This chapter shall be known as the "Nonmetallic Mining Reclamation
Ordinance" for Pierce County, hereinafter referred to as "this chapter."
The purpose of this chapter is to establish a local program
to ensure the effective reclamation of nonmetallic mining sites on
which nonmetallic mining takes place in Pierce County after the effective
date of this chapter, in compliance with Chapter NR 135, Wisconsin
Administrative Code, and Subchapter I of Chapter 295, Wis. Stats.
This chapter is adopted under authority of §§ 59.51
and 295.13(1), Wis. Stats., and Section NR 135.32, Wisconsin Administrative
Code.
The purpose of this chapter is to adopt and implement the uniform
statewide standards for nonmetallic mining required by § 295.12(1)(a),
Wis. Stats., as amended, and contained in Chapter NR 135, Wisconsin
Administrative Code. It is not intended that this chapter repeal,
abrogate, annul, impair or interfere with any existing rules, regulations,
ordinances or permits not concerning nonmetallic mining reclamation
previously adopted pursuant to other Wisconsin law.
In their interpretation and application, the provisions of this
chapter shall be held to be the applicable requirements for nonmetallic
mining reclamation and shall not be deemed a limitation or repeal
of any other power granted by Wisconsin statutes outside the reclamation
requirements for nonmetallic mining sites required by Subchapter I
of Chapter 295, Wis. Stats., as amended, and Chapter NR 135, Wisconsin
Administrative Code. Where any terms or requirements of this chapter
may be inconsistent or conflicting, the more restrictive requirements
or interpretation shall apply. Where a provision of this chapter is
required by the Wisconsin Statutes or by a standard in Chapter NR
135, Wisconsin Administrative Code, and where the provision is unclear,
the provision shall be interpreted to be consistent with the Wisconsin
Statutes and the provisions of Chapter NR 135, Wisconsin Administrative
Code. Any future amendments, revisions or modifications of the statutes
or administrative rules incorporated herein are intended to be made
part of this chapter in order to secure uniform statewide standards
for reclamation of nonmetallic mining sites.
Should any portion of this chapter be declared unconstitutional
or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of
this chapter shall not be affected.
A.
Overall applicability. The requirements of this chapter apply to all operators of nonmetallic mining sites within Pierce County, except as exempted in Subsection B, and for nonmetallic mining sites located in a city, village or town within Pierce County that has adopted an ordinance pursuant to § 295.14, Wis. Stats., and Section NR 135.32(2), Wisconsin Administrative Code. This chapter does not apply to nonmetallic mining sites where nonmetallic mining permanently ceased before August 1, 2001. This chapter applies to nonmetallic mining conducted by or on behalf of the State of Wisconsin, by or on behalf of a municipality or for the benefit or use of the state or any state agency, board, commission or department, except for the waiver of financial assurance in § 241-14C.
B.
Exemptions. This chapter does not apply to the following activities:
(1)
Nonmetallic mining at a site or that portion of a site that is subject
to permit and reclamation requirements of the Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources under § 30.19, 30.195 or 30.20, Wis.
Stats., and complies with Chapter NR 340, Wisconsin Administrative
Code.
(2)
Excavations subject to the permit and reclamation requirements of
§ 30.30 or 30.31, Wis. Stats.
(3)
Excavations or grading by a person solely for domestic or farm use
at that person's residence or farm.
(4)
Excavations or grading conducted for the construction, reconstruction,
maintenance or repair of a highway, railroad, airport facility, or
any other transportation facility where the excavation or grading
is entirely within the property boundaries of the transportation facility.
(5)
Grading conducted for preparing a construction site or restoring
land following a flood or natural disaster.
(6)
Excavations for building construction purposes conducted on the building
site.
(7)
Nonmetallic mining at nonmetallic mining sites that affect less than
one acre of total area over the life of the mine.
(8)
Any mining operation, the reclamation of which is required in a permit
obtained under Chapter 293, Wis. Stats.
(9)
Any activities required to prepare, operate or close a solid waste
disposal facility under Chapter 289, Wis. Stats., or a hazardous waste
disposal facility under Chapter 291, Wis. Stats., that are conducted
on the property where the facility is located, but an applicable nonmetallic
mining reclamation ordinance and the standards established in this
chapter apply to activities related to solid waste or hazardous waste
disposal that are conducted at a nonmetallic mining site that is not
on the property where the solid waste or hazardous waste disposal
facility is located, such as activities to obtain nonmetallic minerals
to be used for lining, capping, covering or constructing berms, dikes
or roads.
(10)
Department of Transportation.
(a)
Nonmetallic mining conducted to obtain stone, soil, sand or
gravel for construction, reconstruction, maintenance or repair of
a highway, railroad, airport, or any other transportation facility
or part thereof, if the nonmetallic mining is subject to the requirements
of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation concerning the restoration
of the nonmetallic mining site.
(b)
This exemption only applies to a nonmetallic mining operation
with limited purpose and duration where the Wisconsin Department of
Transportation actively imposes reclamation requirements and the operator
reclaims the nonmetallic mining site in accordance with these requirements.
The duration of the exemption shall be specific to the length of the
Wisconsin Department of Transportation contract for construction of
a specific transportation project.
(c)
If a nonmetallic mining site covered under Subsection B(10)(a) and (b) is used to concurrently supply materials for projects unrelated to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation project, the exemption in this subsection still applies, provided that the site is fully reclaimed under Wisconsin Department of Transportation contract and supervision.
(11)
Dredging for navigational purposes, to construct or maintain farm
drainage ditches and for the remediation of environmental contamination
and the disposal of spoils from these activities.
(12)
Removal of material from the bed of Lake Michigan or Lake Superior
by a public utility pursuant to a permit under § 30.21,
Wis. Stats.
The provisions of this chapter shall be administered by the
Pierce County Land Management Department and Land Conservation Department.
The provisions of this chapter shall take effect on November
13, 2007, or as soon thereafter as adopted by law.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
An alternative to the reclamation standards of this chapter provided through a written authorization granted by Pierce County pursuant to § 241-18.
A nonmetallic mining reclamation ordinance, including this
chapter, that applies to a particular nonmetallic mining site and
complies with the requirements of Chapter NR 135, Wisconsin Administrative
Code, and Subchapter I of Chapter 295, Wis. Stats., unless the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources is the regulatory authority, as defined
in this section. If the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
is the regulatory authority, "applicable reclamation ordinance" means
the relevant and applicable provisions of Chapter NR 135, Wisconsin
Administrative Code.
An area outside of a transportation project site from which
stone, soil, sand or gravel is excavated for use at the project site,
except the term does not include commercial sources.
The sequential or progressive reclamation of portions of
the nonmetallic mining site affected by mining operations that is
performed in advance of final site reclamation, but which may or may
not be final reclamation, performed to minimize the area exposed to
erosion, at any one time, by nonmetallic mining activities.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Has the meaning in § 295.11(2), Wis. Stats.
A commitment of funds or resources by an operator to a regulatory authority that satisfies the requirements in § 241-14 and is sufficient to pay for reclamation activities required by this chapter.
A vertical or nearly vertical face in solid rock or a slope
of consolidated or unconsolidated material that is steeper than 3:1.
The person who has title to land in fee simple or who holds
a land contract for the land. A landowner is not a person who owns
nonmetallic mineral rights to land if a different person possesses
title to that land in fee simple or holds a land contract for that
land.
A person who is licensed as a professional geologist pursuant
to Chapter 470, Wis. Stats.
Any city, town or village.
A product, commodity or material consisting principally of
naturally occurring, organic or inorganic, nonmetallic, nonrenewable
material. Nonmetallic minerals include, but are not limited to, stone,
sand, gravel, asbestos, beryl, diamond, clay, coal, feldspar, peat,
talc and topsoil.
Includes all of following:
Operations or activities at a nonmetallic mining site for the
extraction from the earth of mineral aggregates or nonmetallic minerals
for sale or use by the operator. Nonmetallic mining includes use of
mining equipment or techniques to remove materials from the in-place
nonmetallic mineral deposit, including drilling and blasting, as well
as associated activities such as excavation, grading and dredging.
Nonmetallic mining does not include removal from the earth of products
or commodities that contain only minor or incidental amounts of nonmetallic
minerals, such as commercial sod, agricultural crops, ornamental or
garden plants, forest products, Christmas trees or plant nursery stock.
Processes carried out at nonmetallic mining sites that are related
to the preparation or processing of the mineral aggregates or nonmetallic
minerals obtained from the nonmetallic mining site. These processes
include, but are not limited to, the stockpiling of materials, blending
mineral aggregates or nonmetallic minerals with other mineral aggregates
or nonmetallic minerals, blasting, grading, crushing, screening, scalping
and dewatering.
The rehabilitation of a nonmetallic mining site to achieve
a land use specified in an approved nonmetallic mining reclamation
plan, including removal or reuse of nonmetallic mining refuse, grading
of the nonmetallic mining site, removal, storage and replacement of
topsoil, stabilization of soil conditions, reestablishment of vegetative
cover, control of surface water and groundwater, prevention of environmental
pollution and, if practicable, the restoration of plant, fish and
wildlife habitat.
Waste soil, rock and mineral, as well as other natural site
material resulting from nonmetallic mining. Nonmetallic mining refuse
does not include marketable by-products resulting directly from or
displaced by the nonmetallic mining.
All contiguous areas of present or proposed mining, subject
to the qualifications in Subsection B.
"Nonmetallic mining site" means the following:
The location where nonmetallic mining is proposed or conducted.
Storage and processing areas that are in or contiguous to areas
excavated for nonmetallic mining.
Areas where nonmetallic mining refuse is deposited.
Areas affected by activities such as the construction or improvement
of private roads or haulage ways for nonmetallic mining.
Areas where grading or regrading is necessary.
Areas where nonmetallic mining reclamation activities are carried
out or structures needed for nonmetallic mining reclamation, such
as topsoil stockpile areas, revegetation test plots, or channels for
surface water diversion, are located.
"Nonmetallic mining site" does not include any of the following
areas:
Those portions of sites listed in Subsection A not used for nonmetallic mining or purposes related to nonmetallic mining after August 1, 2001.
Separate, previously mined areas that are not used for nonmetallic
mineral extraction after August 1, 2001, and are not contiguous to
mine sites, including separate areas that are connected to active
mine sites by public or private roads.
Areas previously mined but used after August 1, 2001, for a
nonmining activity, such as stockpiles of materials used for an industrial
process unrelated to nonmetallic mining.
Any person who is engaged in, or who has applied for a permit
to engage in, nonmetallic mining, whether individually, jointly or
through subsidiaries, agents, employees, contractors or subcontractors.
An individual, owner, operator, corporation, limited liability
company, partnership, association, county, municipality, interstate
agency, state agency or federal agency.
A person who is registered as a professional engineer pursuant
to § 443.04, Wis. Stats.
One of the following:
Pierce County for nonmetallic mine sites located within its
jurisdiction; or
A municipality in which the nonmetallic mining site is located
and which has adopted an applicable reclamation ordinance; or
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, but only if there
is no applicable reclamation ordinance enacted by the municipality
or the county in which the nonmetallic mining site is located.
The replacement or redistribution of topsoil or topsoil substitute
material to all areas where topsoil was actually removed or affected
by nonmetallic mining for the purposes of providing adequate vegetative
cover and stabilization of soil conditions needed to achieve the approved
post-mining land use and as required by the reclamation plan approved
pursuant to this chapter.
Any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant,
water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and
other discarded or salvageable materials, including solid, liquid,
semisolid or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial,
commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community
activities, but does not include solids or dissolved material in domestic
sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows
or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits
under Chapter 283, Wis. Stats., or source material, special nuclear
material or by-product material, as defined in § 254.31(1),
Wis. Stats.
The surface layer of soil which is generally more fertile
than the underlying soil layers, which is the natural medium for plant
growth and which can provide the plant growth, soil stability and
other attributes necessary to meet the success standards approved
in the reclamation plan.
Soil or other unconsolidated material either used alone or
mixed with other beneficial materials and which can provide the plant
growth, site stability and other attributes necessary to meet the
success standards approved in the reclamation plan.
"Unreclaimed acre" or "unreclaimed acres" does not include:
Those areas where reclamation has been completed and certified as reclaimed under § 241-29C.
Those areas previously affected by nonmetallic mining but which
are not used for nonmetallic mining after August 1, 2001.
Those portions of nonmetallic mining sites which are included
in a nonmetallic mining reclamation plan approved pursuant to this
chapter but are not yet affected by nonmetallic mining.
Areas previously mined but used after August 1, 2001, for a
nonmining activity, such as the stockpiling of materials used for
an industrial activity such as an asphalt plant, concrete batch plant,
block and tile operation or other industry that uses products produced
from nonmetallic mining.
