The commissioner shall exercise the following authority and powers to:

(1) Administer and enforce the provisions of this part and all rules and regulations and orders promulgated thereunder;
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 59-8-204

  • Area affected: means the area of land from which overburden is to be or has been removed and upon which a spoil bank is to be or has been deposited. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of environment and conservation or the commissioner's designees. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Mineral: means , in any county having a population of more than six hundred thousand (600,000), according to the 1970 federal census or any subsequent federal census, clay, stone, gravel, sand, phosphate rock, metallic ore and any other solid material or substance of commercial value found in natural deposits on or in the earth, but does not include limestone, coal, marble, chert or dimension stone. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • Operation: means all of the premises, facilities, and equipment and the use thereof in the process of removing and exploring for minerals from a designated surface mine area. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • Operator: means any person, partnership or corporation engaged in surface mining who removes or intends to remove more than two hundred fifty (250) tons of any mineral from the earth by surface mining within twelve (12) successive calendar months. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • Overburden: means all earth and other materials which are removed to gain access to the mineral in the process of surface mining. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Provisions of this part: means the rules, regulations and orders issued by the commissioner pursuant to this part as well as the words of the sections themselves. See Tennessee Code 59-8-202
  • 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
  • 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
(2) Conduct or obtain investigations, research, experiments, training programs and demonstrations, and to collect and disseminate information relating to surface mining, reclamation of surface mined lands, and control of pollution of water and soil affected by surface mining;
(3) Adopt, after giving public notice and affording an opportunity to all interested persons to appear and offer evidence at a public hearing in connection therewith, general rules and regulations pertaining to surface mining to accomplish the purposes of this part. Such rules and regulations, which shall have the force and effect of law, shall be of uniform application as far as practicable, but they may take proper account of differences in topography, geology, and soil conditions, and established use patterns of neighboring lands as recognized by the local planning agency;
(4) Adopt, without notice or hearing, rules and regulations with respect to procedural aspects of hearings, the filing of reports and orders, the issuance of permits, and other procedural matters;
(5) Issue orders requiring the adoption by an operator of remedial measures necessary for carrying out the provisions of this part or rules and regulations issued thereunder;
(6) Examine and approve or disapprove applications for permits, bonds, mining and reclamation plans, revegetation plans, and after-use plans submitted by operators;
(7) Establish standards for acceptable mining and reclamation of affected areas which shall be designed to achieve soil stabilization, control soil erosion, and obliterate the scars of the stripping operation and ensure that the operation meets applicable soil and water quality standards;
(8) Make such investigations or inspections as the commissioner may deem necessary to ensure compliance with any provisions of this part, including the right to enter at any time upon an area affected for such purposes and the right to ingress and egress across intervening properties;
(9) Order the suspension and/or revocation after warning of any permit for failure to comply with any of the provisions of this part or with any rules, regulations or orders adopted pursuant thereto;
(10) Order the immediate cessation of any operation that is started or continued without a permit as required by the provisions of this part;
(11) Issue, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, special rules and regulations in connection with granting a permit to an operator where the sole purpose of the operation covered by such permit is to remove overburden for the purpose of determining the location, quality or quantity of a natural mineral deposit. Such rules and regulations shall be, insofar as practical, in compliance with the requirements of this part that pertain to the granting of a mining permit so that a map, mining plan, reclamation and vegetation plan and bond are required. The commissioner shall deny such permits for areas which cannot be granted a general permit under the provisions of this part;
(12) Institute and prosecute all such court actions as may be necessary to obtain the enforcement of any order issued by the commissioner in carrying out the provisions of this part; and
(13) Issue regulations concerning blasting which are designed to protect the water resource, prevent off-site damage to citizens and property, and prevent spoil from being thrown off of the permitted area where no spoil placement is permitted by the approved reclamation plan.
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