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HB0069 • 2024

Mine permit and reclamation plan changes-landowner approval.

AN ACT relating to environmental quality; requiring landowner approval before the department of environmental quality or the environmental quality council approves any mine permit or reclamation plan revisions as specified; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.

Land
Did Not Pass

The latest official action shows that this bill did not move forward in that session.

Sponsor
Representative Hornok
Last action
2024-02-14
Official status
inactive
Effective date
3/1/2024

Plain English Breakdown

The bill did not pass and was introduced but failed to move forward in the session.

Landowner Approval for Mine Permits

The bill requires landowners to give their written consent before the Department of Environmental Quality or the Environmental Quality Council can approve changes to mine permits and reclamation plans if the surface owner is different from the permit holder or mineral owner.

What This Bill Does

  • Requires written consent from the surface owner for any revisions to mine permits or reclamation plans if they are different from the permit holder or mineral owner.
  • Specifies that this requirement applies to all applications submitted on and after July 1, 2024.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Landowners whose property is affected by mining activities
  • The Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Quality Council

Terms To Know

Reclamation Plan
A plan that outlines how land will be restored after mining activities are completed.
Surface Owner
The person who owns the surface rights of a piece of land, which may differ from the owner of mineral rights beneath it.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill did not pass and was introduced but failed to move forward in the session.
  • It does not specify what happens if a landowner refuses consent for revisions to mine permits or reclamation plans.

Bill History

  1. 2024-02-14 House

    H Failed Introduction 20-41-1-0-0

  2. 2024-01-24 House

    H Received for Introduction

  3. 2024-01-22 LSO

    Bill Number Assigned

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
24LSO-0348
2024
STATE OF WYOMING
24LSO-0348
Numbered
2.0

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0069

Mine permit and reclamation plan changes-landowner approval.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Hornok, Allemand, Davis, Haroldson, Heiner, Neiman, Pendergraft, Slagle and Wylie and Senator(s) Boner, Hutchings and Ide

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to environmental quality; requiring landowner approval before the department of environmental quality or the environmental quality council approves any mine permit or reclamation plan revisions as specified; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 35
‑
11
‑
402(a)(x) and 35
‑
11
‑
416 by creating a new subsection (c) are amended to read:

35
‑
11
‑
402.

Establishment of standards.

(a)

The council shall, upon recommendation by the advisory board through the administrator and the director, establish rules and regulations pursuant to the following reclamation standards for the affected areas, including but not limited to:

(x)

Rules and regulations for the criteria for review and information and public notice requirements for permit revisions.
Subject to this paragraph, a
permit may be revised without public notice or hearing for revisions, including incidental boundary revisions to the area covered by the permit, if these do not propose significant alterations in the reclamation plan. Subject to applicable standards, any permit, except for surface coal mining permits, may be revised, in the permitted area, by identifying proposed alterations to the mining or reclamation plan in the annual report or addendum thereto, or by obtaining prior approval from the director, at the operator's discretion
. If the surface landowner is different from the permit holder or the mineral owner, no permit or reclamation plan shall be revised or altered in any way under this paragraph without first receiving the surface owner's consent in writing
;

35
‑
11
‑
416.

Protection of the surface owner.

(c)

If the surface landowner is different from the permit holder or the mineral owner, no permit or reclamation plan required by this article shall be revised or altered in any way under this article without first receiving the surface owner's consent in writing.

Section 2.

This act shall apply to all applications for mining permit revisions or reclamation plan alterations submitted to the department of environmental quality on and after the effective date of this act.

Section 3
.

This act is effective July 1, 2024
.

(END)

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HB0069