New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE › Chapter 8 - COAL MINING › Part 24 - SPECIAL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS - OPERATIONS ON PRIME FARMLAND › Section 19.8.24.2404 - PRIME FARMLAND: REVEGETATION

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
Each person who conducts surface coal mining and reclamation
				  operations on prime farmland shall meet the following revegetation requirements
				  during reclamation:
A. following soil
				replacement, that person shall establish a vegetative cover capable of
				stabilizing the soil surface with respect to erosion; all vegetation shall be
				in compliance with the plan approved by the director under 19.8.10.1004 NMAC
				and carried out in a manner that encourages prompt vegetative cover and
				recovery of productive capacity; the timing and mulching provisions of
				19.8.20.2062 and 2063 NMAC shall be met;
B. within a time period specified in the
				permit, but not to exceed 10 years after completion of backfilling and rough
				grading, any portion of the permit area which is prime farmland must be used
				for crops commonly grown, such as corn, alfalfa, permanent pasture grain,
				sorghum, wheat, oats, barley, or other crops on surrounding prime farmland; the
				crops may be grown in rotation with any or pasture crops as defined for
				cropland; the director may approve a crop use of perennial plants for hay,
				where this is a common long-term use of prime farmland soils in the surrounding
				area; the level of management shall be equivalent to that on which the target
				yields are based;
C. measurement of
				success in prime farmland revegetation will be determined based upon the
				techniques approved in the permit by the director under 19.8.10.1004 NMAC; as a
				minimum, the following standards shall be met:
(1) average annual crop production shall be
				determined based upon a minimum of 3 years data; crop production shall be
				measured for the three years immediately prior to release of bond according to
				19.8.14 NMAC;
(2) revegetation on
				prime farmland shall be considered achieved when the average yield during the
				measurement period equals or exceeds the average yield of the reference crop
				established for the same period for non-mined soils of the same or similar
				texture or slope phase of the soil series in the surrounding area under
				equivalent management practices;
(3) the reference crop on which restoration
				of soil productivity is proven shall be selected from the crops most commonly
				produced on the surrounding prime farmland; where row crops are the dominant
				crops grown on prime farmland in the area, the row crop requiring the greatest
				rooting depth shall be chosen as one of the reference crops;
(4) reference crop yields for a given crop
				season are to be determined from:
(a) the
				current yield records of representative local farms in the surrounding area,
				with concurrence by the U.S. natural resources conservation service;
				or
(b) the average county yields
				recognized by the U.S. department of agriculture, which have been adjusted by
				the U.S. natural resources conservation service for local yield variation
				within the county that is associated with differences between non-mined prime
				farmland soil and all other soils that produce the reference crop.
(5) under either procedure in
				Paragraph (4) of Subsection C of 19.8.24.2404 NMAC, the average reference crop
				yield may be adjusted, with the concurrence of the U.S. natural resources
				conservation service for:
(a) disease, pest,
				and weather-induced seasonal variations; or
(b) differences in specific management
				practices where the overall management practices of the crops being compared
				are equivalent;
(6) a
				statistically valid sampling technique at a 90-percent or greater statistical
				confidence level shall be used as approved by the director in consultation with
				U.S. natural resources conservation service.