Section 59-8-123 - Authorized departures from environmental protection performance standards(a) In order to encourage advances in surface coal mining and reclamation practices, or to allow post-mining land use for industrial, commercial, residential, or public use, including recreational facilities, the commissioner, with the approval of the secretary, may authorize departures in individual cases on an experimental basis from the environmental protection performance standards promulgated under this part.(b) The departures may be authorized if: (1) The experimental practices are potentially more environmentally protective, or at least as protective, during and after mining operations, as those required by promulgated standards;(2) The mining operations approved for a particular land use or other purposes are not larger or more numerous than necessary to determine the effectiveness and economic feasibility of the experimental practices; and(3) The experimental practices do not reduce the protection afforded public health and safety below that provided by promulgated standards.Repealed and reenacted by 2021 Tenn.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.