A. Each application for a surface coal mining and reclamation permit pursuant to the Surface Mining Act shall be accompanied by a fee as determined by regulation of the commission. Such fee may be less than but shall not exceed the actual or anticipated cost of reviewing, administering and enforcing the permit. All fees collected by the director shall be deposited with the state treasurer to be placed in a special fund and are appropriated for expenditure by the director in administering that act. The director may develop procedures so as to enable the cost of the fee to be paid over the term of the permit.

B. The permit application shall be submitted in a manner satisfactory to the director and shall contain, among other things:

(1) the names and addresses of the permit applicant, every legal owner of record of the property (surface and mineral) to be mined, the holders of record of any leasehold interest in the property, any purchaser of record of the property under a real estate contract, the operator, if he is a person different from the applicant, and, if any of these are business entities other than a single proprietor, the names and addresses of the principals, officers and resident agent;

(2) the names and addresses of the owners of record of all surface and subsurface areas adjacent to any part of the permit area;

(3) a statement of any current or previous surface coal mining permits in the United States held by the applicant and the permit identification and each pending application;

(4) if the applicant is a partnership, corporation, association or other business entity, the following where applicable: the names and addresses of every officer, partner, director or person performing a function similar to a director of the applicant, together with the name and address of any person owning, of record, ten percent or more of any class of voting stock of the applicant, and a list of all names under which the applicant, partner or principal shareholder previously operated a surface coal mining operation within the United States within the five-year period preceding the date of submission of the application;

(5) a statement of whether the applicant, any subsidiary, affiliate or persons controlled by or under common control with the applicant, has ever held a federal or state mining permit which, in the five-year period prior to the date of submission of the application, has been superseded or revoked or has had a mining bond or similar security deposited in lieu of bond forfeited and, if so, a brief explanation of the facts involved;

(6) a copy of the applicant's advertisement to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the proposed site at least once a week for four successive weeks, and which includes the ownership, a description of the exact location and boundaries of the proposed site sufficient so that the proposed operation is readily locatable by local residents, and the location of where the application is available for public inspection;

(7) a description of the type and method of coal mining operation that exists or is proposed, the engineering techniques proposed or used and the equipment used or proposed to be used;

(8) the anticipated or actual starting and termination dates of each phase of the mining operation and number of acres of land to be affected;

(9) an accurate map or plan, to an appropriate scale, clearly showing the land to be affected as of the date of the application, the area of land within the permit area upon which the application has the legal right to enter and commence surface mining operations, and a statement of those documents upon which the applicant bases his legal right to enter and commence surface mining operations on the area affected and whether that right is the subject of pending court litigation. Provided, that nothing in the Surface Mining Act shall be construed as vesting in the director or the commission the jurisdiction to adjudicate property title disputes;

(10) the name of the watershed and location of any surface stream or tributary into which surface and pit drainage will be discharged;

(11) a determination of the probable hydrologic consequences of the mining and reclamation operations, both on and off the mine site, with respect to the hydrologic regime, quantity and quality of water in surface and ground water systems, including the dissolved and suspended solids under seasonal flow conditions, and the collection of sufficient data for the mine site and surrounding areas so that an assessment can be made by the director of the probable cumulative impacts of all anticipated mining in the area upon the hydrology of the area and particularly upon water availability. Provided, that this determination shall not be required until such time as hydrologic information on the general area prior to mining is made available from an appropriate federal or state agency. Provided, that the permit shall not be approved until such information or comparable information developed by either a professional engineer registered in New Mexico or a professional hydrologist is available and is incorporated into the application;

(12) when requested by the director, the climatological factors that are peculiar to the locality of the land to be affected, including the average seasonal precipitation, the average direction and velocity of prevailing winds and the seasonal temperature ranges;

(13) accurate maps to an appropriate scale clearly showing the land to be affected as of the date of application and all types of information set forth on topographical maps of the United States geological survey of a scale of 1:24,000 or 1:25,000 or larger, including all manmade features and significant known archaeological sites existing on the date of application. Such a map or plan shall, among other things specified by the director, show all boundaries of the land to be affected, the boundary lines and names of present owners of record of all surface areas abutting the permit area, and the location of all buildings within one thousand feet of the permit area;

(14) cross-section maps or plans of the land to be affected, including the actual area to be mined, prepared by or under the direction of and certified by a qualified professional engineer registered in New Mexico, with assistance from experts in related fields such as geology, land surveying and landscape architecture, showing pertinent elevation and location of test borings or core samplings and depicting the following information:

(a) the nature and depth of the various strata of overburden;

(b) the location of subsurface water, if encountered, and its quality;

(c) the nature and thickness of any coal or rider seam above the coal seam to be mined;

(d) the nature of stratum immediately beneath the coal seam to be mined;

(e) all mineral crop lines and the strike and dip of the coal to be mined within the area of land to be affected;

(f) existing or previous surface mining limits;

(g) the location and extent of known workings of any underground mines, including mine openings to the surface;

(h) the location of aquifers;

(i) the estimated elevation of the water table;

(j) the location of spoil, waste or refuse areas and topsoil preservation areas;

(k) the location of all impoundments for waste or erosion control;

(l) any settling or water treatment facility; constructed or natural drainways and the location of any discharges to any surface body of water on the area of land to be affected or adjacent thereto; and

(m) profiles at appropriate cross sections of the anticipated final surface configuration that will be achieved pursuant to the operator's proposed reclamation plan;

(15) a statement of the result of test borings or core samplings from the permit area, including logs of the drill holes; the thickness of the coal seam found and analysis of the chemical properties of such coal; the sulfur content of any coal seam; chemical analysis of potentially acid or toxic forming sections of the overburden; and chemical analysis of the stratum lying immediately underneath the coal to be mined, except that the provisions of this paragraph may be waived by the director with respect to the specific application by a written determination that such requirements are unnecessary;

(16) for those lands in the permit application which a reconnaissance inspection suggests may be prime farmlands, a soil survey shall be made or obtained according to regulations of the commission promulgated after consideration of standards established by the United States secretary of agriculture in order to confirm the exact location of such prime farmlands, if any; and

(17) information pertaining to coal seams, test borings, core samplings or soil samples as required by this section shall be made available to any person with an interest which is or may be adversely affected. Provided, that information which pertains only to the analysis of the chemical and physical properties of the coal (excepting information regarding such mineral or elemental content which is potentially toxic in the environment) shall kept confidential and not made a matter of public record.

C. Upon a determination by the director that the anticipated annual production from all coal mining activities of an applicant will not exceed one hundred thousand tons, the determination of probable hydrologic consequences required by Paragraph (11) of Subsection B of this section and the statement of the result of test borings or core samplings required by Paragraph (15) of Subsection B of this section shall, upon the written request of the applicant, be performed by a qualified public or private laboratory designated by the director and the cost of the preparation of the determination and statement shall be paid for by [the] energy and minerals department.

D. Each applicant for a permit shall submit to the director as part of the permit application a reclamation plan which shall meet the requirements of Section 12 [69-25A-12 NMSA 1978] of the Surface Mining Act.

E. Each applicant for a permit shall file a copy of his application for public inspection with the county clerk of the county or an appropriate public office approved by the director where the mining is proposed to occur, except for that information pertaining to the coal seam itself.

F. Each applicant for a permit shall submit to the director as part of the permit application a blasting plan which shall outline the procedures and standards by which the operator will meet the provisions of Paragraph (15) of Subsection B of Section 19 [69-25A-19 NMSA 1978] of the Surface Mining Act.

G. Each applicant for a permit shall submit to the director a certificate of insurance or evidence of self-insurance as required by Section 11 [69-25A-11 NMSA 1978] of the Surface Mining Act.

History: Laws 1979, ch. 291, § 10.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 53A Am. Jur. 2d Mines and Minerals §§ 257, 260.

Statutory or contractual obligation to restore surface after strip or surface mining, 1 A.L.R.2d 575.

58 C.J.S. Mines and Minerals § 334 et seq.