Utah § 17-81-101 - Definitions.

Effective 5/6/2026
17-81-101.  Definitions.
     As used in this chapter:

(1)

"Advisory board" means: (a) for an agriculture protection area, the agriculture protection area advisory board created as provided in Section 17-81-102; (b) for an industrial protection area, the industrial protection area advisory board created as provided in Section 17-81-102; and (c) for a critical infrastructure materials protection area, the critical infrastructure materials protection area advisory board created as provided in Section 17-81-102.

(2)	"Agricultural land" means the same as the term "land in agricultural use" is defined in Section 59-2-502.

(3)	"Agricultural operation" means the same as that term is defined in Section 78B-6a-101.

(4)

(a) "Agriculture production" means production for commercial purposes of crops, livestock, and livestock products. (b) "Agriculture production" includes the processing or retail marketing of any crops, livestock, and livestock products when more than 50% of the processed or merchandised products are produced by the farm operator.

(5)	"Agriculture protection area" means a geographic area created under the authority of this chapter that is granted the specific legal protections contained in this chapter.

(6)

"Applicable legislative body" means: (a) with respect to a proposed agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area: (i) the legislative body of the county in which the land proposed to be included in the relevant protection area is located, if the land is within the unincorporated part of the county; or (ii) the legislative body of the city or town in which the land proposed to be included in the relevant protection area is located; and (b) with respect to an existing agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area: (i) the legislative body of the county in which the relevant protection area is located, if the relevant protection area is within the unincorporated part of the county; or (ii) the legislative body of the city or town in which the relevant protection area is located.

(7)	"Board" means the Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining created in Section 40-6-4.

(8)

"Commercial quantities" means critical infrastructure materials: (a) extracted or processed by a commercial enterprise in the ordinary course of business; and (b) in a sufficient amount that the critical infrastructure materials introduction into commerce would create a reasonable expectation of profit.

(9)	"Contiguous land" means surface or subsurface land that shares a common boundary and is not separated by a highway as defined in Section 41-6a-102.

(10)	"Critical infrastructure materials" means sand, gravel, or rock aggregate.

(11)	"Critical infrastructure materials operations" means the extraction, excavation, processing, or reprocessing of critical infrastructure materials.

(12)

"Critical infrastructure materials operator" means a natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, agent, or other organization or representative, either public or private, including a successor, assign, affiliate, subsidiary, and related parent company, that: (a) owns, controls, or manages a critical infrastructure materials operation; and (b) has produced commercial quantities of critical infrastructure materials from the critical infrastructure materials operations.

(13)	"Critical infrastructure materials protection area" means a geographic area created under the authority of this chapter on or after May 14, 2019, that is granted the specific legal protections contained in this chapter.

(14)	"Critical infrastructure materials use" means the extraction, excavation, processing, or reprocessing of critical infrastructure materials.

(15)

"Crops, livestock, and livestock products" includes: (a) land devoted to the raising of useful plants and animals with a reasonable expectation of profit, including: (i) forages and sod crops; (ii) grains and feed crops; (iii) livestock, as that term is defined in Section 59-2-102; (iv) trees and fruits; or (v) vegetables, nursery, floral, and ornamental stock; or (b) land devoted to and meeting the requirements and qualifications for payments or other compensation under a crop-land retirement program with an agency of the state or federal government.

(16)	"Division" means the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining created in Section 40-6-15.

(17)	"Existing legal use" means a critical infrastructure materials use that has operated in accordance with: (a) a legal nonconforming use that has not been abandoned for more than 24 consecutive months; or (b) a permit issued by the applicable political subdivision.

(18)	"Industrial protection area" means a geographic area created under the authority of this chapter that is granted the specific legal protections contained in this chapter.

(19)

"Mine operator" means a natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, agent, or other organization or representative, either public or private, including a successor, assign, affiliate, subsidiary, and related parent company, that, before January 1, 2019: (a) owns, controls, or manages a mining use under a large mine permit issued by the division or the board; and (b) has produced commercial quantities of a mineral deposit from the mining use.

(20)	"Mineral deposit" means the same as that term is defined in Section 40-8-4.

(21)	"Mining protection area" means land where a vested mining use occurs, including each surface or subsurface land or mineral estate that a mine operator with a vested mining use owns or controls on January 1, 2026.

(22)

"Mining use": (a) means: (i) the full range of activities, from prospecting and exploration to reclamation and closure, associated with the exploitation of a mineral deposit; and (ii) the use of the surface and subsurface and groundwater and surface water of an area in connection with the activities described in Subsection (22)(a)(i) that have been, are being, or will be conducted; and (b) includes, whether conducted on-site or off-site: (i) any sampling, staking, surveying, exploration, or development activity; (ii) any drilling, blasting, excavating, or tunneling; (iii) the removal, transport, treatment, deposition, and reclamation of overburden, development rock, tailings, and other waste material; (iv) any removal, transportation, extraction, beneficiation, or processing of ore; (v) any smelting, refining, autoclaving, or other primary or secondary processing operation; (vi) the recovery of any mineral left in residue from a previous extraction or processing operation; (vii) a mining activity that is identified in a work plan or permitting document; (viii) the use, operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, or alteration of a building, structure, facility, equipment, machine, tool, or other material or property that results from or is used in a surface or subsurface mining operation or activity; (ix) any accessory, incidental, or ancillary activity or use, both active and passive, including a utility, private way or road, pipeline, land excavation, working, embankment, pond, gravel excavation, mining waste, conveyor, power line, trackage, storage, reserve, passive use area, buffer zone, and power production facility; (x) the construction of a storage, factory, processing, or maintenance facility; and (xi) an activity described in Subsection 40-8-4(19)(a).

(23)	(a) "Municipal" means of or relating to a city or town. (b) "Municipality" means a city or town.

(24)	"New land" means surface or subsurface land or mineral estate that a mine operator gains ownership or control of, whether that land or mineral estate is included in the mine operator's large mine permit.

(25)	"Off-site" means the same as that term is defined in Section 40-8-4.

(26)	"On-site" means the same as that term is defined in Section 40-8-4.

(27)

(a) "Open land" means land that is: (i) preserved in or restored to a predominantly natural, open, and undeveloped condition; and (ii) used for: (A) wildlife habitat; (B) cultural or recreational use; (C) watershed protection; or (D) another use consistent with the preservation of the land in, or restoration of the land to, a predominantly natural, open, and undeveloped condition. (b) "Open land" includes land described in Subsection (27)(a) that contains facilities, including trails, waterways, and grassy areas, that, in the judgment of the county legislative body: (i) enhance the natural, scenic, or aesthetic qualities of the land; or (ii) facilitate the public's access to, or use of, the land for the enjoyment of the land's natural, scenic, or aesthetic qualities and for compatible recreational activities. (c) "Open land" does not include land whose predominant use is as a developed facility for active recreational activities played on fields or courses, including baseball, tennis, soccer, golf, or other sporting or similar activities.

(28)

"Planning commission" means: (a) a countywide planning commission if the land proposed to be included in the agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area is within the unincorporated part of the county and not within a planning advisory area; (b) a planning advisory area planning commission if the land proposed to be included in the agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area is within a planning advisory area; or (c) a planning commission of a city or town if the land proposed to be included in the agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area is within a city or town.

(29)	"Political subdivision" means a county, city, town, school district, special district, or special service district.

(30)	"Proposal sponsors" means the owners of land in agricultural production, industrial use, or critical infrastructure materials operations who are sponsoring the proposal for creating an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area.

(31)	"Public land county" means a county in which over 50% of the land area is publicly owned.

(32)	"Rollback tax funds" means the rollback taxes or in lieu fee payments paid to a county in accordance with Sections 59-2-506, 59-2-511, 59-2-1705, and 59-2-1710.

(33)	"State agency" means each department, commission, board, council, agency, institution, officer, corporation, fund, division, office, committee, authority, laboratory, library, unit, bureau, panel, or other administrative unit of the state.

(34)	"Unincorporated" means not within a city or town.

(35)	"Vested critical infrastructure materials use" means a critical infrastructure materials operations use by a critical infrastructure materials operator that is an existing legal use.

(36)	"Vested mining use" means a mining use: (a) by a mine operator; and (b) that existed or was conducted or otherwise engaged in before a political subdivision prohibits, restricts, or otherwise limits a mining use.

Amended by Chapter 401, 2026 General Session