Section 59-8-115 - Request for release of all or part of performance bond or deposit(a) A permittee may file with the commissioner a request for the release of all or part of a performance bond or deposit.(b)(1) Within thirty (30) days after an application for bond or deposit release has been initiated and filed with the commissioner, the permittee shall submit a copy of an advertisement placed at least once a week for four (4) successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the surface coal mining operation. The advertisement is 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 number and the date that the permit was approved, the amount of the bond filed and the portion of the bond sought to be released, the type and appropriate dates of reclamation work performed, and a description of the results achieved as the results relate to the operator's approved plan.(2) In addition, as part of any bond release application, the bond release applicant shall submit copies of letters that the bond release applicant has sent to adjoining landowners, local government 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 the bond release applicant's intention to seek release from the bond.(c) Upon receipt of any notification and request under this section, the commissioner shall, within thirty (30) days, inspect and evaluate the reclamation work involved. The evaluation shall consider, but not be limited to, the degree of difficulty to complete any remaining reclamation, whether pollution of surface or subsurface water is occurring, the probability of continuation of the pollution, and the estimated cost of abating the pollution. The commissioner shall notify the permittee in writing of the commissioner's decision to release or not to release all or part of the performance bond or deposit within sixty (60) days from the filing of the request, if no public hearing is held pursuant to subsection (h), and if a public hearing is held pursuant to subsection (h), within thirty (30) days after the hearing date.(d) The commissioner may release all or part of the bond or deposit when the commissioner is satisfied that 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: (1) When the operator completes the backfilling, regrading, and drainage control of a bonded area in accordance with the operator's approved reclamation plan up to sixty percent (60%) of the bond or deposit for the applicable permit area may be released but the amount of the unreleased portion of the bond or deposit shall not be less than the amount necessary to assure completion of the reclamation work by a third party in the event of default by the operator;(2) After revegetation has been established on the regraded mined lands in accordance with the approved reclamation plan, the commissioner, when determining the amount of bond to be released after successful revegetation has been established, 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 § 59-8-110 of reestablishing revegetation. No part of the bond or deposit shall be released under this subdivision (d)(2) 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 § 59-8-110(b)(10), or until soil productivity for prime farmlands 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 § 59-8-106. Where an impoundment, including but not limited to a silt dam, is to be retained permanently pursuant to § 59-8-110(b)(8), the portion of bond may be released under this subdivision (d)(2) so long as provisions for sound future maintenance by the operator or the landowner have been made with the commissioner;(3) When the operator has completed successfully all surface coal mining and reclamation activities, the remaining portion of the bond or other collateral may be released, but not before the expiration of the period specified for operator responsibility in § 59-8-110. No bond shall be fully released until all reclamation requirements of this part are fully met.(e) The permittee shall not be denied access to the mining site for the purposes of completing or maintaining reclamation work because of the expiration of the permittee's lease, until the permittee's entire performance bond has been released.(f) If the commissioner disapproves the application for release of all or part of the bond, the commissioner shall notify the permittee in writing, stating the reasons for disapproval and recommending specific corrective actions necessary to secure the release, and allowing opportunity for a public hearing.(g) When any application for total or partial bond release is filed with the commissioner, the commissioner shall notify the municipality in which the surface coal mining and reclamation operation is located by certified mail at least thirty (30) days prior to the release of all or a portion of the bond.(h) Any person with a valid legal interest, which might be adversely affected by release of all or a portion 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 such operations, has the right to file written objections to the proposed release from bond or deposit to the commissioner within thirty (30) days after the last publication of the newspaper notice provided for in subsection (b). If one (1) or more written objections to a release of bond or deposit is filed, and a hearing requested, the commissioner 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, or at the state capitol, at the option of the objector, within thirty (30) days of the request for a hearing. The commissioner shall advertise the date, time, and location of the public hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality for two (2) consecutive weeks.(i) Without prejudice to the rights of the objectors or the bond release applicant, or the responsibilities of the commissioner, the commissioner may convene an informal conference as provided for in § 59-8-112 to resolve written objections.(j) For the purpose of the hearing, the commissioner is authorized to administer oaths, subpoena 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 bond release applicant in the general vicinity. A verbatim record of each public hearing required by this part shall be made, and a transcript made available on the motion of any party or by order of the commissioner.(k) The bond release applicant or a person with a valid legal interest, which might be adversely affected by release of all or a portion of the bond, aggrieved by a determination of the commissioner under this section may petition the commissioner for a hearing. The hearing shall be conducted as a contested case under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, except to the extent that this part or rules promulgated by the commissioner pursuant to this part are inconsistent, in which case this part or the rules promulgated by the commissioner apply.Repealed and reenacted by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 548, s 3, eff. 5/26/2021.Added by 2018 Tenn. Acts, ch. 839, s 1, eff. eight (8) months immediately following the receipt of notification from the secretary of the interior that this state has been approved to exercise primacy over the regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation operations within its territorial boundaries.