Bill Text: CA AB2509 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Surface mining and reclamation plans: exempted

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-08-17 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 177, Statutes of 2012. [AB2509 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB2509-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2509	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 23, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 9, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Nielsen

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to amend Section 2714 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to surface mining.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2509, as amended, Nielsen. Surface mining and reclamation
plans: exempted activities.
   Existing law, the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975,
prohibits a person from conducting a surface mining operation unless,
among other things, a reclamation plan has been submitted to and
approved by the lead agency, as defined, for the operation. Existing
law excepts from those requirements certain activities including,
among other things, excavations or grading conducted for farming or
the immediate excavation or grading of lands affected by a flood or
natural disaster for the purpose of restoring those lands to their
prior condition.
   This bill would exempt instead the excavations or grading of lands
 affected by a flood or natural disaster for the purpose
instead of restoring those lands to their prior condition within 20
years of when the lands were affected   conducted for
either farming or the restoration of lands affected by a flood or
natural disaster to their prior condition, as prescribed  . 
The bill would permit a person to sell any amount of overburden or
mineral product produced from restoration activities if the proceeds
from that sale are only used to offset the costs of excavation,
grading, or otherwise returning the land to the condition it was in
prior to the flood or natural disaster. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 2714 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   2714.  This chapter does not apply to any of the following
activities: 
   (a) Excavations or grading conducted for farming or the excavation
or grading of lands affected by a flood or natural disaster for the
purpose of restoring those lands to their prior condition within 20
years of when the lands were affected.  
   (a) Excavations or grading of lands conducted for either of the
following activities:  
   (1) Farming.  
   (2) (A) The restoration of lands affected by a flood or natural
disaster to their prior condition.  
   (B) A person may sell any amount of overburden or mineral product
produced from restoration activities if the proceeds from that sale
are only used to offset the costs of excavating, grading, or
otherwise returning the land to the condition it was in prior to the
flood or natural disaster. All records regarding the sale of
overburden or mineral product shall be maintained for at least five
years after the date of the sale by the person conducting the
restoration, and shall be made available to any public agency that
requests those records.  
   (C) The excavation or grading for the restoration may only occur
within a reasonable time, considering the circumstances, after the
flood or natural disaster has occurred. 
   (b) Onsite excavation and onsite earthmoving activities that are
an integral and necessary part of a construction project and that are
undertaken to prepare a site for construction of structures,
landscaping, or other land improvements associated with those
structures, including the related excavation, grading, compaction, or
the creation of fills, road cuts, and embankments, whether or not
surplus materials are exported from the site, subject to all of the
following conditions:
   (1) All required permits for the construction, landscaping, or
related land improvements have been approved by a public agency in
accordance with applicable provisions of state law and locally
adopted plans and ordinances, including, but not limited to, Division
13 (commencing with Section 21000).
   (2) The lead agency's approval of the construction project
included consideration of the onsite excavation and onsite
earthmoving activities pursuant to Division 13 (commencing with
Section 21000).
   (3) The approved construction project is consistent with the
general plan or zoning of the site.
   (4) Surplus materials shall not be exported from the site unless
and until actual construction work has commenced and shall cease if
it is determined that construction activities have terminated, have
been indefinitely suspended, or are no longer being actively pursued.

   (c) Operation of a plant site used for mineral processing,
including associated onsite structures, equipment, machines, tools,
or other materials, including the onsite stockpiling and onsite
recovery of mined materials, subject to all of the following
conditions:
   (1) The plant site is located on lands designated for industrial
or commercial uses in the applicable county or city general plan.
   (2) The plant site is located on lands zoned industrial or
commercial, or are contained within a zoning category intended
exclusively for industrial activities by the applicable city or
county.
   (3) None of the minerals being processed are being extracted
onsite.
   (4) All reclamation work has been completed pursuant to the
approved reclamation plan for any mineral extraction activities that
occurred onsite after January 1, 1976.
   (d) Prospecting for, or the extraction of, minerals for commercial
purposes where the removal of overburden or mineral product totals
less than 1,000 cubic yards in any one location, and the total
surface area disturbed is less than one acre.
   (e) Surface mining operations that are required by federal law in
order to protect a mining claim, if those operations are conducted
solely for that purpose.
   (f) Any other surface mining operations that the board, as defined
by Section 2001, determines to be of an infrequent nature and which
involve only minor surface disturbances.
   (g) The solar evaporation of sea water or bay water for the
production of salt and related minerals.
   (h) Emergency excavations or grading conducted by the Department
of Water Resources or the Reclamation Board for the purpose of
averting, alleviating, repairing, or restoring damage to property due
to imminent or recent floods, disasters, or other emergencies.
   (i) (1) Surface mining operations conducted on lands owned or
leased, or upon which easements or rights-of-way have been obtained,
by the Department of Water Resources for the purpose of the State
Water Resources Development System or flood control, and surface
mining operations on lands owned or leased, or upon which easements
or rights-of-way have been obtained, by the Reclamation Board for the
purpose of flood control, if the Department of Water Resources
adopts, after submission to and consultation with, the Department of
Conservation, a reclamation plan for lands affected by these
activities, and those lands are reclaimed in conformance with the
standards specified in regulations of the board adopted pursuant to
this chapter. The Department of Water Resources shall provide an
annual report to the Department of Conservation by the date specified
by the Department of Conservation on these mining activities.
   (2) Nothing in this subdivision shall require the Department of
Water Resources or the Reclamation Board to obtain a permit or secure
approval of a reclamation plan from any city or county in order to
conduct surface mining operations specified in paragraph (1). Nothing
in this subdivision shall preclude the bringing of an enforcement
action pursuant to Section 2774.1, if it is determined that a surface
mine operator, acting under contract with the Department of Water
Resources or the Reclamation Board on lands other than those owned or
leased, or upon which easements or rights-of-way have been obtained,
by the Department of Water Resources or the Reclamation Board, is
otherwise not in compliance with this chapter.
   (j) (1) Excavations or grading for the exclusive purpose of
obtaining materials for roadbed construction and maintenance
conducted in connection with timber operations or forest management
on land owned by the same person or entity. This exemption is limited
to excavation and grading that is conducted adjacent to timber
operation or forest management roads and shall not apply to onsite
excavation or grading that occurs within 100 feet of a Class One
watercourse or 75 feet of a Class Two watercourse, or to excavation
for materials that are, or have been, sold for commercial purposes.
   (2) This exemption shall be available only if slope stability and
erosion are controlled in accordance with subdivision (f) of Section
3704 and subdivision (d) of Section 3706 of Title 14 of the
California Code of Regulations and, upon closure of the site, the
person closing the site implements, where necessary, revegetation
measures and postclosure uses in consultation with the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection.
   (k) Excavations, grading, or other earthmoving activities in an
oil or gas field that are integral to, and necessary for, ongoing
operations for the extraction of oil or gas that comply with all of
the following conditions:
   (1) The operations are being conducted in accordance with Division
3 (commencing with Section 3000).
   (2) The operations are consistent with any general plan or zoning
applicable to the site.
   (3) The earthmoving activities are within oil or gas field
properties under a common owner or operator.
   (4) No excavated materials are sold for commercial purposes.