§ 1269. — Release of performance bonds or deposits.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 30USC1269]
TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
CHAPTER 25--SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION
SUBCHAPTER V--CONTROL OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF SURFACE COAL
MINING
Sec. 1269. Release of performance bonds or deposits
(a) Filing of request; submittal of copy of advertisement; notification
by letter of intent to seek release
The permittee may file a request with the regulatory authority for
the release of all or part of a performance bond or deposit. Within
thirty days after any application for bond or deposit release has been
filed with the regulatory authority, the operator shall submit a copy of
an advertisement placed at least once a week for four successive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the surface
coal mining operation. Such advertisement shall be considered part of
any bond release application and shall 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, and the type and appropriate dates of reclamation
work performed, and a description of the results achieved as they relate
to the operator's approved reclamation plan. In addition, as part of any
bond release application, the applicant shall submit copies of letters
which he has sent to adjoining property owners, local governmental
bodies, planning agencies, and sewage and water treatment authorities,
or water companies in the locality in which the surface coal mining and
reclamation activities took place, notifying them of his intention to
seek release from the bond.
(b) Inspection and evaluation; notification of decision
Upon receipt of the notification and request, the regulatory
authority shall within thirty days conduct an inspection and evaluation
of the reclamation work involved. Such evaluation shall consider, among
other things, the degree of difficulty to complete any remaining
reclamation, whether pollution of surface and subsurface water is
occurring, the probability of continuance of future occurrence of such
pollution, and the estimated cost of abating such pollution. The
regulatory authority shall notify the permittee in writing of its
decision to release or not to release all or part of the performance
bond or deposit within sixty days from the filing of the request, if no
public hearing is held pursuant to subsection (f) of this section, and
if there has been a public hearing held pursuant to subsection (f) of
this section, within thirty days thereafter.
(c) Requirements for release
The regulatory authority may release in whole or in part said bond
or deposit if the authority is satisfied the reclamation covered by the
bond or deposit or portion thereof has been accomplished as required by
this chapter according to the following schedule:
(1) When the operator completes the backfilling, regrading, and
drainage control of a bonded area in accordance with his approved
reclamation plan, the release of 60 per centum of the bond or
collateral for the applicable permit area.
(2) After revegetation has been established on the regraded
mined lands in accordance with the approved reclamation plan. When
determining the amount of bond to be released after successful
revegetation has been established, the regulatory authority shall
retain that amount of bond for the revegetated area which would be
sufficient for a third party to cover the cost of reestablishing
revegetation and for the period specified for operator
responsibility in section 1265 of this title of reestablishing
revegetation. No part of the bond or deposit shall be released under
this paragraph so 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 set by section
1265(b)(10) of this title or until soil productivity for prime farm
lands 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 performed
pursuant to section 1257(b)(16) of this title. Where a silt dam is
to be retained as a permanent impoundment pursuant to section
1265(b)(8) of this title, the portion of bond may be released under
this paragraph so long as provisions for sound future maintenance by
the operator or the landowner have been made with the regulatory
authority.
(3) When the operator has completed successfully all surface
coal mining and reclamation activities, the release of the remaining
portion of the bond, but not before the expiration of the period
specified for operator responsibility in section 1265 of this title:
Provided, however, That no bond shall be fully released until all
reclamation requirements of this chapter are fully met.
(d) Notice of disapproval
If the regulatory authority disapproves the application for release
of the bond or portion thereof, the authority shall notify the
permittee, in writing, stating the reasons for disapproval and
recommending corrective actions necessary to secure said release and
allowing opportunity for a public hearing.
(e) Notice to municipality
When any application for total or partial bond release is filed with
the regulatory authority, the regulatory authority shall notify the
municipality in which a surface coal mining operation is located by
certified mail at least thirty days prior to the release of all or a
portion of the bond.
(f) Objections to release; hearing
Any person with a valid legal interest which might be adversely
affected by release of the bond or the responsible officer or head of
any Federal, State, or local governmental agency which 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 such
operations shall have the right to file written objections to the
proposed release from bond to the regulatory authority within thirty
days after the last publication of the above notice. If written
objections are filed, and a hearing requested, the regulatory authority
shall inform all the interested parties, of the time and place of the
hearing, and hold a public hearing in the locality of the surface coal
mining operation proposed for bond release within thirty days of the
request for such hearing. The date, time, and location of such public
hearings shall be advertised by the regulatory authority in a newspaper
of general circulation in the locality for two consecutive weeks, and
shall hold a public hearing in the locality of the surface coal mining
operation proposed for bond release or at the State capital at the
option of the objector, within thirty days of the request for such
hearing.
(g) Informal conference
Without prejudice to the rights of the objectors, the applicant, or
the responsibilities of the regulatory authority pursuant to this
section, the regulatory authority may establish an informal conference
as provided in section 1263 of this title to resolve such written
objections.
(h) Power of regulatory authority with respect to informal conference
For the purpose of such hearing the regulatory authority shall have
the authority and is hereby empowered to administer oaths, subpena
witnesses, or written or printed materials, compel the attendance of
witnesses, or production of the materials, and take evidence including
but not limited to inspections of the land affected and other surface
coal mining operations carried on by the applicant in the general
vicinity. A verbatim record of each public hearing required by this
chapter shall be made, and a transcript made available on the motion of
any party or by order of the regulatory authority.
(Pub. L. 95-87, title V, Sec. 519, Aug. 3, 1977, 91 Stat. 501.)
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 1234, 1265, 1279, 1300 of
this title.
