§784.20. Subsidence control plan. — Inbound Citations

(c) Any person who has the ability to determine the manner in which a surface coal mining operation is conducted.

Cropland means land used for the production of adapted crops for harvest, alone or in a rotation with grasses and legumes, and includes row crops, small grain crops, hay crops, nursery crops, orchard crops, and other similar specialty crops.

Cumulative impact area means the area, including the permit area, within which impacts resulting from the proposed operation may interact with the impacts of all anticipated mining on surface- and ground-water systems. Anticipated mining shall include, at a minimum, the entire projected lives through bond releases of:

(a) Each application shall contain a plan for the reclamation of the lands within the proposed permit area, showing how the applicant will comply with sections 515 and 516 of the Act, subchapter K of this chapter, and the environmental protection performance standards of the regulatory program. The plan shall include, at a minimum, all information required under 30 CFR 784.13 through 784.26.

(4) Preparing the subsidence control plan under § 784.20.

(b) The operator shall comply with all provisions of the approved subsidence control plan prepared pursuant to § 784.20 of this chapter.

(2) The operator/lessee shall adopt mining methods which ensure proper recovery of recoverable coal reserves under MLA, as determined by the authorized officer. Operators/lessees of underground coal mines shall adopt measures consistent with known technology in order to prevent or, where the mining method used requires subsidence, control subsidence, maximize mine stability, and maintain the value and use of surface lands consistent with 30 CFR 784.20 and 817.121, 817.122, 817.124, and 817.126, or applicable requirements of an approved State program. Where pillars are not removed and controlled subsidence is not part of the resource recovery and protection plan, pillars of adequate dimensions shall be left for surface stability, giving due consideration to the thickness and strength of the coal beds and the strata above and immediately below the coal beds.

(1) At 11 AAC 90.101(e), in accordance with the requirements at 30 CFR 784.20(b)(7), Alaska must submit a program amendment (or description of the amendment with a timetable for submission) to adopt subsidence control plan requirements at 11 AAC 90.101(e) for planned subsidence scenarios. Such plans must describe the methods to be employed to minimize damage to non-commercial buildings and occupied residential dwellings and related structures or written consent from the owner of the structure or facility that minimization measures not be taken, or unless the damage would constitute a threat to health or safety, a demonstration that the costs of minimizing damage exceed anticipated costs of repair.