Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Enrolled Copy                                                                          H.B. 353
                            MINING OPERATIONS AMENDMENTS
                                         2024 GENERAL SESSION
                                              STATE OF UTAH
                                     Chief Sponsor: Bridger Bolinder Senate Sponsor: David P. Hinkins
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  LONG TITLE
  General Description:
     This bill addresses regulation of mining operations.
  Highlighted Provisions:
     This bill:
     ▸ modifies definition provisions;
     ▸ addresses judicial review;
     ▸ amends the process for approval of notice of intentions for large mining operations;
     ▸ addresses conversion between small and large mining operations;
     ▸ provides procedures for review of permit orders;
     ▸ clarifies the process of amending or revising a notice of intention; and
     ▸ makes technical changes.
  Money Appropriated in this Bill:
     None
  Other Special Clauses:
     None
  Utah Code Sections Affected:
  AMENDS:
     17-41-101, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapter 15
     40-8-4, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2022, Chapter 72
     40-8-9, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2007, Chapter 322
     40-8-13, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2013, Chapter 243
     40-8-14, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2011, Chapter 125
     40-8-18, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2003, Chapter 35
  ENACTS:
     H.B. 353                                                                                  Enrolled Copy
       40-8-13.1, Utah Code Annotated 1953
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   Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
         Section 1. Section 17-41-101 is amended to read:
         17-41-101 . Definitions.
     As used in this chapter:
   (1) "Advisory board" means:
       (a) for an agriculture protection area, the agriculture protection area advisory board
            created as provided in Section 17-41-201;
       (b) for an industrial protection area, the industrial protection area advisory board created
            as provided in Section 17-41-201; and
       (c) for a critical infrastructure materials protection area, the critical infrastructure
            materials protection area advisory board created as provided in Section 17-41-201.
   (2) (a) "Agriculture production" means production for commercial purposes of crops,
       livestock, and livestock products.
       (b) "Agriculture production" includes the processing or retail marketing of any crops,
            livestock, and livestock products when more than 50% of the processed or
            merchandised products are produced by the farm operator.
   (3) "Agriculture protection area" means a geographic area created under the authority of
       this chapter that is granted the specific legal protections contained in this chapter.
   (4) "Applicable legislative body" means:
       (a) with respect to a proposed agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or
            critical infrastructure materials protection area:
            (i) the legislative body of the county in which the land proposed to be included in the
                relevant protection area is located, if the land is within the unincorporated part of
                the county; or
            (ii) the legislative body of the city or town in which the land proposed to be included
                in the relevant protection area is located; and
       (b) with respect to an existing agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or
            critical infrastructure materials protection area:
            (i) the legislative body of the county in which the relevant protection area is located,
                if the relevant protection area is within the unincorporated part of the county; or
            (ii) the legislative body of the city or town in which the relevant protection area is
                located.
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     Enrolled Copy                                                                                     H.B. 353
  (5) "Board" means the Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining created in Section 40-6-4.
  (6) "Critical infrastructure materials" means sand, gravel, or rock aggregate.
  (7) "Critical infrastructure materials operations" means the extraction, excavation,
      processing, or reprocessing of critical infrastructure materials.
  (8) "Critical infrastructure materials operator" means a natural person, corporation,
      association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary,
      agent, or other organization or representative, either public or private, including a
      successor, assign, affiliate, subsidiary, and related parent company, that:
      (a) owns, controls, or manages a critical infrastructure materials operation; and
      (b) has produced commercial quantities of critical infrastructure materials from the
          critical infrastructure materials operations.
  (9) "Critical infrastructure materials protection area" means a geographic area created under
      the authority of this chapter on or after May 14, 2019, that is granted the specific legal
      protections contained in this chapter.
  (10) "Crops, livestock, and livestock products" includes:
      (a) land devoted to the raising of useful plants and animals with a reasonable expectation
          of profit, including:
          (i) forages and sod crops;
          (ii) grains and feed crops;
          (iii) livestock as defined in Section 59-2-102;
          (iv) trees and fruits; or
          (v) vegetables, nursery, floral, and ornamental stock; or
      (b) land devoted to and meeting the requirements and qualifications for payments or
          other compensation under a crop-land retirement program with an agency of the state
          or federal government.
  (11) "Division" means the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining created in Section 40-6-15.
  (12) "Industrial protection area" means a geographic area created under the authority of this
      chapter that is granted the specific legal protections contained in this chapter.
  (13) "Mine operator" means a natural person, corporation, association, partnership,
      receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, agent, or other
      organization or representative, either public or private, including a successor, assign,
      affiliate, subsidiary, and related parent company, that, as of January 1, 2019:
      (a) owns, controls, or manages a mining use under a large mine permit issued by the
          division or the board; and
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      H.B. 353                                                                                Enrolled Copy
       (b) has produced commercial quantities of a mineral deposit from the mining use.
   (14) "Mineral deposit" means the same as that term is defined in Section 40-8-4.
   (15) "Mining protection area" means land where a vested mining use occurs, including each
       surface or subsurface land or mineral estate that a mine operator with a vested mining
       use owns or controls.
   (16) "Mining use":
       (a) means:
            (i) the full range of activities, from prospecting and exploration to reclamation and
                closure, associated with the exploitation of a mineral deposit; and
            (ii) the use of the surface and subsurface and groundwater and surface water of an
                area in connection with the activities described in Subsection (16)(a)(i) that have
                been, are being, or will be conducted; and
       (b) includes, whether conducted on-site or off-site:
            (i) any sampling, staking, surveying, exploration, or development activity;
            (ii) any drilling, blasting, excavating, or tunneling;
            (iii) the removal, transport, treatment, deposition, and reclamation of overburden,
                development rock, tailings, and other waste material;
            (iv) any removal, transportation, extraction, beneficiation, or processing of ore;
            (v) any smelting, refining, autoclaving, or other primary or secondary processing
                operation;
            (vi) the recovery of any mineral left in residue from a previous extraction or
                processing operation;
            (vii) a mining activity that is identified in a work plan or permitting document;
            (viii) the use, operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, or alteration of a building,
                structure, facility, equipment, machine, tool, or other material or property that
                results from or is used in a surface or subsurface mining operation or activity;
            (ix) any accessory, incidental, or ancillary activity or use, both active and passive,
                including a utility, private way or road, pipeline, land excavation, working,
                embankment, pond, gravel excavation, mining waste, conveyor, power line,
                trackage, storage, reserve, passive use area, buffer zone, and power production
                facility;
            (x) the construction of a storage, factory, processing, or maintenance facility; and
            (xi) an activity described in Subsection [40-8-4(17)(a).] 40-8-4(19)(a).
   (17) (a) "Municipal" means of or relating to a city or town.
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      Enrolled Copy                                                                                      H.B. 353
      (b) "Municipality" means a city or town.
  (18) "New land" means surface or subsurface land or mineral estate that a mine operator
      gains ownership or control of, whether that land or mineral estate is included in the mine
      operator's large mine permit.
  (19) "Off-site" means the same as that term is defined in Section 40-8-4.
  (20) "On-site" means the same as that term is defined in Section 40-8-4.
  (21) "Planning commission" means:
      (a) a countywide planning commission if the land proposed to be included in the
          agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure
          materials protection area is within the unincorporated part of the county and not
          within a planning advisory area;
      (b) a planning advisory area planning commission if the land proposed to be included in
          the agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure
          materials protection area is within a planning advisory area; or
      (c) a planning commission of a city or town if the land proposed to be included in the
          agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure
          materials protection area is within a city or town.
  (22) "Political subdivision" means a county, city, town, school district, special district, or
      special service district.
  (23) "Proposal sponsors" means the owners of land in agricultural production, industrial
      use, or critical infrastructure materials operations who are sponsoring the proposal for
      creating an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical
      infrastructure materials protection area.
  (24) "State agency" means each department, commission, board, council, agency,
      institution, officer, corporation, fund, division, office, committee, authority, laboratory,
      library, unit, bureau, panel, or other administrative unit of the state.
  (25) "Unincorporated" means not within a city or town.
  (26) "Vested mining use" means a mining use:
      (a) by a mine operator; and
      (b) that existed or was conducted or otherwise engaged in before a political subdivision
          prohibits, restricts, or otherwise limits a mining use.
        Section 2. Section 40-8-4 is amended to read:
        40-8-4 . Definitions.
    As used in this chapter:
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      H.B. 353                                                                               Enrolled Copy
   (1) "Adjudicative proceeding" means:
       (a) a division or board action or proceeding determining the legal rights, duties,
            privileges, immunities, or other legal interests of one or more identifiable persons,
            including actions to grant, deny, revoke, suspend, modify, annul, withdraw, or amend
            an authority, right, permit, or license; or
       (b) judicial review of a division or board action or proceeding specified in Subsection
            (1)(a).
   (2) "Amendment" means a request for an insignificant change to a notice of intention, as
       defined by rule made in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative
       Rulemaking Act.
   [(2)] (3) "Applicant" means a person who has filed a notice of intent to commence mining
       operations, or who has applied to the board for a review of a notice or order.
   [(3)] (4) (a) "Approved notice of intention" means a formally filed notice of intention to
       commence mining operations, including revisions or amendments to the notice of
       intention that is approved under Section 40-8-13.
       (b) An approved notice of intention is not required for small mining operations.
   [(4)] (5) (a) "Basalt" means fine-grained mafic igneous rock formed in the tertiary or
       quaternary periods.
       (b) A Utah Geological Survey published map or a United States Geological Survey
            published map that classifies material as "basalt" is prima facie evidence that the
            material meets the requirements of Subsection [(4)(a)] (5)(a). An unmapped area may
            be classified by a Utah Geological Survey geologist or a professional geologist
            licensed in the state.
   [(5)] (6) "Board" means the Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining.
   [(6)] (7) "Boulder" means a naturally occurring consolidated rock fragment greater than 75
       millimeters in size that is associated with unconsolidated material and detached from
       bedrock.
   [(7)] (8) "Conference" means an informal adjudicative proceeding conducted by the division[
       or board].
   [(8)] (9) (a) "Deposit" or "mineral deposit" means an accumulation of mineral matter in
       the form of consolidated rock, unconsolidated material, solutions, or occurring on the
       surface, beneath the surface, or in the waters of the land from which any product
       useful to man may be produced, extracted, or obtained or which is extracted by
       underground mining methods for underground storage.
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      Enrolled Copy                                                                                  H.B. 353
      (b) "Deposit" or "mineral deposit" excludes sand, gravel, rock aggregate, basalt,
          boulders, water, geothermal steam, and oil and gas as defined in Chapter 6, Board
          and Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining, but includes oil shale and bituminous sands
          extracted by mining operations.
  [(9)] (10) "Development" means the work performed in relation to a deposit following the
      deposit's discovery but before and in contemplation of production mining operations,
      aimed at preparing the site for mining operations, defining further the ore deposit by
      drilling or other means, conducting pilot plant operations, constructing roads or ancillary
      facilities, and other related activities.
  [(10)] (11) "Division" means the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining.
  [(11)] (12) "Emergency order" means an order issued by the board in accordance with [Title
      63G, Chapter 4, Administrative Procedures Act] Section 63G-4-502.
  [(12)] (13) (a) "Exploration" means surface-disturbing activities conducted for the
      purpose of:
          (i) discovering a deposit or mineral deposit;
          (ii) delineating the boundaries of a deposit or mineral deposit; and
          (iii) identifying regions or specific areas in which deposits or mineral deposits are
               most likely to exist.
      (b) "Exploration" includes:
          (i) sinking shafts;
          (ii) tunneling;
          (iii) drilling holes and digging pits or cuts;
          (iv) building of roads, and other access ways; and
          (v) constructing and operating other facilities related to the activities described in this
               Subsection [(12)(b)] (13)(b).
  [(13)] (14) "Gravel" means a naturally occurring unconsolidated to moderately consolidated
      accumulation of rock and mineral particles, the dominant size range being between 4
      millimeters and 75 millimeters, that has been deposited by sedimentary processes.
  [(14)] (15) "Hearing" means a formal adjudicative proceeding conducted by the board under
      the board's procedural rules.
  [(15)] (16) (a) "Imminent danger to the health and safety of the public" means the
      existence of a condition or practice, or a violation of a permit requirement or other
      requirement of this chapter in a mining operation, which condition, practice, or
      violation could reasonably be expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons
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