The mining operator's plan shall incorporate sound engineering and conservation measures for protecting the health and welfare of the people of this State from adverse effects of surface mining. Operators will be required to grade all peaks, ridges, and valleys resulting from surface mining, and to backfill all pits and trenches resulting from same in a manner to minimize any hazardous effects of mining adjacent to any State or county-maintained public road. If the original ground elevation of the area mined was at or below the road elevation, operators will be required to grade to the original elevation and plane, a strip of land of a reasonable width, lying adjacent and parallel to the public road involved. If the original ground elevation of the area mined was above the road elevation and mining caused the resulting elevation to be below the road elevation, operators will be required to grade to at least the same elevation and plane as the road a strip of land of a reasonable width, lying adjacent and parallel to the public road involved.
Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 391-3-3-.08
Ga. L. 1968, p. 9, et. seq., as amended; Ga. L. 1972, p. 1015 as amended; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1098, et. seq., as amended.