(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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Last modified: February 18, 2015