(a) Upon forfeiture
under §
86.181 (relating to general), the
Department will declare forfeit the specified amount of the financial guarantee
for the permit in the financial guarantees special account in the Remining
Financial Assurance Fund in addition to other bonds posted by the operator to
cover the reclamation obligation on the permit.
(b) The Department's declaration of
forfeiture under this section does not excuse the operator from meeting the
requirements of this chapter or other requirements under the act.
(c) Upon declaration of forfeiture, the
Department will use the bond money posted by the operator and the specified
amount of the financial guarantee to complete the reclamation of the mine site
in accordance with the procedures and criteria in §§
86.187-
86.190.
(d) The financial guarantees program may be
discontinued immediately and notice published in the
Pennsylvania
Bulletin, if 25% or greater of the total outstanding financial
guarantees are subject to forfeiture. If the financial guarantees program is
discontinued, no additional financial guarantees may be approved. Outstanding
financial guarantees will remain in effect until released under §§
86.170-
86.175.
(e) The financial guarantees program may be
suspended upon notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin when the
number of participating permits declared forfeit is equal to that number of
permits calculated by multiplying the historical rate of forfeiture plus a
margin of safety times the number of permits participating in the program. No
additional financial guarantees will be approved until the total amount of
financial guarantees declared forfeit has been replaced through the
accumulation of annual payments or by other means.
Notes
The
provisions of this § 86.284 amended June 17, 2011, effective
6/18/2011, 41 Pa.B. 3084;
amended March 13, 2020, effective 3/14/2020, 50 Pa.B.
1508.
The provisions of this § 86.284 amended under
section 5 of The Clean Streams Law (35 P.S. §
691.5); sections 4(a) and 4.2 of the Surface
Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act (52 P.S.
§§
1396.4(a) and
1396.4b); section 3.2 of the
Coal Refuse Disposal Control Act (52 P.S. §
30.53b); section 7(b) of The Bituminous Mine
Subsidence and Land Conservation Act (52 P.S. §
1406.7(b)); and section
1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P.S. §
510-20).
