82-4-232. Area mining required -- bond -- alternative plan. (1) Area strip mining, a method of operation that does not produce a bench or fill bench, is required where strip mining is proposed. All highwalls must be reduced and the steepest slope of the reduced highwall may be no greater than 20 degrees from the horizontal. Highwall reduction must be commenced at or beyond the top of the highwall and sloped to the graded spoil bank. Reduction, backfilling, and grading must eliminate all highwalls and spoil peaks. The area of land affected must be restored to the approximate original contour of the land. When directed by the department, the operator shall construct in the final grading diversion ditches, depressions, or terraces that will accumulate or control the water runoff. Additional restoration work may be required by the department according to rules adopted by the board.
     (2) In addition to the backfilling and grading requirements, the operator's method of operation on steep slopes may be regulated and controlled according to rules adopted by the board. These rules may require any measure to accomplish the purpose of this part.
     (3) For coal mining on prime farmlands, the board shall establish by rule specifications for soil removal, storage, replacement, and reconstruction, and the operator must as a minimum be required to:
     (a) segregate the A horizon of the natural soil, except where it can be shown that other available soil materials will create a final soil having a greater productive capacity; and if not used immediately, stockpile this material separately from other spoil and provide needed protection from wind and water erosion or contamination by other acid or toxic material;
     (b) segregate the B horizon of the natural soil, or underlying C horizon or other strata, or a combination of such horizons or other strata that are shown to be both texturally and chemically suitable for plant growth and that can be shown to be equally or more favorable for plant growth than the B horizon in sufficient quantities to create in the regraded final soil a root zone of comparable depth and quality to that which existed in the natural soil; and if not used immediately, stockpile this material separately from other spoil and provide needed protection from wind and water erosion or contamination by acid or toxic material;
     (c) replace and regrade the root zone material described in subsection (3)(b) with proper compaction and uniform depth over the regraded spoil material; and
     (d) redistribute and grade in a uniform manner the surface soil horizon described in subsection (3)(a).
     (4) All available topsoil must be removed in a separate layer, guarded from erosion and pollution, and kept in such a condition that it can sustain vegetation of at least the quality and variety it sustained prior to removal, provided that the operator shall accord substantially the same treatment to any subsurface deposit of material that is capable, as determined by the department, of supporting surface vegetation virtually as well as the present topsoil. After the operation has been backfilled and graded, the topsoil or the best available subsurface deposit of material that is best able to support vegetation must be returned as the top layer.
     (5) As determined by rules of the board, time limits must be established requiring backfilling, grading, subsidence stabilization, water control, highwall reduction, topsoiling, planting, and revegetation to be kept current. All backfilling, subsidence stabilization, sealing, grading, and topsoiling must be completed before necessary equipment is moved from the operation.
     (6) (a) The permittee may file a request with the department for the release of all or part of a performance bond or deposit. Within 30 days after any application for bond or deposit release has been filed with the department, the permittee shall submit a copy of an advertisement notice placed at least once a week for 4 successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the prospecting or mining operation. The notice is considered part of any bond release application and must contain a notification of the precise location of the land affected, the number of acres, the permit and the date approved, the amount of the bond filed and the portion sought to be released, the type and appropriate dates of reclamation work performed, and a description of the results achieved as they relate to the permittee's approved reclamation plan. In addition, as part of any bond release application, the permittee shall submit copies of letters that the permittee has sent to adjoining property owners, local governmental bodies, planning agencies, and sewage and water treatment authorities or water companies in the locality of the operation, notifying them of the permittee's intention to seek release from the bond.
     (b) Upon receipt of the request and copies of the notification made under subsection (6)(a), the department shall, within 30 days, conduct an inspection and evaluation of the reclamation work involved. In the evaluation, the department shall consider, among other things, the degree of difficulty in completing any remaining reclamation, whether pollution of surface and subsurface water is occurring, the probability of continuance or future occurrence of the pollution, and the estimated cost of abating the pollution. The department shall notify the permittee in writing of its decision to release or not to release all or part of the performance bond within 60 days of the filing of the request if no public hearing is held pursuant to subsection (6)(f) or, if a public hearing is held pursuant to that subsection, within 30 days after the hearing.
     (c) The department may release the bond or deposit in whole or in part if it is satisfied the reclamation covered by the bond or deposit or portion of the bond or deposit has been accomplished as required by this part according to the following schedule:
     (i) When the permittee completes the plugging, backfilling, regrading, and drainage control of a bonded area in accordance with the approved reclamation plan, the department shall release 60% of the bond or collateral for the applicable permit area.
     (ii) After revegetation has been established on the regraded lands in accordance with the approved reclamation plan, the department shall, for the period specified for operator responsibility of reestablishing revegetation, retain that amount of bond for the revegetated area that would be sufficient for a third party to cover the cost of reestablishing revegetation. Whenever a silt dam is to be retained as a permanent impoundment, the portion of bond may be released under this subsection (6)(c)(ii) if provisions for sound future maintenance by the operator or the landowner have been made with the department. No part of the bond or deposit may be released under this subsection (6)(c)(ii):
     (A) as long as the lands to which the release would be applicable are contributing suspended solids to streamflow or runoff outside the permit area in excess of the requirements of 82-4-231(10)(k); or
     (B) before soil productivity for prime farm lands to which the release would be applicable has returned to equivalent levels of yield as nonmined land of the same soil type in the surrounding area under equivalent management practices, as determined from the soil survey.
     (iii) When the permittee has successfully completed all prospecting, mining, and reclamation activities, the department shall release the remaining portion of the bond, but not before the expiration of the period specified for responsibility and not until all reclamation requirements of this part are fully met.
     (d) If the department disapproves the application for release of the bond or a portion of the bond, it shall notify the permittee, in writing, stating the reasons for disapproval and recommending corrective actions necessary to secure the release and allowing opportunity for a public hearing.
     (e) When an application for total or partial bond release is filed with the department, it shall notify the municipality in which a prospecting or mining operation is located by certified mail at least 30 days prior to the release of all or a portion of the bond.
     (f) Any person with a valid legal interest that might be adversely affected by release of the bond or the responsible officer or head of any federal, state, or local governmental agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental, social, or economic impact involved in the operation or is authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards with respect to the operations has the right to file written objections to the proposed release from bond to the department within 30 days after the last publication of the notice provided for in subsection (6)(a). If written objections are filed and a hearing is requested, the department shall inform all the interested parties of the time and place of the hearing and, within 30 days of the request for the hearing, hold a public hearing in the locality of the operation proposed for bond release. The date, time, and location of the public hearing must be advertised by the department in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality for 2 consecutive weeks, and the hearing must be held in the locality of the operation proposed for bond release or at the state capital, at the option of the objector, within 30 days of the request for the hearing.
     (g) Without prejudice to the rights of the objectors or the permittee or the responsibilities of the department pursuant to this section, the department may establish an informal conference to resolve written objections.
     (h) For the purpose of the hearing under subsection (6)(f), the department may administer oaths; subpoena witnesses or written or printed materials; compel the attendance of witnesses or the production of materials; and take evidence, including but not limited to site inspections of the land affected and other operations carried on by the permittee in the general vicinity. A verbatim record of each public hearing required by this section must be made, and a transcript must be made available on the motion of any party or by order of the department.
     (7) An operator may propose alternative plans other than backfilling, grading, highwall reduction, topsoiling, or seeding to a permanent diverse vegetative cover if the restoration will be consistent with the purpose of this part. These plans must be submitted to the department, and after consultation with the landowner, if the plans are approved by the department and complied with within the time limits determined by the department as being reasonable for carrying out the plans, the backfilling, grading, highwall reduction, topsoiling, or revegetation requirements of this part may be modified by the department. An operator who proposes alternative plans that will affect an existing permit shall comply with the notice requirement of 82-4-222(1)(l).
     (8) If alternate revegetation is proposed, a management plan must be submitted showing how the area will be used and any data necessary to show that the alternate postmining land use can be achieved. Any plan must require the operation at a minimum to:
     (a) restore the land affected to a condition capable of supporting the use that it was capable of supporting prior to any mining operation or to a higher or better use of which there is a reasonable likelihood, if the use or uses do not present any actual or probable threat of water diminution or pollution, and if the permit applicant's proposed land use following reclamation is not determined to be impractical, unreasonable, or inconsistent with applicable land use policies and plans, would not involve unreasonable delay in implementation, and would not violate federal, state, or local law; and
     (b) prevent soil erosion to the extent achieved prior to mining.

     History: En. Sec. 11, Ch. 325, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 23, Ch. 441, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 352, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 50-1044; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 172, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 12, Ch. 550, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 288, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 143, Ch. 370, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 374, Ch. 418, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 292, Ch. 42, L. 1997.