(225 ILCS 720/3.07) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 7903.07)
Sec. 3.07.
Prime Farmlands and High Capability Lands.
(a) For all prime
farmlands to be mined and reclaimed, the operator shall, as a minimum,
(1) segregate the A horizon of the natural soil, except where it can be shown
that other available soil materials will create a final soil having a greater
productive capacity, and if not used immediately, stockpile this material
separately from other spoil, and provide needed protection from wind and
water erosion or contamination by other acid or toxic material; (2) segregate
the B horizon of the natural soil, or underlying C horizons or other strata,
or a combination of such horizons or other strata that are shown to be both
texturally and chemically suitable for plant growth and that can be shown
to be equally or more favorable for plant growth than the B horizon, in
sufficient quantities to create in the regarded final soil a root zone of
comparable depth and quality to that which existed in the natural soil,
and if not used immediately, stockpile this material separately from other
spoil, and provide needed protection from wind and water erosion or contamination
by other acid or toxic material; (3) replace and regrade the root zone material
described in (2) above with proper compaction and uniform depth over the
regraded spoil material; and (4) redistribute and grade in a uniform manner
the surface soil horizon described in subparagraph (1) above.
(b) For all high capability lands to be mined and reclaimed, all or part
of the darkened surface soil shall be segregated and replaced as a final
cover as a last step in the required grading. When available in such depth,
at least 18 inches of the darkened surface soil shall be segregated and replaced.
In no case under this subsection shall less than the top 8 inches of surface
soil, darkened or not, be segregated or replaced. This segregation and
replacement requirement may be altered by the Department only if it is determined
on the advice of competent soil scientists that other material available
in the cast overburden would be suitable in meeting the reclamation requirements.
Below the darkened surface soil, the replaced material shall be suitable
as an agricultural root medium. The Department shall determine by rule
what constitutes a suitable agricultural root medium by composition and
depth. This Section does not apply to any land which is subject to a reclamation
plan approved under "The Surface-Mined Land Conservation and Reclamation
Act", approved September 17, 1971, as amended, as in effect on June 30,
1979, or to high capability lands affected by mining operations prior to July 1, 1975.
(c) The term "prime farmland" has the same meaning it has under the Federal
Act. Soil horizons shall be defined by the Department by rule. Such rules
shall be consistent with the Federal Act.
(d) The term "high capability land" means land other than prime farmland
which the Director determines is (1) capable of being reclaimed for row-crop
agricultural purposes and is suitable for row-crop agricultural purposes
based on United
States Soil Conservation Service soil survey classifications of the affected
land prior to mining, and (2) the optimum future use of which is for row-crop
agricultural purposes.
(e) The term "darkened surface soil" shall be defined by the Department by rule.
(f) The requirements of this Section are in addition to the other requirements
of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 81-1015.)
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