San Bernardino County adopts rewritten surface mining rules as Ordinance No. 4522 on 5-0 vote
Supervisors reopened the hearing Oct. 20, heard 16 speakers and adopted the rewrite of the county's mining and reclamation chapter. They also directed staff to seek an update of a 1992 state-federal agreement on environmental review.
San Bernardino County supervisors on Oct. 20 adopted a rewrite of the county's rules for surface mines and the reclamation of mined land, two months after delaying a decision.
The 5-0 vote repealed and reenacted Chapter 88.03 of the county code as Ordinance No. 4522. Chair Dawn Rowe made the motion and Vice Chair Joe Baca Jr. seconded it, according to the clerk's record of action.
The board reopened the hearing it had closed Aug. 18. The record lists 16 public speakers but does not summarize what they said.
Direction on federal lands
With the vote, supervisors directed the Land Use Services Department to seek an update, in coordination with state agencies, of a 1992 state-federal memorandum of understanding on environmental review. Staff is to report back or fold any resulting revisions into the county's rules.
A county question-and-answer document released before the hearing says that agreement guides how the county coordinates review of mines on federal land with the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Forest Service. The federal agency approves the mining operation, and the county rules on the reclamation plan when it is the lead agency, the document says.
What changed since August
In August the board asked staff for more outreach, answers to public questions and a look at clarifying amendments, the staff report says. The August discussion focused on mining on federal lands, how county and federal reviews fit together, vested rights, reclamation plans and how the public takes part.
Staff then revised the sections on federal lands and financial assurances. Under the revision, federal documents can be used only where they satisfy county requirements, among them the state's environmental review law, the report says.
The report also says a county permit exemption for some federally authorized operations does not excuse them from reclamation plans or financial assurances. The financial assurance changes clarify which funding methods are acceptable and require sign-off from both the county and the state.
According to the report, the ordinance "does not transfer or relinquish County authority to the federal government."
On Sept. 29, the department sent the question-and-answer document and a marked-up draft to earlier commenters. Recipients included Friends of Wonder Valley, the Lone Pine Canyon Protection Alliance, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Morongo Basin Conservation Association.
An Aug. 11 department memo attached to the item responded to joint comments from the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthworks, the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association. The groups had sought changes to the federal lands section, the definition of "permit" and a reference to state exemption rules. The memo recommended against those changes.
Next steps
The board found the ordinance exempt from state environmental review and directed staff to file the related exemption paperwork. The State Mining and Geology Board will also get a copy, as state mining law requires.
The county chapter was last certified by the state in 1999 and amended in 2007, the report says. If a county's ordinance falls out of line with state mining law, the state board can review its compliance and in some cases take over local duties, according to the report.
