New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE › Chapter 8 - COAL MINING › Part 14 - GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR BONDING OF SURFACE COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION OPERATIONS › Section 19.8.14.1412 - REQUIREMENT TO RELEASE PERFORMANCE BONDS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. Bond release application.
(1) The permittee may file an application
				with the director for the release of all or part of a performance bond.
				Applications may be filed only at times or during seasons authorized by the
				director in order to properly evaluate the completed reclamation operations.
				The times or seasons appropriate for the evaluation of certain types of
				reclamation shall be established in the mining and reclamation plan approved by
				the director.
(2) An application
				for a bond release shall at a minimum contain the following information:
(a) the permittee's name, address and the
				appropriate permit number;
(b) an
				accurate legal description of the land sought for bond release (either metes
				and bounds or precise section, township and range designations);
(c) the location of the area proposed for
				bond release shown on a USGS 7.5' map, which should also show the permit
				boundaries;
(d) a brief narrative
				summarizing the past history of the mine, the type, amount and date of the
				current bonding instrument, the number of acres included in the bond release
				application and the portion it represents of the total permit area, a
				description of the type and dates of the reclamation performed with a summary
				of the results achieved as they relate to the approved reclamation plan, and
				any other pertinent information that the applicant or the director may consider
				appropriate;
(e) a table listing
				the names, addresses and number of acres held by each of the surface and
				mineral owners of record in the area proposed for bond release;
(f) copies of letters sent to adjoining
				landowners, local governmental bodies, tribal governments, planning agencies,
				sewage and water treatment authorities, and water companies in the locality of
				the reclamation operation, notifying them of the permittee's intention to seek
				bond release; and
(g) other maps or
				other information as may be appropriate or required by the director to locate
				or characterize the areas proposed for bond release, revegetation, hydrological
				or other reclamation issues;
(h)
				the permittee shall include in the application for bond release a notarized
				statement which certifies that all applicable reclamation activities have been
				accomplished in accordance with the requirements of SMCRA, the act, the
				regulatory program, and the approved reclamation plan; a certification shall be
				submitted for each application or phase of bond release.
(3) Within 30 days after an application for
				bond release has been filed with the director, 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. The advertisement shall be considered part of any bond release
				application and shall contain the permittee's name, permit number and approval
				date, notification of the precise location of the land affected, the number of
				acres, the type and amount of the bond filed and the portion sought to be
				released, the type and appropriate dates of reclamation work performed, a
				description of the results achieved as they relate to the operator's approved
				reclamation plan, and the name and address of the director, to whom written
				comments, objections, or requests for public hearings and informal conferences
				on the specific bond release may be submitted pursuant to Subsections F and H
				of 19.8.14.1412 NMAC.