(a) This state, acting by and through the department, shall have the power to acquire, either by negotiation or by exercise of the power of eminent domain, land which has been affected or disturbed by surface mining, which now consists of orphan banks or unreclaimed spoil piles, and which in its present state is hazardous or otherwise detrimental to the health and safety of the citizens of the state, or which in its present state is damaging to off-site property or to the water quality of streams.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 59-8-215

  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of environment and conservation or the commissioner's designees. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Reclamation: means the process of backfilling, grading and shaping of the disturbed land in the affected area, constructing water control facilities, the taking of measures to control current or future air, water or soil pollution, and the planting of vegetation, and other measures. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Surface mining: means all or any part of the process followed in the production of minerals from a natural mineral deposit by the open pit or open cut method, auger method, highwall mining method which requires a new cut or removal of overburden, or any other mining process in which the strata or overburden is removed or displaced in order to recover the mineral. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
(b) Prior to acquiring any land pursuant to this section, the commissioner shall extend to the owners thereof an opportunity to reshape, plant and do other acts or reclamation thereon to the same extent and within the same time limits as prescribed in this part and regulations adopted pursuant thereto. If the owner or owners agree in writing to perform such reclamation and, weather permitting, start such reclamation within a period of sixty (60) days, the land shall not be acquired by the state.
(c) The commissioner shall attempt to purchase any land which the commissioner has determined should be acquired for the purpose of reclamation and which the owners have not agreed to reclaim as provided in subsection (b). In any case where the commissioner and the owners of the land are unable to agree upon the amount to be paid for the land, the commissioner may exercise the power of eminent domain against such land by filing a condemnation suit under any procedure as provided in title 29, chapter 16.
(d) The purchase price, in the case of a negotiated acquisition, or the damages as finally determined, in the case of acquisition by condemnation, and the necessary expenses incidental thereto, shall be paid from the Tennessee surface mine reclamation fund or appropriations made by the general assembly for such purposes and appropriations for which federal funds made available for such purposes have been credited.
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