18S.40.080 Mining.
The intent of the Mining policies and regulations is to accommodate mining practices while achieving compatibility with other shoreline uses.
A. Applicability. This Section applies to removal of naturally occurring materials from the earth. Associated activities such as processing and transportation shall be subject to the requirements in this Section and PCC 18S.40.050, Commercial, Civic, and Industrial. This Section does not apply where the primary use involves Flood Hazard Management (see PCC 18S.40.060). See Restoration and Enhancement, PCC 18S.40.110, for restoration and enhancement activities.
B. Policies.
1. Locate, design, and manage mining operations so that other legally established uses and development are not subjected to unnecessary adverse impacts such as diminished water quality, flooding, and bank erosion.
2. Avoid adverse impacts to shoreline geomorphic processes, ecological functions, water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, scenic resources.
3. Require mining operations to accomplish the timely restoration of disturbed areas to a biologically productive, semi-natural, or other useful condition through a reclamation process.
4. Provide adequate protection against sediment and silt production when mining operations remove rock, sand, gravel, and minerals from shoreline areas.
5. Ensure that mining does not preclude public recreation of the public shoreline.
C. Regulations.
1. Applications shall be accompanied by operation plans and analysis of environmental impacts.
2. Mining is prohibited waterward of the OHWM and within wetlands.
3. Exploration for, and subsequent mining or extraction of, natural gas or petroleum is prohibited within shorelines.
4. Mining operations shall implement measures such as buffers, limited hours, or other mitigating measures, for the purpose of minimizing adverse proximity impacts.
5. The applicant shall provide documentation prepared by a professional engineer registered in the State of Washington demonstrating that all of the following criteria are met:
a. All pits of each operation shall be located and excavated to a depth so as to function as a self-flushing chain of lakes whenever the pits are overtopped by floods in order to prevent eutrophication and fish entrapment;
b. The entire operation shall be sized and designed so that neither additional bank erosion, catastrophic changes in channel location, nor adverse impact to fish resources or water quality will likely result in the long term;
c. The scale and mode of operation will not have adverse impacts on fish resources, water quality, and recreation resources, nor adversely impact a stream's natural capacity to erode, shift, accrete, and flood;
d. All equipment, works, and structures shall be designed to withstand flooding without becoming a hazard in themselves nor causing adverse effects on the shoreline, without the necessity for shoreline stabilization structures; and
e. Impacts to wetlands or intertidal areas are entirely avoided.