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members from nominations submitted by each of the various constituencies <br /> represented, such as the mining industry, conservation groups, and agriculture. One <br /> Board member represents the Department of Natural Resources and another is <br /> appointed by the State Soil Conservation Board to serve as their representative. <br /> The State Senate must approve the Board members selected by the Governor. <br /> Once appointed, each Board member serves a term of four years. The Board <br /> normally meets for two days every month. <br /> Some of the Board's responsibilities include adoption of Rules and Regulations that <br /> implement the Act, finding violations, setting civil penalties, and determining <br /> corrective actions for operators found in violation, hearings related to disputed <br /> applications, and appeals to decisions made by the Office and Declaratory Order <br /> requests. Hearings for Declaratory Orders are usually requested by individuals <br /> wanting to know if their proposed mineral extraction activity is considered a <br /> mining operation, requiring a MLRB permit. <br /> The Board's jurisdiction does not include land use decisions, visual or economic <br /> impacts, impacts to public roads, noise, and other nuisance and socio-economic <br /> issues. These types of issues are handled by local government and are out side the <br /> jurisdiction of the Board and Office. Issues related to ground water quality are <br /> under the Board's jurisdiction. However, impacts to air quality, surface water <br /> quality, water quantity (water rights issues), impacts to threatened or endangered <br /> animal species, and the protection of historic resources.are regulated by agencies <br /> other than the Board. If you have specific concerns with issues not under the <br /> Board's jurisdiction, the Environmental Protection Specialist (EPS) responsible for <br /> the application under consideration can provide you with the name of a contact in <br /> the responsible agency. <br /> ROLE OF THE OFFICE: <br /> The Office (Mined Land Reclamation Division) serves as staff to the Board where <br /> there is a written objection to a permit application, or an appeal to an Office <br /> decision. The Office is responsible for verifying that the Applicant's application <br /> adequately addresses the requirements of the Act, Rules and Regulations. It is also <br /> the responsibility of the Office to ensure that the administrative process is <br /> explained to all participants and that the process is followed. <br /> The Office also determines the amount of the reclamation bond and conducts <br /> periodic inspections of all permitted mining and exploration operations in the <br /> 2 <br />