As used in the Surface Mining Act:

A. "commission" means the coal surface mining commission;

B. "director", when used without further qualification, means the director of the mining and minerals division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department or his designee;

C. "alluvial valley floors" means the unconsolidated stream-laid deposits holding streams where water availability is sufficient for subirrigation or flood irrigation agricultural activities, but does not include upland areas which are generally overlain by a thin veneer of colluvial deposits composed chiefly of debris from sheet erosion, deposits by unconcentrated runoff or slope wash, together with talus, other mass movement accumulation and windblown deposits;

D. "approximate original contour" means that surface configuration achieved by backfilling and grading of the mined area so that the reclaimed area, including any terracing or access roads, closely resembles the general surface configuration of the land prior to mining and blends into and complements the drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain with all highwalls and spoil piles eliminated; water impoundments may be permitted where the director determines that they are in compliance with Paragraph (8) of Subsection B of Section 69-25A-19 NMSA 1978;

E. "imminent danger to the health and safety of the public" means the existence of any condition or practice, or any violation of a permit or other requirement of the Surface Mining Act, in a surface coal mining and reclamation operation, which condition, practice or violation could reasonably be expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons outside the permit area before the condition, practice or violation can be abated. A reasonable expectation of death or serious injury before abatement exists if a rational person, subjected to the same conditions or practices giving rise to the peril, would not expose himself to the danger during the time necessary for abatement;

F. "operator" means any person engaged in coal mining who removes or intends to remove more than two hundred fifty tons of coal from the earth by coal mining within twelve consecutive calendar months in any one location;

G. "other minerals" means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous and nonmetalliferous ores and any other solid material or substances of commercial value excavated in solid form from natural deposits on or in the earth, exclusive of coal, and those minerals which occur naturally in liquid or gaseous form;

H. "permit" means a permit to conduct surface coal mining and reclamation operations issued by the director pursuant to the Surface Mining Act;

I. "permit applicant" or "applicant" means a person applying for a permit;

J. "permit area" means the area of land indicated on the approved map submitted by the operator with his application, which area of land is to be covered by the operator's bond as required by Section 69-25A-13 NMSA 1978 and shall be readily identifiable by appropriate markers on the site;

K. "permittee" means a person holding a permit;

L. "person" means an individual, partnership, association, society, joint stock company, firm, company, corporation or other business organization;

M. the term "prime farmland" is to be defined by regulation of the commission after considering such factors as moisture availability, temperature regime, chemical balance, permeability, surface layer composition, susceptibility to flooding, erosion characteristics, history of use for intensive agricultural purposes and regulations issued by the United States secretary of agriculture;

N. "reclamation plan" means a plan submitted by an applicant for a permit which sets forth a plan for reclamation of the proposed surface coal mining operations pursuant to Section 69-25A-12 NMSA 1978;

O. "surface coal mining and reclamation operations" means surface coal mining operations and all activities necessary and incident to the reclamation of those operations after the date of enactment of the Surface Mining Act;

P. "surface coal mining operations" means:

(1) activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface coal mine or activities subject to the requirements of Section 69-25A-20 NMSA 1978 relating to surface operations and surface impacts incident to an underground coal mine. The activities include excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal, including such common methods as contour, strip, auger, mountaintop removal, box cut, open pit and area mining. These activities also include uses of explosives and blasting and in situ distillation or retorting, leaching or other chemical or physical processing and the cleaning, concentrating or other processing or preparation, including loading of coal at or near the mine site. Provided, however, that such activities do not include the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of other minerals where coal does not exceed sixteen and two-thirds percent of the tonnage of minerals removed for purposes of commercial use or sale or coal exploration subject to Section 69-25A-16 NMSA 1978; and

(2) the areas upon which these activities occur or where the activities disturb the natural land surface. These areas also include any adjacent land, the use of which is incidental to any of the activities, all lands affected by the construction of new roads or the improvement or use of existing roads to gain access to the site of these activities and for haulage and excavations, workings, impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entryways, refuse banks, dumps, stockpiles, overburden piles, spoil banks, culm banks, tailings, holes or depressions, repair areas, storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas and other areas upon which are sited structures, facilities or other property or materials on the surface, resulting from or incident to these activities;

Q. "unwarranted failure to comply" means the failure of a permittee to prevent the occurrence of any violation of his permit or any requirement of the Surface Mining Act due to indifference, lack of diligence or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate any violation of the permit or the Surface Mining Act due to indifference, lack of diligence or lack of reasonable care; and

R. "lignite coal" means consolidated lignitic coal having less than eight thousand three hundred BTUs per pound, moisture- and mineral-matter free.

History: Laws 1979, ch. 291, § 3; 1987, ch. 234, § 54.

The 1987 amendment, effective July 1, 1987, in Subsection B, substituted "energy, minerals and natural resources" for "energy and minerals"; in Subsection D, substituted "69-25A-19 NMSA 1978" for "19 of the Surface Mining Act"; in Subsection J, substituted "69-25A-13 NMSA 1978" for "13 of the Surface Mining Act"; in Subsection N, substituted "69-25A-12 NMSA 1978" for "12 of the Surface Mining Act"; in Subsection P, in Paragraph (1) in the first sentence substituted "69-25A-20 NMSA 1978" for "20 of the Surface Mining Act" and in the last sentence substituted "69-25A-16 NMSA 1978" for "16 of that act"; and made minor changes in language and punctuation throughout the section.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — Validity and construction of statutes regulating strip mining, 86 A.L.R.3d 27.