Stream Buffer Zone Rule
When Congress passed the Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement Act in 1977, they made it clear that nothing in the new regulations for mining “shall be construed as superseding, amending, modifying, or repealing” the Clean Water Act or “any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder”. 30 U.S.C. 1292.
The Stream Buffer Zone (SBZ) rule was first enacted in 1979 and modified in 1983. The 1983 rule provided that “[n]o land within 100 feet of a perennial stream or an intermittent stream shall be disturbed by surface mining activities, unless the regulatory authority specifically authorizes surface mining activities closer to, or through, such a stream.” 48 Fed. Reg. at 30,312 (citing 30 C.F.R. § 816.57). The rule further provided that the regulatory authority may authorize such activities only upon finding that surface mining activities will not cause or contribute to violation of applicable State or Federal water quality standards, and will not adversely affect water quantity and qruality or other environmental resources of the stream. Id. at 30,314 (citing 30 C.F.R. § 816.57).
The Bush administration has been trying to change this rule since 2000 when they first proposed a simple change to the definition of “fill” so as to make all mining waste exempt from requirements that mining companies need federal and state permits before dumping fill into the nation's streams. The attempts to re-define fill didn’t work so the administration has since 2004 been proposing to eliminate the SBZ rule. Since mining company rules must be compliant with the CWA when proposing this rule change the Office of Surface of Mining needed the approval of the US EPA in order to finalize a rule change eliminating the SBZ rule.
On December 12, 2008 OSM finalized the rule change and US EPA approved of the change.