(a) This source category consists of active underground coal mines, and any underground mines under development that have operational pre-mining degasification systems. An underground coal mine is a mine at which coal is produced by tunneling into the earth to the coalbed, which is then mined with underground mining equipment such as cutting machines and continuous, longwall, and shortwall mining machines, and transported to the surface. Underground coal mines are categorized as active if any one of the following five conditions apply:
(1) Mine development is underway.
(2) Coal has been produced within the last 90 days.
(3) Mine personnel are present in the mine workings.
(4) Mine ventilation fans are operative.
(5) The mine is designated as an ”intermittent” mine by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
(b) This source category includes the following:
(1) Each ventilation system shaft or vent hole, including both those points where mine ventilation air is emitted and those where it is sold, used onsite, or otherwise destroyed (including by ventilation air methane (VAM) oxidizers).
(2) Each degasification system well or gob gas vent hole, including degasification systems deployed before, during, or after mining operations are conducted in a mine area. This includes both those wells and vent holes where coal bed gas is emitted, and those where the gas is sold, used onsite, or otherwise destroyed (including by flaring).
(c) This source category does not include abandoned or closed mines, surface coal mines, or post-coal mining activities (e.g., storage or transportation of coal).
[74 FR 56374, Oct. 30, 2009, as amended at 78 FR 71966, Nov. 29, 2013]