May 3, 2006
For immediate release |
Ben Owens
(202) 208-2565 |
Proposed Rules for Coal Mining in Tennessee
Public hearing scheduled on bonding, revegetation changes
(Washington DC) – The U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) today announced expanded efforts to gain public comment on proposed rule changes that will give greater financial strength to Tennessee’s mine reclamation program and promote better tree growth on previously forested areas.
OSM published the proposed rules on April 6 and is extending the public comment period from May 8 to June 30. Additionally a public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. June 1 at the Holiday Inn Select in Knoxville.
The proposed rule would change the current practice of requiring surety bonds from Tennessee coal mine operators, giving operators the option to create trust funds or purchase annuities to pay for the treatment of discharges commonly referred to as acid mine drainage.
Before coal mining permits are issued, operators must submit hydrologic reclamation plans showing how water discharges from the mined area will meet water quality standards. In the rare cases where they fail to meet water quality standards, operators must make monetary guarantees ensuring there will be funding to pay for cleanup if unanticipated pollution is created.
Under current rules, OSM requires operators to have surety bonds, which are often bought through insurers. Coverage is set at purchase. If unexpected pollution does occur, the cost of cleanup is often very high and can last for years raising the possibility of costs outstripping the a bond level set several years earlier. These alternatives would be managed by a third-party financial expert and would name OSM as the beneficiary. By allowing operators to substitute interest-bearing annuities and trust funds, OSM expects to create a more reliable reserve of cleanup funds that will be less affected by inflation.
The proposed rule would also revise the revegetation success standards for certain post-mining land uses in Tennessee. This revision is based on a decade’s research by scientist at the University of Kentucky, Virginia Tech, West Virginia University, and other universities from across the country.
The existing standards have produced reclaimed mines with dense grasses that compete with trees for nutrients, sunlight and water. As a result, any trees planted on these sites usually do not survive and if they do, their growth is severely stunted. OSM is proposing to modify the revegetation requirements for sites with a postmining land use of wildlife habitat, undeveloped land, recreation, or forestry in order to reestablish the forests that existed prior to mining.
Researchers determined that revegetation levels at current levels are far too high to allow for successful tree survival and growth. They have demonstrated that planting tree seedlings in lose or lightly graded material, including rough and rocky spoil with little or no groundcover, produces survival and growth rates that exceed tree growth on un-mined lands. Reduced grading also increases infiltration, while storm runoff and sedimentation are decreased. These factors will lead to reduced erosion.
Leveraging these research discoveries, the proposed rule requires a standard specifically geared to the unique characteristics of each mine site and to the proposed post-mining land use. The modified revegetation requirements apply only to sites with a post-mining use requiring the planting of trees such as wildlife habitat, undeveloped land, recreation, or forestry. In all cases, the required revegetation must control erosion on the site.
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