This chapter shall be known as the "Nonmetallic Mining Reclamation
Ordinance for Adams County," hereafter 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 Adams County after the effective
date of this chapter, as amended, in compliance with Chapter NR 135,
Wisconsin Administrative Code, and Subchapter I of Chapter 295, Wisconsin
Statutes.
This chapter and its ordinances are adopted under authority
of § 295.13(1), Wis. Stats., § NR 135.32, Wisconsin
Administrative Code, and § 59.51, Wis. Stats.
The purpose of this chapter is to adopt and implement uniform
statewide standards for nonmetallic mining reclamation required by
§ 295.12(1)(a), Wis. Stats., and contained in Chapter NR
135, Wisconsin Administrative Code. This chapter is not intended to
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 not be deemed a limitation or repeal of any other powers
granted by the Wisconsin Statutes outside the reclamation requirements
for nonmetallic mining sites required by Subchapter I of Chapter 295,
Wis. Stats., 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 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.
Should any portion of this chapter or any portion of any of
its ordinances be declared unconstitutional or invalid by a court
of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the chapter or the remaining
portion of any ordinance shall not be affected.
A.
Overall applicability.
(1)
The requirements of this chapter apply to all operators of nonmetallic mining sites within Adams County except as exempted in Adams County Code of Ordinances § 245-7B and for nonmetallic mining sites located in a city, village or town within Adams County that has adopted an ordinance pursuant to § 295.14, Wis. Stats., and § NR 135.32(2), Wisconsin Administrative Code.
(2)
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 a county, 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 § 245-14C.
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 occurs and affects
less than one acre of total affected acreage 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)
Nonmetallic mining operations subject to Wisconsin Department
of Transportation reclamation regulations:
(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)
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) above 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.
C.
Amendments.
(1)
The Adams County Land and Water Conservation Division shall review
this chapter as needed and recommend amendments, if necessary, to
the Adams County Land and Water and UWEX Committee.
(2)
All operators and all unreclaimed areas of all nonmetallic mining
sites and operations which are active subsequent to August 1, 2001,
shall be subject to any and all amendments to this chapter.
The provisions of this chapter shall be administered by the
Adams County Land and Water Conservation Division (LWCD). The LWCD
and UWEX Committee shall have the authority to issue permits and adjust
fees set forth in this chapter from time to time. A majority vote
of the Land and Water and UW Extension Committee shall be required
to make such fee adjustments. No public hearing is required to make
said fee adjustments.
The provisions of this chapter shall take effect upon passage
by the Adams County Board of Supervisors and publication.
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 Adams County pursuant to § 245-18.
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
below. 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 § 245-14 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 exceeds 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.
All of the 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 activities such as excavation,
grading and dredging.
Processes carried out at a nonmetallic mining site 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, stockpiling of materials,
blending mineral aggregates or nonmetallic minerals with other mineral
aggregates or nonmetallic minerals, blasting, grading, crushing, screening,
scalping and dewatering.
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.
The rehabilitation of a nonmetallic mining site to achieve
a land use specified in a nonmetallic mining reclamation plan approved
under this chapter, 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 practical, 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 that are scheduled to be removed
from the nonmetallic mining site within a reasonable period of time
after extraction.
All contiguous areas of present or proposed mining described
in Subsection A of this definition, subject to the qualifications
in Subsection B of this definition.
"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 mine site" does not include any of the following
areas:
Those portions of sites listed in Subsection A of this definition not used for nonmetallic mining or purposes related to nonmetallic mining after August 1, 2001.
Separate, previously mined areas that are not suited 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,
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:
The county in which the nonmetallic mining is located, that
has an applicable reclamation ordinance under § 295.13,
Wis. Stats., except where a municipality has adopted an applicable
reclamation ordinance pursuant to § 295.13(2), Wis. Stats.
The municipality in which the nonmetallic mining site is located
and which has adopted an applicable reclamation ordinance under § 295.14,
Wis. Stats.
The Department, in cases where a county mining reclamation program
is no longer in effect under § 295.14, Wis. Stats., but
only if there is no applicable reclamation ordinance enacted by the
municipality in which the nonmetallic mining site is located.
The replacement or redistribution of 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.
Those unreclaimed areas in which nonmetallic mining has occurred after August 1, 2001, and areas where nonmetallic mining reclamation has been completed but is not yet certified as reclaimed under § 245-29C. However, the term does not include any areas described in Subsection A of this definition.
"Unreclaimed acre/s" does not include:
Those areas where reclamation has been completed and certified as reclaimed under § 245-29C.
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 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.
