207.16  Release of performance bonds or deposits.
  1.  Each operator upon completion of any reclamation work required by this chapter shall apply to the division in writing for approval of the work. The division shall promulgate rules consistent with Pub. L. No. 95-87, §519, codified at 30 U.S.C. §1269, regarding procedures and requirements to release performance bonds or deposits.
  2.  The division may release in whole or part the bonds or deposits if the division is satisfied the reclamation covered by the bonds or deposits or portions thereof has been accomplished as required by this chapter according to stages determined by the division by rule. When the operator has completed successfully all surface coal mining and reclamation activities, the remaining portion of the bond shall be released upon the expiration of the period specified for operator responsibility in the rules promulgated pursuant to section 207.7. A bond shall not be fully released until all reclamation requirements of this chapter are fully met.
  3.  A person with a valid legal interest which might be adversely affected by release of the bond or a 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 which is authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards with respect to such operations may file written objections to the proposed release from bond to the division within sixty days after the last publication as required by rule of a notice of a request for bond release by the operator. If written objections are filed and a hearing is requested, the division shall inform all the interested parties of the time and place of the hearing, and hold a public hearing as a contested case in the locality of the coal mining operation or at the state capital, at the request of the objectors, within thirty days of the request. The date, time, and location shall be advertised by the division in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality for two consecutive weeks.
[C81, §83.16]

2006 Acts, ch 1010, §63
; 2011 Acts, ch 34, §42