1672                                        LAWS OF MARYLAND                                    Ch. 461

fishing. The Department may adopt rules and regulations governing
use of gill nets fished under the provisions of this section in
any of the waters of the State, restricting the use of gill nets
in any waters deemed necessary for conservation purposes, and
regulating the quantities of any species of fish caught by gill
nets.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall

take effect July 1, 1986.
Approved May 13, 1986.

CHAPTER 461

(House Bill 540)

AN ACT concerning

Strip Mining of Coal

FOR the purpose of requiring a licensed coal operator to notify

the Department of Natural Resources of any change in
ownership or control officers, directors, principal owners,
or resident agents of the operator; authorizing the
Department to suspend or not renew an operator's license if
the operator fails to take certain actions ordered by the
Department; repealing the requirement that the State obtain
the written consent of the landowner to enter on land
affected by strip mining; requiring an applicant for a strip
mining permit to furnish certain documents as evidence of

both the landowner's and surface owner's consent to strip
mining and reclamation; providing for the Department and its
authorized agents a right of entry, without notice, to
open-pit mining or prospecting operations and to premises
where certain records are located; authorizing the
Department to inspect certain equipment or methods of
operation; repealing certain consent and notice requirements
for the Department to enter certain private property not
otherwise accessible from a public road; authorizing the
Department to enter on private property for access to and
reclamation of any open-pit mining or prospecting operation;
requiring the Department to secure the consent of the
property owner or a judicial order under certain conditions;
providing that a public hearing is discretionary, rather
than mandatory, for permit applications for certain small
open-pit mining operations; and generally relating to
regulation of the strip mining of coal and reclamation of
strip mined areas.

BY renumbering