(225 ILCS 715/6) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 4507)
Sec. 6.
Duties of operator.
Every operator to whom a permit is
issued pursuant to the provisions of this Act may engage in surface
mining upon the lands described in the permit upon the performance of
and subject to the following requirements with respect to such lands:
(a) All land affected by surface mining except as otherwise provided
in this Act shall be graded to a rolling topography traversable by
machines necessary for maintenance in accordance with the planned use, with
slopes having no more than 15% grade,
except that in the following cases the grade shall not exceed 30%: (i) lands to be reclaimed to forest plantation, recreational or wildlife land
uses,
(ii) the outside slope of the box cut spoil, and (iii) the outside
slopes of all overburden deposition areas. The final cut spoil and the side slopes of haulage road inclines
can remain at a slope equal to the angle of repose of the material, provided
the material can support vegetative cover. However, in no case shall the
Department require grading to a lesser slope than the
original grade of the overburden existing prior to
mining.
(b) All runoff water shall be impounded, drained or treated so as to
reduce soil erosion, damage to unmined lands, and pollution of streams
and other waters. The operator shall construct earth dams, where lakes
may be formed, in accordance with sound engineering practices if
necessary to impound water, provided the formation of the lakes or ponds
will not interfere with underground or other mining operations, other
subsequent uses of the area approved by the Department, or damage
adjoining property. Such water impoundments must be approved by the
Department based on the expected ability of the lakes or ponds to
support desirable uses such as water for livestock or wild life; and if
to be used for fish life, shall have minimum depths in accordance with
standards for fish stocking in the various areas of the State
recommended by the Department.
(c) Acid forming materials present in the exposed face of the mined
mineral seam or seams in the final cut shall be covered at all
times
with not less than 4 feet of water, or other materials which shall be
placed with slopes having no more than 30% grade, capable of supporting
plant and animal life. Final cuts or other depressed affected areas, no
longer in use in mining operations, which accumulate toxic waters will
not meet reclamation requirements.
(d) Slurry must be confined in depressed or mined areas bounded by
levees or dams constructed from material capable of supporting
acceptable vegetation and built in accordance with sound engineering
practices. Such areas shall be screened with border plantings of tree
species which by their seeding habits will encourage propagation of
vegetation on these areas, and levees or dams built to confine slurry
shall be established to adapted species of grasses. Gob not capable of
supporting vegetation shall be covered to a minimum
depth of 4 feet with
soil or other material in accordance with sound soil conservation
practices as prescribed by the Director. Such material must be capable
of being vegetated and an acceptable cover shall be established. The
above stipulated reclamation measures shall apply to all new refuse
disposal areas or horizontal extensions of existing refuse disposal
areas after the effective date of this Act.
(e) All abandoned haulage roads and all mine drainage ditches must
be removed and graded, except where the Director determines that a road
or ditch is consistent with and necessary to the conservation and
reclamation plan.
(f) Unless the approved reclamation plan is inconsistent with
vegetative cover, the soil shall be prepared and planted with trees,
shrubs, grasses and legumes to provide suitable vegetative cover, in
accordance with standards adopted by the Department.
(g) All requirements of the Environmental Protection Act, and of
rules and regulations thereunder, as enforced by the Environmental Protection
Agency, shall be complied with fully at all
times during mining, reclamation, and after reclamation.
(h) Surface mining operations that remove and do not replace the
lateral support shall not, unless mutually agreed upon by the operator
and the adjacent property owner, approach property lines, established
right-of-way lines of any public roads, streets or highways closer than
a distance equal to 10 feet plus one and one-half times the depth of the
excavation except where consolidated material or materials of sufficient
hardness or ability to resist weathering and to inhibit erosion or
sloughing exists in the highwall, the distance from the property line or
any established right-of-way line shall not, unless mutually agreed, be
closer than a distance equal to 10 feet plus one and one-half times the
depth from the natural ground surface to the top of the consolidated
material or materials.
(i) The operator shall annually submit to the Department and to the
affected
county a map in a form approved by the Department showing the
location of the pit or pits by section, township, range and county, with
such other description as will identify the land which the operator has
affected by surface mining during such fiscal year and has completed
mining operations thereon, with a legend upon such map showing the
number of acres of affected land.
(j) When the Director determines that the land to be affected is (1)
capable of being reclaimed for row-crop agricultural purposes and
suitable for row-crop agricultural purposes based on United States Soil
Conservation Service soil survey classifications of the affected land
prior to mining, and (2) when the Director determines that the optimum
future use of the land affected is for row-crop agricultural purposes,
the affected land shall be graded to the approximate original grade of
the land provided that the final cut and submerged roadways may remain
if the Department determines that such final cut or roadways could form
a water impoundment capable of supporting desirable uses such as water
for livestock or wild life; and if to be used for fish life, shall have
minimum depths in accordance with standards for fish stocking as
recommended by the Department, and provided further that the box cut
spoil shall be graded in accordance with subparagraph (a) of Section
6.
On all affected lands to be graded to the approximate original grade
under this subsection (j), all or part of the darkened surface soil, as
defined in this Act, shall be segregated during the stripping process
and replaced as a final cover as a last step in the required grading.
When available in such depth, at least 18 inches of the darkened surface
soil shall be segregated and replaced. When less than 18 inches of
darkened surface soil exists all such lesser amounts shall be segregated
and replaced. In no case under this subsection (j) shall less than the
top 8 inches of surface soil, darkened or not, be segregated and
replaced. This segregation and replacement requirement may be altered
by the Department only if it is determined upon the advice of competent
soil scientists that other material available in the cast overburden
would be suitable in meeting the reclamation requirements. Below the
darkened surface soil the replaced material shall be suitable as an
agricultural root medium. The Department shall determine by rules and
regulations what constitutes a suitable agricultural root medium by
composition and depth. On all lands to be reclaimed under this
subsection (j), the operator shall not be required to create a soil
condition better than that which existed prior to surface mining.
(k) All reclamation provided for
hereunder shall be carried to
completion by the operator prior to the expiration of 3 years after active
use, as determined by the Department, except that no other
reclamation of any kind shall be required to be made within depressed
haulage roads or final cuts or any other area where pools or lakes,
capable of supporting aquatic life, may be formed by rainfall or
drainage runoff from adjoining land or where the Director determines
that a road, dry pit bottom or ditch is consistent with and necessary to
the conservation and reclamation plan. All mined areas which in the
reclamation plan call for vegetation shall be covered with whatever
top soils or other materials from the cast overburden that will
support
acceptable plant growth in accordance with standards adopted by the
Department. The Department shall have authority to require that
darkened surface soil be segregated from other overburden in the
stripping process so as to accomplish the requirements of this
subparagraph. When extension of the reclamation period is necessary to
allow continued mining operation and to accomplish acceptable
reclamation, such extension shall be made at the discretion of the
Department, however, the Department shall not deny a reasonable
extension under any of the subsections of this Section 6 when the
operator shows that acts of God, strikes, inability to receive ordered
equipment or extended periods of unseasonable and not to be expected
weather have made completion within time limits impossible; or, the
Department shall declare forfeiture of the surety bond or security on
such land not satisfactorily reclaimed or the Director shall provide
that the operator cover such areas with material capable of being
vegetated in accordance with vegetative standards adopted by the
Department within 1 year.
If further extension of the reclamation period is necessary to
accomplish acceptable reclamation such extension shall be made at the
discretion of the Department or the Department shall declare forfeiture
of the surety bond or security on such land not satisfactorily
reclaimed.
(l) The reclamation requirements in this Section do not apply to affected
land used for a landfill if the landfill is approved by the Environmental
Protection Agency. The Environmental Protection Agency may regulate the amount
of land to be used for that purpose and may establish a time schedule for the
orderly and timely completion of the landfill. Any affected land designated for
landfill and not used for that purpose within 5 years after such a designation
is subject to the reclamation provisions of this Section.
(m) The conservation and reclamation plan shall be completely
performed on time.
(n) High walls shall be reshaped to a slope of two-to-one or 50% to
the anticipated water level or dry pit bottom unless otherwise excepted
by the Director.
(o) The provisions of subsections (j) and (n) of this Section do not
apply to the aggregate mining industry.
(Source: P.A. 91-938, eff. 1-11-01.)
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