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HOUSE AMENDED
PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 697
PRINTER'S NO. 1000
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
624
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY SCARNATI AND YAW, APRIL 13, 2017
AS AMENDED ON SECOND CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JUNE 21, 2017
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 27, 1966 (1st Sp.Sess., P.L.31, No.1),
entitled "An act to protect the public health, welfare and
safety by regulating the mining of bituminous coal; declaring
the existence of a public interest in the support of surface
structures; providing a remedy for the restoration or
replacement of water supplies affected by underground mining;
providing a remedy for the restoration or replacement or
compensation for surface structures damaged by underground
mining; providing standards for the prevention of hazards to
human safety and material damage to certain structures;
requiring permits, and in certain circumstances bonds, for
the mining of bituminous coal; providing for the filing of
maps or plans with recorders of deeds; providing for the
giving of notice of mining operations to political
subdivisions and surface landowners of record; requiring mine
inspectors to accompany municipal officers and their agents
on inspection trips; granting powers to public officers and
affected property owners to enforce the act; requiring
grantors to certify as to whether any structures on the lands
conveyed are entitled to support from the underlying coal and
grantees to sign an admission of a warning of the possible
lack of any such right of support; requiring grantors to
provide notice of the existence of voluntary agreements for
the restoration or replacement of water supplies or for the
repair or compensation for structural damage; imposing duties
on the Department of Environmental Resources for the
compilation and analysis of data; and imposing liability for
violation of the act," providing for planned subsidence and
for retroactivity.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
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Section 1. Section 5 of the act of April 27, 1966 (1st
Sp.Sess., P.L.31, No.1), known as The Bituminous Mine Subsidence
and Land Conservation Act, is amended by adding subsections to
read:
Section 5. Permit; application; map or plan; bond or other
security; filing; general rulemaking authority; prevention of
damage; mine stability; maintenance of use and value of lands.--
* * *
(i) Planned IN A PERMIT APPLICATION TO CONDUCT BITUMINOUS
COAL MINING OPERATIONS SUBJECT TO THIS ACT, PLANNED subsidence
in a predictable and controlled manner, which is not predicted
to result in the permanent disruption of PREMINING existing or
designated uses of water SURFACE WATERS of the Commonwealth
shall not be considered presumptive evidence that a THE PROPOSED
bituminous coal mine subject to this act has MINING OPERATIONS
HAVE the potential to cause pollution as defined in section 1 of
the act of June 22, 1937 (P.L.1987, No.394), known as "The Clean
Streams Law."
(j) The provisions of subsection (i) shall only apply if a
bituminous coal mine subject to this act PERSON :
(1) submits a plan AN APPLICATION TO CONDUCT BITUMINOUS
MINING OPERATIONS SUBJECT TO THIS ACT to the department that
provides for the mitigation of predicted subsidence-induced
impacts RESTORATION OF THE PREMINING RANGE OF FLOWS AND
RESTORATION OF PREMINING BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES IN ANY WATERS OF
THIS COMMONWEALTH PREDICTED TO BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY
SUBSIDENCE. THE RESTORATION SHALL BE CONSISTENT WITH THE
PREMINING EXISTING AND DESIGNATED USES OF THE WATERS OF THIS
COMMONWEALTH ; and
(2) the plan APPLICATION is approved by the department.
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Section 2. Section 9.1(d) of the act is amended to read:
Section 9.1. Prevention of hazards to human safety and
material damage to certain buildings.--* * *
(d) Nothing in this act shall be construed to amend, modify
or otherwise supersede:
(1) standards related to prevailing hydrologic balance
contained in the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of
1977 (Public Law 95-87, 30 U.S.C. ยง 1201 et seq.) and
regulations promulgated by the Environmental Quality Board for
the purpose of obtaining or maintaining primary jurisdiction
over the enforcement and administration of that act [nor]; and
(2) except as provided for under section 5(i), any standard
contained in the act of June 22, 1937 (P.L.1987, No.394), known
as "The Clean Streams Law," or any regulation promulgated
thereunder by the Environmental Quality Board.
Section 3. The addition of section 5(i) and (j) and the
amendment of section 9.1(d) of the act shall apply retroactively
to all permits issued under the act that were the subject of an
appeal heard by the Environmental Hearing Board after June 30,
2016 OCTOBER 8, 2005.
Section 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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