Section 312 IAC 25-4-39 - Surface mining permit applications; environmental resources information; prime farmland investigationAuthority: IC 14-34-2-1
Affected: IC 14-34
Sec. 39.
(a) The applicant shall contact the United States Soil Conservation Service to determine if a soil survey exists for those lands and whether the applicable soil map units have been designated as prime farmlands. If no soil survey has been made for the lands within the proposed permit area, the applicant shall cause such a survey to be made. When a soil survey of lands within the proposed permit area contains soil map units that have been designated as prime farmlands:(1) the applicant shall submit an application in accordance with section 102 of this rule for such designated land; and(2) after review by the United States Soil Conservation Service, the applicant may submit a request for negative determination for such designated land with the permit application establishing compliance with subsection (b).(b) In addition, land shall not be considered prime farmland where the applicant can demonstrate one (1) of the following: (1) That the land has not been historically used as cropland. As used in this section, "historically used for cropland" means the following: (A) Lands that have been used for cropland for any five (5) years or more out of the ten (10) years immediately preceding the acquisition, including purchase, lease, or option, of the land for the purpose of conducting or allowing through resale, lease, or option the conduct of surface coal mining and reclamation operations.(B) Lands that the director determines, on the basis of additional cropland history of the surrounding lands and the lands under consideration, that the permit area is clearly cropland but falls outside the specific 5-years-in-10 criterion, in which case the regulations for prime farmland may be applied to include more years of cropland history only to increase the prime farmland acreage to be protected.(C) Lands that would likely have been used as cropland for any five (5) out of the last ten (10) years immediately preceding such acquisition but for some fact of ownership or control of the land unrelated to the productivity of the land.(2) The slope of the land is ten percent (10%) or greater.(3) Other factors exist, such as very rocky surface, or the land is flooded during a growing season more than once in two (2) years.(c) The soil survey shall be submitted with the permit application.Natural Resources Commission; 312 IAC 25-4-39; filed Jun 21, 2001, 2:53 p.m.: 24 IR 3452, eff Dec 1, 2001; readopted filed May 29, 2007, 9:51 a.m.: 20070613-IR-312070146RFA; readopted filed Sep 19, 2013, 10:12 a.m.: 20131016-IR-312130125RFAReadopted filed 3/26/2019, 3:40 p.m.: 20190424-IR-312190011RFA