This chapter does not apply to:

1. Lands on which surface coal mining and reclamation operations are conducted under any permit issued before July 1, 1979.

2. Lands on which surface coal mining and reclamation operations are conducted under any renewal or revision of a permit issued before July 1, 1979.

3. Lands included in any existing surface coal mining operations for which a permit was issued for all or any part before July 1, 1979; provided that: a. The lands are part of a single continuous mining operation begun under a permit issued before July 1, 1979. b. The permittee had a legal right to mine the lands before July 1, 1979, through ownership, contract, or lease but not including an option to buy, lease, or contract. c. The lands contain part of a continuous recoverable coal seam that was being mined in a single continuous mining operation begun under a permit issued prior to July 1, 1979.

4. For the purposes of this section, a surface coal mining operation is presumed to consist only of a single continuous mining pit under permit before July 1, 1979, but may include noncontiguous parcels if the operator can prove by clear and convincing evidence that, before July 1, 1979, the parcels were part of a single permitted operation. Clear and convincing evidence includes contracts, leases, deeds, or other legal documents, excluding options, that specifically treat physically separate parcels as one surface coal mining operation.

History: Effective June 1, 1983; amended effective May 1, 1990.

General Authority: NDCC 38-14.1-03

Law Implemented: NDCC 38-14.1-24