207.8 - DETERMINING IF LAND IS UNSUITABLE FOR MINING.
207.8 DETERMINING IF LAND IS UNSUITABLE FOR MINING.
1. The division by rule shall designate a site unsuitable for
coal mining if the division determines on the basis of an application
or petition that reclamation as required by this chapter is not
technologically and economically feasible and may designate a site
unsuitable for coal mining if such operations will:
a. Be incompatible with existing state or local land use
plans or programs.
b. Affect fragile or historic lands in which the operations
could result in significant damage to important historic, cultural,
scientific, or esthetic values or natural systems.
c. Affect renewable resource lands in which such operations
could result in a substantial loss or reduction of long range
productivity of water supply or of food or fiber products, and such
lands to include aquifers and aquifer recharge areas.
d. Affect natural hazards lands in which such operations
could substantially endanger life and property, such lands to include
areas subject to frequent flooding and areas of unstable geology.
2. The requirements of this section do not apply to lands on
which coal mining operations are being conducted as of August 3,
1977, or under a permit issued pursuant to this chapter or pursuant
to section 83A.12, Code 1979, or where substantial legal and
financial commitments in an operation were in existence prior to
January 4, 1977.
3. Prior to designating a land area as unsuitable for coal mining
operations, the division shall prepare a detailed statement on the
potential coal resources of the area, the demand for coal resources,
and the impact of the designation on the environment, the economy,
and the supply of coal.
4. A person having an interest which is or may be adversely
affected may petition the division to have an area designated or to
have the designation terminated. The petition shall contain
allegations of facts with supporting evidence tending to establish
the allegations. Within ten months after receipt of the petition the
division shall hold a public hearing in the locality of the affected
area, after appropriate notice and publication of the date, time, and
location of the hearing. After a person has filed a petition and
before the hearing, any person may intervene by filing allegations.
Within sixty days after the hearing, the division shall issue and
furnish to the petitioner and any other party to the hearing a
written decision regarding the petition and the reasons. If all the
petitioners stipulate agreement prior to the hearing and withdraw
their request, the hearing need not be held.
5. Subject to valid existing rights, coal mining operations,
except those which exist on the effective date of this chapter, shall
not be permitted on any of the following:
a. Lands within the boundaries of units of the national park
systems, the national system of trails, the national wilderness
preservation system, the national wildlife refuge systems, the wild
and scenic rivers system, including study rivers designated under
section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and national
recreation areas designated by Act of Congress.
b. Lands which will adversely affect any publicly owned park
or places included in the national register of historic sites unless
approved jointly by the division and the federal, state, or local
agency with jurisdiction over the park or the historic site.
c. Within one hundred feet of the outside right-of-way line
of a public road, except where mine access roads or haulage roads
join the right-of-way line and except that the division may permit
such roads to be relocated or the area affected to lie within one
hundred feet of such road, if after public notice and opportunity for
public hearing in the locality a written finding is made that the
interests of the public and the landowners affected thereby will be
protected.
d. Within three hundred feet of an occupied dwelling or a
privately owned building, unless waived by the owner, or within three
hundred feet of a public building, school, church, community, or
institutional building, public park, or within one hundred feet of a
cemetery. Section History: Early Form
[C77, 79, § 83A.13; C81, § 83.8] Section History: Recent Form
C93, § 207.8
2006 Acts, ch 1010, §62