 unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context, the following terms mean: 3 (1) "Affected land", the pit area or area from which overburden shall have been 4 removed, or upon which overburden has been deposited after September 28, 1971. When 5 mining is conducted underground, affected land means any excavation or removal of 6 overburden required to create access to mine openings, except that areas of disturbance 7 encompassed by the actual underground openings for air shafts, portals, adits and haul roads 8 in addition to disturbances within fifty feet of any openings for haul roads, portals or adits 9 shall not be considered affected land. Sites which exceed the excluded areas by more than 10 one acre for underground mining operations shall obtain a permit for the total extent of 11 affected lands with no exclusions as required under sections 444.760 to 444.790; 12 (2) "Beneficiation", the dressing or processing of minerals for the purpose of 13 regulating the size of the desired product, removing unwanted constituents, and improving the 14 quality or purity of a desired product; 15 (3) "Commercial purpose", the purpose of extracting minerals for their value in sales 16 to other persons or for incorporation into a product; 17 (4) "Commission", the Missouri mining commission in the department of natural 18 resources created by section 444.520; 19 (5) "Construction", construction, erection, alteration, maintenance, or repair of any 20 facility including but not limited to any building, structure, highway, road, bridge, viaduct, 21 water or sewer line, pipeline or utility line, and demolition, excavation, land clearance, and 22 moving of minerals or fill dirt in connection therewith; 23 (6) "Department", the department of natural resources; 24 (7) "Director", the staff director of the Missouri mining commission or his or her 25 designee; 26 (8) "Excavation", any operation in which earth, minerals, or other material in or on 27 the ground is moved, removed, or otherwise displaced for purposes of construction at the site 28 of excavation, by means of any tools, equipment, or explosives and includes, but is not 29 limited to, backfilling, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, well-drilling, auguring, 30 boring, tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing, plowing-in, pulling-in, ripping, driving, 31 demolition of structures, and the use of high-velocity air to disintegrate and suction to remove 32 earth and other materials. For purposes of this section, excavation or removal of overburden 33 for purposes of mining for a commercial purpose or for purposes of reclamation of land 34 subjected to surface mining is not included in this definition. Neither shall excavations of HB 2737 5
35 sand and gravel by political subdivisions using their own personnel and equipment or private 36 individuals for personal use be included in this definition; 37 (9) "Fill dirt", material removed from its natural location through mining or 38 construction activity, which is a mixture of unconsolidated earthy material, which may 39 include some minerals, and which is used to fill, raise, or level the surface of the ground at the 40 site of disposition, which may be at the site it was removed or on other property, and which is 41 not processed to extract mineral components of the mixture. Backfill material for use in 42 completing reclamation is not included in this definition; 43 (10) "Land improvement", work performed by or for a public or private owner or 44 lessor of real property for purposes of improving the suitability of the property for 45 construction at an undetermined future date, where specific plans for construction do not 46 currently exist; 47 (11) "Mineral", a constituent of the earth in a solid state which, when extracted from 48 the earth, is usable in its natural form or is capable of conversion into a usable form as a 49 chemical, an energy source, or raw material for manufacturing or construction material. For 50 the purposes of this section, this definition includes metallic minerals as defined under 51 section 444.352, barite, tar sands, oil shales, cadmium, barium, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, 52 germanium, gallium, tellurium, selenium, vanadium, indium, mercury, uranium, rare earth 53 elements, platinum group elements, manganese, phosphorus, sodium, titanium, zirconium, 54 lithium, thorium, [or] tungsten, and silica sand as defined under section 444.991; but does 55 not include [iron, lead, zinc, gold, silver,] coal, surface or subsurface water, fill dirt, natural 56 oil, or gas together with other chemicals recovered therewith; 57 (12) "Mining", the removal of overburden and extraction of underlying minerals or 58 the extraction of minerals from exposed natural deposits for a commercial purpose, as defined 59 by this section; 60 (13) "Operator", any person, firm or corporation engaged in and controlling a surface 61 mining operation; 62 (14) "Overburden", all of the earth and other materials which lie above natural 63 deposits of minerals; and also means such earth and other materials disturbed from their 64 natural state in the process of surface mining other than what is defined in subdivision (10) of 65 this section; 66 (15) "Peak", a projecting point of overburden created in the surface mining process; 67 (16) "Pit", the place where minerals are being or have been mined by surface mining; 68 (17) "Political subdivision", any city, town, village, county, or other political 69 entity created by law; HB 2737 6
70 (18) "Public entity", the state or any officer, official, authority, board, or commission 71 of the state and any county, city, or other political subdivision of the state, or any institution 72 supported in whole or in part by public funds; 73 [(18)] (19) "Rare earth element", any of a group of seventeen elements on the 74 periodic table, including yttrium, lanthanum, scandium, cerium, dysprosium, terbium, 75 praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, ytterbium, europium, samarium, lutetium, 76 gadolinium, holmium, thulium, and erbium; 77 (20) "Refuse", all waste material directly connected with the cleaning and preparation 78 of substance mined by surface mining; 79 [(19)] (21) "Ridge", a lengthened elevation of overburden created in the surface 80 mining process; 81 [(20)] (22) "Site" or "mining site", any location or group of associated locations 82 separated by a natural barrier where minerals are being surface mined by the same operator; 83 [(21)] (23) "Surface mining", the mining of minerals for commercial purposes by 84 removing the overburden lying above natural deposits thereof, and mining directly from the 85 natural deposits thereby exposed, and shall include mining of exposed natural deposits of 86 such minerals over which no overburden lies and, after August 28, 1990, the surface effects of 87 underground mining operations for such minerals. For purposes of the provisions of sections 88 444.760 to 444.790, surface mining shall not include excavations to move minerals or fill dirt 89 within the confines of the real property where excavation occurs or to remove minerals or fill 90 dirt from the real property in preparation for construction at the site of excavation. No 91 excavation of fill dirt shall be deemed surface mining regardless of the site of disposition or 92 whether construction occurs at the site of excavation; 93 (24) "Wildlife refuges", specific areas within the state that contain physical or 94 biological features that are essential to the conservation of endangered and threatened 95 species and that may need specific management or protection. 444.770. 1. It shall be unlawful for any operator to engage in surface mining without 2 first obtaining from the commission a permit to do so, in such form as is hereinafter provided, 3 including any operator involved in any gravel mining operation where the annual tonnage of 4 gravel mined by such operator is less than five thousand tons, except as provided in 5 subsection 2 of this section. 6 2. (1) A property owner or operator conducting gravel removal at the request of a 7 property owner for the primary purpose of managing seasonal gravel accretion on property 8 not used primarily for gravel mining, or a political subdivision who contracts with an operator 9 for excavation to obtain sand and gravel material solely for the use of such political 10 subdivision shall be exempt from obtaining a permit as required in subsection 1 of this 11 section. Such gravel removal shall be conducted solely on the property owner's or political HB 2737 7
12 subdivision's property and shall be in accordance with department guidelines, rules, and 13 regulations. The property owner shall notify the department before any person or operator 14 conducts gravel removal from the property owner's property if the gravel is sold. Notification 15 shall include the nature of the activity, name of the county and stream in which the site is 16 located and the property owner's name. The property owner shall not be required to notify the 17 department regarding any gravel removal at each site location for up to one year from the 18 original notification regarding that site. The property owner shall renotify the department 19 before any person or operator conducts gravel removal at any site after the expiration of one 20 year from the previous notification regarding that site. At the time of each notification to the 21 department, the department shall provide the property owner with a copy of the department's 22 guidelines, rules, and regulations relevant to the activity reported. Said guidelines, rules and 23 regulations may be transmitted either by mail or via the internet. 24 (2) The annual tonnage of gravel mined by such property owner or operator 25 conducting gravel removal at the request of a property owner shall be less than two thousand 26 tons, with a site limitation of one thousand tons annually. Any operator conducting gravel 27 removal at the request of a property owner that has removed two thousand tons of sand and 28 gravel material within one calendar year shall have a watershed management practice plan 2