The Florida Senate

378.021  Master reclamation plan.--

(1)  The ¹Department of Natural Resources shall adopt by rule, as expeditiously as possible upon receipt of the report of the Land Use Advisory Committee, a master reclamation plan to provide guidelines for the reclamation of lands mined or disturbed by the severance of phosphate rock prior to July 1, 1975, which lands are not subject to mandatory reclamation under part II of chapter 211. In developing said master reclamation plan, the ¹Department of Natural Resources shall conduct an onsite evaluation of all lands mined or disturbed by the severance of phosphate rock prior to July 1, 1975, which lands are not subject to mandatory reclamation under part II of chapter 211, and shall consider the report and plan prepared by the Land Use Advisory Committee under s. 378.011 The master reclamation plan adopted by the ¹Department of Natural Resources shall be consistent with local government plans prepared pursuant to the Local Government Comprehensive Planning and Land Development Regulation Act.

(2)  The master reclamation plan shall identify which of the lands mined or disturbed by the severance of phosphate rock prior to July 1, 1975, meet the following criteria:

(a)  The quality of surface waters leaving the land does not meet applicable water quality standards, if any; or, health and safety hazards exist on the land; or, the soil has not stabilized and revegetated; or, the remaining natural resources associated with the land are not being conserved;

(b)  The environmental or economic utility or aesthetic value of the land would not naturally return within a reasonable time, and reclamation would substantially promote the environmental or economic utility or the aesthetic value of the land; and

(c)  The reclamation of the land is in the public interest because the reclamation, when combined with other reclamation under the master plan, would provide a substantial regional benefit.

(3)  Lands evaluated by the department under subsection (1) which meet the criteria set forth in subsection (2) shall be identified with specificity in the master reclamation plan. Lands evaluated by the department under subsection (1) which do not meet the criteria set forth in subsection (2) shall also be identified with specificity in the master reclamation plan as lands which are acceptable in their present form.

(4)  Upon adoption of the master reclamation plan as a rule, such plan shall provide the guidelines for approval of reclamation programs for lands covered in the plan, recognizing that reclamation of such lands is not mandatory, but that any payment of costs expended for reclamation paid under s. 378.031 shall be contingent upon conformity with the guidelines set forth in the master reclamation plan.

History.--s. 4, ch. 78-136; s. 32, ch. 85-55.

¹Note.--Section 3, ch. 93-213, transferred all existing legal authorities and actions of the Department of Environmental Regulation and the Department of Natural Resources to the Department of Environmental Protection.