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• Reclamation

Reclamation

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Restoring the land

< The Coteau Properties Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of North American Coal Company, is responsible for reclamation activities at the Freedom Mine, the source of lignite coal that fuels Basin Electric electric generation and coal gasification facilities in North Dakota. (Left) Recent photos of a portion of Freedom Mine being returned to its original prairie state.

First utility to require reclamation

Basin Electric was the first utility in the nation to require that strip-mined land be returned to rolling countryside. That requirement was written into Basin Electric’s first coal contract long before rules and regulations on mined land reclamation were enacted.

Our concern for the environment has been a guiding principle for many years. In the Statement of Ideals and Objectives adopted in 1967, Basin Electric's members held that “a clean and healthy environment which we all need and enjoy must be maintained and that the energy industry must do all that is feasible to minimize the negative impacts on the environment.”

In the mid-1960s, Basin Electric proposed model laws to the North Dakota Legislature to protect the air, water and land. We advocated legislation requiring mined land reclamation and prohibiting dumping fly ash and other industrial wastes into the rivers. Today, Basin Electric continues its tradition of commitment to a clean environment and the communities impacted by energy production. 

North Dakota reclamation laws

Surface mining and reclamation operations are governed by laws on both state and Federal levels. The North Dakota Legislative Assembly enacted the state's first reclamation law in 1969 and it became effective Jan. 1, 1970. That first law, which set forth controls for both mining and reclamation activities, was amended in 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1977.

Initially Basin Electric was the only industrial organization to support development and passage of this law.

North Dakota law requires a mining permit, performance bond, reclamation fee and plan, and establishes certain reclamation procedures as minimum requirements.

In 1977, enactment of Federal legislation, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act , necessitated changes in North Dakota's law. The initial state law and its subsequent amendments were repealed and in 1979 legislators authored a new reclamation law.

Evolution of reclamation law

1969	Law required mining companies to submit applications, accompanied by a bond. For areas greater than 50 acres maximum bonding fee was $275 with $2.50 assessed for each additional acre affected. Mine operators were to reshape land to a rolling topography and land was to be seeded twice.
1971	The amended law provided for landowner input in reclamation plans, sloping requirements changed slightly and the bond fee was raised to $200 per mined acre.
1973	Geologic and hydrologic studies and a more structured premining plan were required. Soils maps and measures for minimizing erosion were also necessary. The bond level was raised to $500 per acre. Mined lands had to be graded to approximate original contours and the top two feet of topsoil, if available, were to be saved and respread over the mined area. High walls, sides of pits adjacent to unmined lands, had to be backsloped at 35-degree inclines. The Public Service Commission determined if reclamation had been satisfactorily completed.
1975	Law required a detailed 10-year premining plan, soils classification, saving topsoil and any other suitable plant growth material up to five feet, treatment of runoff water and mine seepage, water containment facilities built according to State Water Commission Standards, alternative water sources for any water sources disrupted, archaeological and historical studies performed according to State Historical Society standards and a minimum bonding fee of $1,500 per acre. Reclamation was defined as returning land to original productivity
1977	Law required regrading to the gentlest topography with affected land blending with adjacent unmined land, and all suitable plant growth material had to be saved.
1979	The old law was repealed and North Dakota law was adopted to parallel Federal surface mining legislation passed in 1977. New requirements included more detailed fish and wildlife inventories, surface and groundwater studies, performance standards and other premining studies. The bonding liability period was set at a 10-year minimum. The public was allowed to petition for the designation of unsuitable mining areas and given other avenues for input.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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