(a) The provisions of this article do not apply to activities of the West Virginia Department of Transportation or any legally constituted public governing entities including municipal corporations or other political subdivisions, including the federal government, or to activities of any person acting under contract with any of these public agencies or entities, on highway rights-of-way or borrow pits owned, operated, or maintained solely in connection with the construction, repair and maintenance of the public roads system of the state or other public facilities. This exemption does not become effective until the public agencies or entities have adopted reclamation standards applying to the activities.

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Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-4-29

  • Backfill: means overburden, dirt, rock or other materials that are used as fill material to reduce steepness of slopes or to fill holes, depressions or excavations. See West Virginia Code 22-4-3
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • 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
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Manufacturing: means the process of converting raw materials to salable products but does not include crushing or screening of minerals undertaken in close proximity to active quarrying operations. See West Virginia Code 22-4-3
  • Minerals: means natural deposits of commercial value found on or in the earth, whether consolidated or loose, including clay, flagstone, gravel, sand, limestone, sandstone, shale, chert, flint, dolomite, manganese, slate, iron ore and any other metal or metallurgical ore. 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
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10

(b) The provisions of this article do not apply to quarrying on federal lands when performed under a valid permit from the appropriate federal agency having jurisdiction over the land.

(c) The provisions of this article do not apply to the following activities:

(1) Operations engaged only in processing minerals;

(2) Excavation or grading conducted solely in aid of on-site farming or on-site construction for purposes other than quarrying;

(3) Removal of overburden and of limited amounts of any mineral when done only for the purpose of prospecting and to the extent necessary to determine the location, quantity or quality of any natural deposit, if no minerals are sold, processed for sale or consumed in the regular operation of business;

(4) The handling, processing or storage of minerals on the premises of a manufacturer as a part of any manufacturing process that requires minerals as raw material;

(5) The removal or deposit of backfill material associated with construction, farming and noncommercial activities;

(6) Noncommercial quarry operations by a landowner if the disturbed area does not exceed one acre in area, upon notice to the director by the owner of his or her intent to establish the quarry.