1. (a) All funds received by the Department from license fees, permit fees, special reclamation fees, the forfeiture of bonds and of cash deposits and securities, and fines collected upon conviction of a permittee or a licensee under §§ 15-807(f) and 15-808(k) of this subtitle shall be deposited to the credit of the State Treasurer in a bank the Treasurer designates, and shall be maintained as a special fund on the books of the Comptroller of the Treasury in an account, to be known as the “Surface Mined Land Reclamation Fund”. This Fund shall be used by the Department for the administration and implementation of this subtitle, including rehabilitating the area of land affected by the operation upon which liability was charged on the bond.

2. (b) For the reclamation of pre-law surface mines, the Department may use funds received from the following sources:

   1. (1) A forfeiture in excess of the amount required for reclaiming the area of land affected by the operation on which the liability was charged;
   2. (2) A forfeiture relating to land which the Department determines to be physically impossible to reclaim; and
   3. (3) Licensing fees, permitting fees, fines, funds received from the special reclamation fees established by § 15-808(i) of this subtitle or any other source.
3. (c) The special reclamation fees and the State match established by § 15-808 (i) and (j) of this subtitle shall only be used for the reclamation of pre-law surface mines.

Added by Acts 1975, c. 581. Amended by Acts 1977, c. 129; Acts 1981, c. 266; Acts 1982, c. 356; Acts 1985, c. 668; Acts 1988, c. 6, § 1; Acts 1992, c. 416. Renumbered from Natural Resources § 7-6A-04 by Acts 1995, c. 488, § 2, eff. July 1, 1995. Amended by Acts 1995, c. 488, § 16, eff. July 1, 1995; Acts 2014, c. 45, § 5.