Indiana Department of Natural Resources v. Krantz Bros. Construction Corp.

BAKER, Judge.

In 1980, the State of Indiana, to avoid federal assertion of control over Indiana's surface coal mining industry and the environmental management of that industry, enacted the Indiana Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act (the Reclamation Act). 2 Among the Reclamation Act's other requirements, coal mine operators must obtain permits to engage in surface coal mining and pay fees for the reclamation of land affected by their mining activities. There is an exemption from the permit and fee requirements, however, for "the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of other…