Establish mine water Replacement.

Some mining operations construct impermeable areas that capture precipitation and eliminate preexisting natural evapotranspiration. Current law requires that the portion of the captured precipitation that historically reached the stream must be replaced to prevent injury to senior water rights. Current law does not give the mine operator any credit for this reduction in evapotranspiration when calculating the obligation to replace stream depletions unless it is a sand and gravel mine.
The bill specifies that for all permitted mining operations, there will be no requirement to replace the amount of historic natural depletion to the waters of the state that was caused by the preexisting natural evapotranspiration on the surface of an area that will be or that has been eliminated or made impermeable.