Pennsylvania § 3232 - Reporting requirements for coal mining operations.

§ 3232. Reporting requirements for coal mining operations.

(a) General rule.--A person owning or operating a coal mine shall file with the department a map prepared and sealed by a competent individual licensed as a professional engineer or professional land surveyor under the provisions of the act of May 23, 1945 (P.L.913, No.367), known as the Engineer, Land Surveyor and Geologist Registration Law, showing the outside coal boundaries of the operating coal mine, the existing workings and exhausted areas and the relationship of the boundaries to identifiable surface properties and landmarks. A person owning or operating an operating coal mine which has been penetrated by a well shall furnish a mine map to the department each year indicating the excavations for the preceding year and the projections for the ensuing year. The map required by this subsection shall be furnished to a person storing or contemplating the storage of gas in the vicinity of operating coal mines, upon written request, by the coal operator, and the person and the department shall thereafter be informed of any boundary changes at the time the changes occur. The department shall keep a record of the information and promptly notify the coal operator and storage operator when notified by them that the coal mine and the storage reservoir are within 10,000 linear feet of each other.

(b) Mines near certain reservoirs.--A person owning or operating any coal mine which is or which comes within 10,000 linear feet of a storage reservoir and where the coal seam being operated extends over the storage reservoir or reservoir protective area shall, within 45 days after receiving notice from the storage operator of that fact, file with the department and furnish to the person operating the storage reservoir a map in the form required by subsection (a) showing, in addition to the requirements of subsection (a), existing and projected excavations and workings of the operating coal mine for the ensuing 18-month period and the location of oil or gas wells of which the coal operator has knowledge. The person owning or operating the coal mine shall, each six months thereafter, file with the department and furnish to the person operating the storage reservoir a revised map showing any additional excavations and workings, together with the projected excavations and workings for the then ensuing 18-month period, which may be within 10,000 linear feet of the storage reservoir. The department may require a coal operator to file revised maps at more frequent intervals if material changes have occurred justifying earlier filing. The person owning or operating the coal mine shall also file with the department and furnish the person operating the reservoir prompt notice of any wells which have been cut into, together with all available pertinent information.

(c) Mines near gas storage reservoirs.--A person owning or operating a coal mine who has knowledge that it overlies or is within 2,000 linear feet of a gas storage reservoir shall, within 30 days, notify the department and the storage operator of that fact.

(d) Mines projected to be near storage reservoirs.--When a person owning or operating a coal mine expects that, within the ensuing nine-month period, the coal mine will be extended to a point which will be within 2,000 linear feet of any storage reservoir, the person shall notify the department and storage operator in writing of that fact.

(e) New mines.--A person intending to establish or reestablish an operating coal mine which will be over a storage reservoir or within 2,000 linear feet of a storage reservoir or may, within nine months thereafter, be expected to be within 2,000 linear feet of a storage reservoir shall immediately notify the department and storage operator in writing. Notice shall include the date on which the person intends to establish or reestablish the operating coal mine.

(f) Misdemeanor.--A person who serves notice as required by this subsection of an intention to establish or reestablish an operating coal mine, without intending in good faith to establish or reestablish the mine, is liable for continuing damages to a storage operator injured by the improper notice and commits a misdemeanor subject to the penalties of section 3255 (relating to penalties).

Cross References. Section 3232 is referred to in section 3234 of this title.