Operators must post and maintain a performance bond or approved deposit, with amounts tied to acreage and subject to commissioner oversight.
The bond filed with the commissioner shall be payable to the state of Tennessee and shall be executed by the operator and a corporate surety that is approved by the commissioner and properly authorized to act as corporate surety and licensed to do business in this state; provided, however, that the operator may elect to deposit cash, irrevocable letters of credit or certificates of deposit with the state treasurer in lieu of a corporate surety if the instruments are executed in accordance with guidelines set forth by the commissioner. The state treasurer shall receive and hold the deposits in the name of the state of Tennessee, in trust, for the purposes for which the deposit is made and shall at all times be responsible for the custody and safekeeping of the deposits. The operator making the deposit shall be entitled from time to time to demand and receive from the treasurer, on the written order of the commissioner, the whole or any portion of any instruments so deposited upon depositing with the treasurer, in lieu of the deposits, other instruments of the classes specified in this section having a value at least equal to the sum of the bond or instrument and also to demand and recover any interest income from instruments as the interest becomes due and payable. The bond or cash deposit or marketable value of the securities, which shall be conditioned upon the faithful performance of the provisions of this part, shall not be less than six hundred dollars ($600) for each estimated acre or fraction thereof affected by the respective operation. Liability under such bond shall be continuous until the reclamation provisions of this part have been fulfilled. The amount of the bond shall be increased or decreased to take account of any change in the acreage covered by the permit as provided in § 59-8-205(a)(2). In those counties requiring a performance bond of two thousand dollars ($2,000) or more per acre, the operator may at the operator's option present evidence of such bond to the commissioner in lieu of filing a bond with the commissioner. The commissioner may in the commissioner's discretion accept such evidence of the existence of such a performance bond in lieu of a bond filed with the commissioner. However, if the bond is released by county authorities prior to such time as the commissioner would normally release all or part of it, the commissioner may require a new performance bond to be filed as required by this section. No performance bond shall be charged for land upon which overburden is deposited if, in the opinion of the commissioner, the deposition of such overburden amounts to reclamation of a previously mined area.