West Virginia Code 22-4-17 – Quarrying and reclamation plan
(a) The application for a new permit shall include a proposed quarrying and reclamation plan. In developing this complete quarrying and reclamation mining plan all reasonable measures shall be taken to eliminate damages to members of the public, their real and personal property, public roads, streams and all other public property from soil erosion, rolling stones and overburden, water pollution and hazards dangerous to life and property.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-4-17
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Director: means the director of the Division of Environmental Protection and his or her authorized agents. See West Virginia Code 22-4-3
- Disturbed area: means the land area from which the mineral is removed by quarrying and all other land area in which the natural land surface has been disturbed as a result of or incidental to quarrying activities of the operator, including private ways and private roads appurtenant to the area, land excavations, workings, refuse piles, product stockpiles, areas grubbed of vegetation, overburden, piles and tailings. See West Virginia Code 22-4-3
- Fill: means a side of hill fill or valley fill. See West Virginia Code 22-4-3
- Person: means any individual, partnership, firm, society, association, trust, corporation, other business entity or any agency, unit or instrumentality of federal, state or local government. See West Virginia Code 22-4-3
- Quarrying: means any breaking of the ground surface in order to facilitate the extraction of minerals. See West Virginia Code 22-4-3
- Reclamation: means returning disturbed areas to a stable condition which does not create health or safety hazards or adverse environmental impact, and when appropriate or required by permit, returning disturbed quarry areas to a designated postmining land use. See West Virginia Code 22-4-3
(b) The quarrying and reclamation plan is required to be completed by a person approved by the director. It shall include the following information:
(1) The purpose for which the land to be permitted was previously used;
(2) The proposed useful purposes of the land following completion of quarrying;
(3) A general description of the manner in which the land is to be opened for quarrying and how the quarrying activity is to progress across the permitted area and an approximate time frame for reclamation of each area or phase of the quarrying;
(4) The manner in which topsoil is to be conserved and used in reclamation and, if conditions do not permit conservation and restoration of all or part of the topsoil, an explanation of the conditions and proposed alternative procedures;
(5) The description of the proposed final topography for the applicant's proposed land use after reclamation is completed and the proposed method of accomplishment;
(6) The practices to provide public safety for adjacent properties and provisions for fencing, berms or other site improvements reasonably necessary to assure safety at the permitted site after mining and reclamation is completed; and
(7) The manner and type of revegetation or other surface treatment of the disturbed area.
(c) An application for a permit shall indicate the existence of known, threatened or endangered species located within the proposed permit boundary as defined by federal Endangered Species Act of 1973.
(d) The application shall provide the information on slope gradient and fill plans as required in section eighteen of this article.