This chapter does not apply to any of the following activities: (a) Excavations or grading of lands conducted for farming. (b) Onsite excavation and onsite earthmoving activities that are integral and necessary for the construction of structures and that are undertaken to prepare a site for the construction of those structures, including landscaping or other land improvements associated with those structures, including the related excavation, grading, compaction, or the creation of fills, road cuts, and embankments, whether or not surplus materials are exported from the site, subject to all of the following conditions: (1) All required permits for the construction and any associated landscaping or related land improvements have been approved by a public agency in accordance with applicable provisions of state law and locally adopted plans and ordinances, including, but not limited to, the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)). (2) The lead agencyâs approval of the construction project included consideration of the onsite excavation and onsite earthmoving activities pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)). (3) The approved construction project is consistent with the general plan or zoning of the site. (4) Surplus materials shall not be exported from the site unless and until actual construction work has commenced and shall cease if it is determined that construction activities have terminated, have been indefinitely suspended, or are no longer being actively pursued. (c) Operation of a plant site used for mineral processing, including associated onsite structures, equipment, machines, tools, or other materials, including the onsite stockpiling and onsite recovery of mined materials, subject to all of the following conditions: (1) The plant site is located on lands designated for industrial or commercial uses in the applicable county or city general plan. (2) The plant site is located on lands zoned as industrial or commercial or are contained within a zoning category intended exclusively for industrial activities by the applicable city or county. (3) None of the minerals being processed are being extracted onsite. (4) All reclamation work has been completed pursuant to the approved reclamation plan for any mineral extraction activities that occurred onsite after January 1, 1976. (d) Prospecting for or the extraction of minerals for commercial purposes where the removal of overburden or mineral product totals less than 1,000 cubic yards in any one location and the total surface area disturbed is less than one acre. (e) Surface mining operations that are required by federal law in order to protect a mining claim, if those operations are conducted solely for that purpose. (f) Any other surface mining operations that the board determines to be of an infrequent nature and that involve only minor surface disturbances. (g) The solar evaporation of seawater or bay water for the production of salt and related minerals. (h) Emergency excavations or grading conducted by the Department of Water Resources or the Central Valley Flood Protection Board for the purpose of averting, alleviating, repairing, or restoring damage to property due to imminent or recent floods, disasters, or other emergencies. (i) (1) Surface mining operations conducted on lands owned or leased, or upon which easements or rights-of-way have been obtained, by the Department of Water Resources for the purpose of the State Water Resources Development System or flood control, and surface mining operations on lands owned or leased, or upon which easements or rights-of-way have been obtained, by the Central Valley Flood Protection Board for the purpose of flood control, if the Department of Water Resources adopts, after submission to and consultation with, the Division of Mine Reclamation, a reclamation plan for lands affected by these activities, and those lands are rec
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