Current through March 20, 2024
Authority: IC
14-34-2-1
Affected: IC 14-34
Sec. 75.
(a) All
topsoil shall be removed as a separate layer from the area to be disturbed and
segregated.
(1) Where the topsoil is of
insufficient quantity or of poor quality to sustain vegetation, the material
approved by the director as a topsoil substitute or supplement in accordance
with subsection (c) shall be removed separately from the area to be disturbed
and segregated.
(2) If the topsoil
is less than six (6) inches thick, the permittee may remove the topsoil and the
unconsolidated materials immediately below the topsoil to a total depth of six
(6) inches and treat the mixture as topsoil.
(3) Topsoil need not be removed:
(A) at sites disturbed only by power poles,
signs, fence posts, electrical substations, transformers and switchboxes,
explosives magazines, temporary building on skids, topsoil stockpiles, culvert
installations, cable routes, cable storage areas, powerline cable suspension
towers or "horses", pumps, pump hoses, and pipelines; and
(B) with the director's approval, for minor
disturbances that will not permanently destroy the existing vegetation and will
not cause erosion.
(b) All material to be removed under this
rule shall be removed after the vegetative cover that would interfere with its
removal and use is cleared from the area to be disturbed, but before any
drilling, blasting, mining, or other disturbance, except those disturbances
described in subsection (a), takes place.
(c) Selected overburden materials may be
substituted for, or used as a supplement to, topsoil if the permittee
demonstrates to the director in the permit application that the resulting soil
medium is equal to or more suitable for sustaining vegetation than the existing
topsoil.
(d) Storage requirements
are as follows:
(1) Materials removed under
subsections (a) and (f) shall be segregated and stockpiled when it is
impractical to redistribute such materials promptly on regraded areas within
the permit area, or within other permit areas of the same permittee within the
same mining operation.
(2)
Stockpiled materials shall:
(A) be selectively
placed on stable sites within the permit area or within other permit areas of
the same permittee within the same mining operation;
(B) be protected from contamination and
unnecessary compaction that would interfere with revegetation;
(C) be protected from wind and water erosion
through prompt establishment and maintenance of an effective, quick growing
nonnoxious vegetative cover, or through other measures approved by the director
in the permit application; and
(D)
not be moved until required for redistribution unless approved by the director
in the permit application.
(3) Where long term surface disturbances will
result from facilities, such as support facilities and preparation plants and
where stockpiling of materials removed under subsection (a) would be
detrimental to the quality or quantity of those materials, the director may, in
the permit application, approve the temporary distribution of the soil
materials so removed to an approved site within the permit area or another
permit area of the same permittee to enhance the current use of that site until
needed for later reclamation, provided that:
(A) such action will not permanently diminish
the capability of the topsoil of the host site; and
(B) the material will be retained in a
condition more suitable for redistribution than if stockpiled.
(e) Redistribution
requirements are as follows:
(1) Topsoil
materials removed under subsections (a) and (f) shall be redistributed in a
manner that:
(A) achieves an approximately
uniform, stable thickness consistent with the approved postmining land use,
contours, and surface-water drainage systems;
(B) prevents excess compaction of the
materials; and
(C) protects the
materials from wind and water erosion before and after seeding and
planting.
(2) Before
redistribution of the material removed under subsection (a) the regraded land
shall be treated if necessary to reduce potential slippage of the redistributed
material and to promote root penetration. If no harm will be caused to the
redistributed material and reestablished revegetation, such treatment may be
conducted after such material is replaced.
(3) Redistribution of topsoil or topsoil
substitutes on the approved postmining embankments of permanent impoundments or
of roads shall not be required if the permittee demonstrates that:
(A) placement of such material on the
embankments is inconsistent with the requirement to use the best technology
currently available to prevent sedimentation; and
(B) the embankments will be otherwise stable
or stabilized.
(4)
Nutrients and soil amendments shall be applied, in amounts determined by soil
tests using standard agronomic laboratory procedures, to the initially
redistributed material when necessary to establish the vegetative
cover.
(f) The director
may require that portions of the subsoil be removed and segregated, stockpiled,
and redistributed as subsoil in accordance with the requirements of subsections
(d) and (e) if the director finds that such subsoil layers are necessary to
comply with the revegetation requirements of this rule.
