One of the latest energy-related bills to be signed into law declares a moratorium on new permits for mining in Oklahoma.
House Bill 2471 was signed into law on Monday by Gov. Kevin Stitt.
The measure creates an indefinite moratorium on the issuance of any new permits for mines that “overlies a sensitive sole source groundwater basin or subbasin.”
The law will take effect November 1, 2019 and created the moratorium on the Department of Environmental Quality permitting of any discharge from a subject mine to streams fed or supported by water emanating from the sensitive sole source ground basins.
Under the law, the DEQ will be required to draw up final rules and the coordination with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and the Department of Mines.
HB 2471 received a 93-0 vote in the House earlier this month. In the Senate, the vote was 39-6.