HB 4294 Summary

• Amends the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to add exemption (q) for excavation or mining activities associated with active mining operations that do not create inland lakes exceeding 5 acres in surface area.

• Permits mining activities to proceed without a state permit if pumping or other artificial means successfully prevent any created water body from reaching or exceeding 5 acres.

• Requires a permit only if preventive pumping or other measures fail to maintain a created body of water below the 5-acre threshold.

• Makes technical corrections to existing permit exemptions, including updates to federal citation references for the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act and clarification of standards for livestock stream access.

• Expands definition of activities exempt from permitting to include raking of lake bottomlands by riparian owners using nonmechanized tools.