If the area proposed to be mined contains prime farmland, the Department shall, after consultation with the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and pursuant to regulations issued by the United States Secretary of the Interior with the concurrence of the United States Secretary of Agriculture, grant a permit to mine on prime farmland if the Department finds in writing that the operator has the technological capability to restore such mined area, within a reasonable time, to equivalent or higher levels of yield as non-mined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalent levels of management and can meet the soil reconstruction standards. The requirements of this section shall apply to all permits issued after August 3, 1977.

Nothing in this section shall apply to any permit issued prior to August 3, 1977, or to any revisions or renewals thereof, or to any existing surface mining operations for which a permit was issued prior to August 3, 1977.

1. The operator shall be required to segregate the A horizon of the natural soil, except where it can be shown that other available soil materials will create a final soil having a greater productive capacity; and if not utilized immediately, stockpile this material separately from other spoil, and provide needed protection from wind and water erosion or contamination by other acid or toxic material;

2. Segregate the B horizon of the natural soil, or underlying C horizons or other strata, or a combination of such horizons or other strata that are shown to be both texturally and chemically suitable for plant growth and that can be shown to be equally or more favorable for plant growth than the B horizon, in sufficient quantities to create in the regraded final soil a root zone of comparable depth and quality to that which existed in the natural soil; and if not utilized immediately, stockpile this material separately from other spoil, and provide needed protection from wind and water erosion or contamination by other acid or toxic material;

3. Replace and regrade the root zone material described in paragraph 2 above with proper compaction and uniform depth over the regraded spoil material; and

4. Redistribute and grade in a uniform manner the surface soil horizon described in paragraph 1 of this section.

Laws 1978, c. 10, § 17, emerg. eff. Feb. 2, 1978.