Pennsylvania Act 1921-445 — MINING, ANTHRACITE COAL

Act text

MINING, ANTHRACITE COAL
                 Act of May 27, 1921, P.L. 1198, No. 445              Cl. 52
                                  AN ACT

     Regulating the mining of anthracite coal; prescribing duties for
        certain municipal officers; and imposing penalties.

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That it shall be unlawful for
     any owner, operator, director, or general manager,
     superintendent, or other person in charge of, or having
     supervision over, any anthracite coal mine or mining operation,
     so to mine anthracite coal or so to conduct the operation of
     mining anthracite coal as to cause the caving-in, collapse, or
     subsidence of--
        (a)  Any public building or any structure customarily used by
     the public as a place of resort, assemblage, or amusement,
     including, but not being limited to, churches, schools,
     hospitals, theatres, hotels, and railroad stations.
        (b)  Any street, road, bridge, or other public passage-way,
     dedicated to public use or habitually used by the public.
        (c)  Any track, roadbed, right of way, pipe, conduit, wire,
     or other facility, used in the service of the public by any
     municipal corporation or public service company as defined by
     the Public Service Company Law.
        (d)  Any dwelling or other structure used as a human
     habitation, or any factory, store, or other industrial or
     mercantile establishment in which human labor is employed.
        (e)  Any cemetery or public burial ground.
        Section 2.  Every owner, operator, lessor, lessee, or general
     contractor, engaged in the mining anthracite coal within this
     Commonwealth, shall make, or cause to be made, a true and
     accurate map or plan of the workings or excavations of such coal
     mine or colliery, which shall be drawn to a scale of such size
     as to show conveniently and legibly all markings and numbers
     required to be placed thereon by the terms of this act. Such
     maps or plans shall also show, in detail and in markings of a
     distinctive color, all contemplated workings which are intended
     to be undertaken or developed within the succeeding six months.
     Such maps or plans shall be deposited, as often as once in six
     months, with the mayor in cities where such coal mines or
     collieries are situated. In boroughs and townships of the first
     class, such maps or plans shall be filed with the county
     commissioners of the proper county. Such maps or plans shall be
     considered public records, and shall be open to the inspection
     of the public, and copies or tracings may be made therefrom. No
     mining shall be done which is not shown on the map or plan filed
     at least ten days previously.
        Section 3.  Every owner, operator, lessor, lessee, or general
     contractor, engaged in the mining of anthracite coal, or any
     president, director, general manager, superintendent, or other
     person in charge of, or having supervision over, any anthracite
     coal mine or mining operation in this Commonwealth, shall be,
     and is hereby, required: (a) To designate, within a period of
     six months from the passage of this act, and to keep designated
     by number, each and every pillar of anthracite coal beneath the
     surface still remaining in place at the time this act goes into
     effect and all pillars thereafter created, the number of each
     pillar to be placed in a conspicuous position with white paint
     or some other equally durable and visible substance; and (b) to
     designate, or cause to be designated, by numerals of convenient
     and legible size, upon all mine maps or plans mentioned in
     section two of this act, with the space on each map or plan
     designating any pillar of coal, the number of such pillar.
        Section 4.  The mayor of cities, the burgess of boroughs, the
     boards of township commissioners of townships of the first
     class, and such engineers and other agents as they may employ,
     shall, at all reasonable times, be given access to any portion
     of any anthracite coal mines or mining operations which it may
     be necessary or proper to inspect, for the purpose of
     determining whether the provisions of this act are being
     complied with, and all reasonable facilities shall be extended
     by the owner or operator of such mine or mining operation for
     ingress, egress, and inspection.
        Section 5.  The mayor of cities, the burgess in boroughs, the
     board of township commissioners in townships of the first class,
     shall have the power to prevent the mining of anthracite coal
     beneath the surface in any mine or mining operation in which the
     pillars of coal shall not have been numbered and the numbers
     thereof designated by maps or tracings as provided by this act;
     and where mining operations are being conducted in violation of
     this act, they shall have the power to prevent any miner or
     laborer, other than those necessary for the protection of life
     and property, from entering the mine or mining operation, until
     such time as the provisions of this act have been complied with.
        Section 6.  The provisions of this act shall not apply to
     townships of the second class, nor to any area wherein the
     surface overlying the mine or mining operation is wild or
     unseated land, nor where such surface is owned by the owner or
     operator of the underlying coal and is distant more than one
     hundred and fifty feet from any improved property belonging to
     any other person.
        Section 7.  Any owner, operator, lessor, lessee, or general
     contractor, engaged in the mining of anthracite coal, or any
     president, director, general manager, superintendent or other
     person in charge of, or having supervision over, any anthracite
     coal mine or mining operation, who shall violate any provision
     of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
     conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than
     five thousand dollars, or undergo imprisonment for not more than
     one year, both or either, at the discretion of the court.
        Section 8.  The courts of common pleas shall have power to
     award injunction to restrain violations of this act.
        Section 9.  This act is intended as remedial legislation,
     designed to cure existing evils and abuses, and each and every
     provision thereof is intended to receive a liberal construction
     such as will best effectuate that purpose, and no provisions is
     intended to receive a strict or limited construction.
        Section 10.  It is hereby declared that the provisions of
     this act are severable one from another, and if, for any reason,
     this act shall be judicially declared and determined to be
     unconstitutional so far as relate to one or more words, phrases,
     clauses, sentences, paragraphs, or section thereof, such
     judicial determination shall not affect any other provision of
     this act. It is hereby declared that the remaining provisions
     would have been enacted notwithstanding such judicial
     determination of the validity in any respect of one or more of
     the provisions of this act.
        Section 11.  This act shall go into effect three calendar
     months after its final approval.