Unless specifically defined below, words and
phrases used in this chapter shall have the same meaning as they have
in common law and to give this chapter its most reasonable application.
This section is intended to clarify word usage and not to establish
standards for this chapter. Words used in the present tense include
the future; the singular number includes the plural, and the plural
number includes the singular. The word "may" is permissive, and the
word "shall" is mandatory and not discretionary. For terms not found
in this section, other sources may be utilized to establish an applicable
definition. Certain words and phrases have different meanings when
used in different ordinances. Refer to specific ordinances for word
usage and definition.
An alternative to the reclamation standards of this chapter
provided through a written authorization granted by Green Lake County.
A nonmetallic mining reclamation ordinance, including this chapter, that applies to a particular nonmetallic mining site and complies with the requirements of Ch. NR 135, Wis. Adm. Code, and Subchapter I of Ch. 295, Wis. Stats., unless the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is the regulatory authority. If the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is the regulatory authority, "applicable reclamation ordinance" means the relevant and applicable provisions of Ch. NR 135, Wis. Adm. 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 and is sufficient to pay
for reclamation activities required by this chapter.
The 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.
An individual person who is licensed as a professional geologist
pursuant to Ch. 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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, 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:
A county in which the nonmetallic mining site 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 Subsection B below.
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 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 Ch. 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 § 232-31. However the term does not include any areas described in Subsection B below.
"Unreclaimed acre" or "unreclaimed acres" does
not include:
Those areas where reclamation has been completed and certified as reclaimed under § 323-31.
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 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.
