SB 148 - This act pertains to environmental regulation, in particular, the Land Reclamation Act. This act clarifies that the Land Reclamation Act shall not be understood as a mechanism with which to regulate the excavation of minerals or fill dirt for the purpose of construction as unrelated to surface mining or the reclamation of land subsequent to surface mining.
The act adds definitions to Section 444.765 RSMo, as well as modifies the standing definition of "surface mining".
The act clarifies duties of the land reclamation commission, excluding the commission from regulating the excavation of minerals or fill dirt for the purpose of construction as unrelated to surface mining or the reclamation of land subsequent to surface mining, and stating that the powers granted the commission shall be utilized to promote the reclamation of land disturbed by surface mining for purposes of restoration.
The act allows for public entities, private persons, contractors or subcontractors to public entities or private persons to move minerals or fill dirt within the confines of real property for the purposes of construction or to remove such minerals or dirt as incidental to the primary purpose of construction at the site of excavation, without first obtaining a permit to do so. The circumstances under which excavations are to be considered for the purposes of construction are laid out in this act, as are those which shall be considered for the purposes of surface mining. Any private person, lessor, public entity, contractor or subcontractor engaged in land improvement may not be required to obtain a surface mining permit under this act, provided a determination by the director or commission is forthcoming to that effect. The activities to be considered for the purposes of mining are laid out in this act. The act goes on to state circumstances where land improvement activities are not for the purposes of mining and do not require a permit.
The Land Reclamation Commission shall promulgate rules further defining when land improvement does or does not require a surface mining permit. Such a determination shall be communicated to the owner of the property in question by letter. Upon request of the property owner, an informal conference shall be scheduled with the Director within fifteen calendar days to discuss the determination. Following which, the Director shall issue a written determination no later than thirty calendar days after the aforementioned conference. If there continues to be a disagreement between the property owner and the Director, the property owner may make a request for a hearing before the commission; the details of that request are laid out in this act. The act clarifies that until a written determination has been issued, the property owner may continue the activity at the site in question. If the final determination is that a permit is required, all fees or rules of the commission shall apply.
The burden of proof to establish that a permit is required shall be on the director and commission, that burden establishing that a permit is not required shall be on the person receiving a determination to the contrary.
MEGAN WORD