A. There is hereby levied a reclamation tax upon the production of coal by operators participating in the Fund under permits issued under this chapter as set forth herein.
B. Thirty days after the end of any calendar quarter during which the total balance of the Fund, including interest thereon, shall be less than $ 1,750,000, all operators shall pay into the Fund an amount equal to:
1. Four cents per clean ton of coal produced by a surface mining operation permitted under this chapter.
2. Three cents per clean ton of coal produced by a deep mining operation permitted under this chapter.
3. One and one-half cents per clean ton of coal processed or loaded by preparation or loading facilities permitted under this chapter.
C. At the end of any calendar quarter during which the total balance in the Fund, including interest thereon, shall exceed two million dollars, payments under this section shall cease until again required pursuant to subsection B of this section.
1. For the purposes of subsection B of this section, all potential obligations shall be deducted from the balance of the Fund during each calendar quarter, including forfeitures on which engineering costs estimates have been prepared, but no money has actually been expended from the Fund.
2. Should the actual expenditures from the Fund be less than the engineering cost estimate, then the difference shall be credited to the balance of the Fund during the calendar quarter in which the final expenditure is made from the Fund to accomplish the reclamation.
D. Upon the issuance of a permit for which bond is provided pursuant to this article, each operator shall pay a reclamation tax into the Fund pursuant to the schedule set forth in subsection B of this section on coal mined and removed under authority of that permit during the one-year period commencing with and running from the date of the commencement of coal production, processing or loading from those operations covered under that permit.
E. In no event shall any operator pay reclamation tax under this section on total coal production in excess of five million tons per calendar year, regardless of the number of permits held by that operator, except as set forth in subsection D hereof. In no event shall any operator holding more than one type of permit pay tax at a rate in excess of five and one-half cents per ton on coal originally surface mined by that operator or in excess of four and one-half cents per ton on coal originally deep mined by that operator. Any operator holding one permit upon which coal is mined and processed or loaded shall pay only the tax applicable under this section to the surface mining operation or deep mining operation.
History
1982, c. 334; 1983, c. 131; 1987, c. 468; 1991, c. 495.
