Effective - 28 Aug 1979
444.835. Permit to be granted or application to be modified or denied — notification required — requirements to be met before permit to be issued — additional items to be filed with application — exemptions. — 1. Upon the basis of a complete mining application and reclamation plan for a permit or a revision or renewal thereof, including public notification and an opportunity for a public hearing as required by section 444.850, the commission or the director shall grant, require modification of, or deny the application for a permit and notify the applicant in writing. The applicant shall have the burden of establishing that the application is in compliance with all the requirements of the law and rules and regulations. Within ten days after the granting of a permit, the commission or the director shall notify the local governmental officials in the county and/or city in which the area of land to be affected is located that a permit has been issued and shall describe the location of the land.
2. No permit shall be approved unless the application affirmatively demonstrates and the commission or the director finds in writing on the basis of the information set forth in the application or from information otherwise available which will be documented in the approval, and made available to the applicant, that:
(1) The permit application is accurate and complete and that all the requirements of this law and the rules and regulations have been complied with;
(2) The applicant has demonstrated that reclamation as required can be accomplished under the reclamation plan contained in the permit application;
(3) The assessment of the probable cumulative impact of all anticipated mining in the area on the hydrologic balance specified in subsection 2 of section 444.820 has been made by the commission and the proposed operation thereof has been designed to prevent material damage to hydrologic balance outside the permit area;
(4) The area proposed to be mined is not included within an area designated unsuitable for surface coal mining pursuant to section 444.890 or is not within an area under study for such designation in an administrative proceeding commenced pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision (4) of subsection 1 of section 444.890 or section 444.890 (unless in such an area as to which an administrative proceeding has commenced pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision (4) of subsection 1 of section 444.890, the operator making the permit application demonstrates that, prior to January 1, 1977, he has made substantial legal and financial commitments in relation to the operation for which he is applying for a permit);
(5) In cases where the private mineral estate has been severed from the private surface estate, the applicant has submitted to the commission:
(a) The written consent of the surface owner to the extraction of coal by surface mining methods; or
(b) A conveyance that expressly grants or reserves the right to extract the coal by surface mining methods; or
(c) If the conveyance does not expressly grant the right to extract coal by surface mining methods, the surface-subsurface legal relationship shall be determined by a final court decree; provided, that nothing in this law shall be construed to authorize the commission to adjudicate property rights disputes.
3. The applicant shall file with his permit application a schedule listing any and all notices of violations of this law and any law, rule, or regulation of this state or the United States, or of any department or agency in this state or the United States pertaining to air or water environmental protection incurred by the applicant in connection with any surface coal mining operation during the three-year period prior to the date of application. The schedule shall also indicate the final resolution of any such notice of violation. Where the schedule or other information available to the commission indicates that any surface coal mining operation owned or controlled by the applicant is currently in violation of this law, Public Law 95-87, or such other laws referred to in this subsection, the permit shall not be issued until the applicant submits proof that such violation has been corrected or is in the process of being corrected to the satisfaction of the commission, department, or agency which has jurisdiction over such violation and no permit shall be issued to an applicant after a finding by the commission, after opportunity for hearing, that the applicant, or the operator specified in the application, controls or has controlled mining operations with a demonstrated pattern of willful violations of this law of such nature and duration with such resulting irreparable damage to the environment as to indicate an intent not to comply with the provisions of this law.
4. (1) In addition to finding the application in compliance with subsection 2 of this section, if the area proposed to be mined contains prime farmland pursuant to subdivision (16) of subsection 2 of section 444.820, the commission or the director shall, after consultation with the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and pursuant to regulations issued hereunder by the commission, grant a permit to mine on prime farmland if the commission or the director finds in writing that the operator has the technological capability to restore such mined area, within a reasonable time, to equivalent or higher levels of yield as nonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalent levels of management and can meet the soil reconstruction standards in subdivision (7) of subsection 2 of section 444.855.
(2) Nothing in this subsection shall apply to any permit issued prior to September 28, 1979, or to any revisions or renewals thereof, or to any existing surface mining operations for which a permit was issued prior to September 28, 1979.
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(L. 1979 H.B. 459)
Structure Missouri Revised Statutes
Title XXIX - Ownership and Conveyance of Property
Chapter 444 - Rights and Duties of Miners and Mine Owners
Section 444.020 - Failure to post statement of conditions, effect — rights of miners.
Section 444.030 - Tender of payment.
Section 444.040 - Notice to owner or lessee.
Section 444.050 - Ownership of ore.
Section 444.060 - Injunction or restraining order — how granted.
Section 444.070 - Mining extending to adjoining lands, how determined.
Section 444.080 - Order to be read.
Section 444.090 - Refusal to permit survey — penalty.
Section 444.100 - Provisions for mining coal in certain cities.
Section 444.110 - Notice of intention to mine — publication required.
Section 444.120 - Permit from mayor and council — petition to circuit court.
Section 444.130 - Court to authorize mining operations, when — period of time specified.
Section 444.140 - Form of bond required.
Section 444.150 - Written permission of owner required — violation — provisions for payment of fine.
Section 444.160 - Costs, paid by whom.
Section 444.180 - Certain sections apply only to coal mining companies.
Section 444.320 - Mining under public highways and railroads prohibited.
Section 444.330 - Penalty for violation of section 444.320.
Section 444.350 - Citation of law.
Section 444.352 - Definitions.
Section 444.355 - Director, powers.
Section 444.358 - Permit required, when.
Section 444.360 - Application for permit, contents.
Section 444.362 - Closure plan, purposes, contents, review of.
Section 444.365 - Inspection — maintenance plan, purposes, contents, review of.
Section 444.372 - Permits, final approval by director — denial of permit, procedures.
Section 444.377 - Hearings, procedures.
Section 444.380 - Rules, authority, promulgation, procedure.
Section 444.410 - Members, interstate mining commission — appointment — compensation.
Section 444.500 - Citation of law.
Section 444.510 - Definitions.
Section 444.530 - Powers of commission — rules, procedure.
Section 444.540 - Annual strip mining permit required, fee, renewal.
Section 444.550 - Application for permit, contents.
Section 444.560 - Reclamation plan required, contents.
Section 444.570 - Bond, amount — commission may waive.
Section 444.580 - Annual permit, how amended.
Section 444.590 - Successor operator, assumption of liability — first operator released, when.
Section 444.600 - Permit — investigation, decision, hearing, court review — appeals.
Section 444.610 - Reclamation and care requirements.
Section 444.620 - Time limits on reclamation practices.
Section 444.630 - Report, when required, contents.
Section 444.640 - Commission to investigate all reports — release from bond, when.
Section 444.650 - Application for release from bond — objection, effect of — appeal.
Section 444.660 - Additional time, granted when.
Section 444.670 - Commission may inspect and search — warrant, where obtained.
Section 444.680 - Injunction, when — violation, procedure — hearing.
Section 444.690 - Testimony at hearing, how recorded — available, when.
Section 444.700 - Judicial review, when — additional evidence authorized.
Section 444.710 - Injunction and forfeiture of bond, when — attorney general to act.
Section 444.720 - Rules and regulations, when effective — notice, hearing — variances authorized.
Section 444.730 - Mined land reclamation fund created — purpose.
Section 444.740 - Commission authorized to receive funds and services.
Section 444.750 - Recreational use of reclaimed lands encouraged.
Section 444.755 - Repeal of existing law not intended.
Section 444.760 - Short title.
Section 444.762 - Declaration of policy.
Section 444.765 - Definitions.
Section 444.766 - Exceptions to land reclamation act provisions.
Section 444.767 - Powers of commission — rules, procedure, review.
Section 444.770 - Permit required, when — release of certain bonds — complaints, requirements.
Section 444.771 - Limitation on permits near an accredited school.
Section 444.774 - Reclamation requirements and conditions.
Section 444.775 - Release of bond, conditions — petition, hearing — administrative review.
Section 444.777 - Entry upon lands and inspection by commission members — warrants to issue.
Section 444.778 - Bond — form — amount — duration — forfeiture — power of reclamation.
Section 444.786 - Operation without permit prohibited, penalty.
Section 444.788 - Civil action.
Section 444.789 - Administrative procedure — inapplicability to public meetings.
Section 444.805 - Definitions.
Section 444.810 - Powers of commission — abandoned mine reclamation fund created, purpose.
Section 444.825 - Reclamation plan contents — confidential items.
Section 444.870 - Penalties, administrative and criminal, procedure.
Section 444.875 - Release of all or part of performance bond, procedure — objections may be filed.
Section 444.885 - Cessation orders — suspension or revocation of permits — injunctive relief.
Section 444.900 - Judicial review.
Section 444.905 - Severability — rights retained — replacement of water — explosives regulations.
Section 444.915 - Abandoned mine reclamation fund — deposits and expenditures.
Section 444.920 - Abandoned mine reclamation fund, commission's duties and powers.
Section 444.935 - Public health hazards — actions to abate, procedure.
Section 444.955 - Revegetation of mined land, responsibility transfer, approval required.
Section 444.960 - Fund, coal mine land reclamation, established, purpose, duties.
Section 444.970 - Penalty — delinquency or failure to comply with assessment or reclamation plan.