Okla. Stat. tit. 45, § 45-757: Prime farmland - Soil restoration - Exemptions

If the area proposed to be mined contains prime farmland, the

Department shall, after consultation with the United States

Secretary of Agriculture, and pursuant to regulations issued by the

United States Secretary of the Interior with the concurrence of the

United States Secretary of Agriculture, grant a permit to mine on

prime farmland if the Department finds in writing that the operator

has the technological capability to restore such mined area, within

a reasonable time, to equivalent or higher levels of yield as non-

mined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalent levels

of management and can meet the soil reconstruction standards. The

requirements of this section shall apply to all permits issued after

August 3, 1977.

Nothing in this section shall apply to any permit issued prior

to August 3, 1977, or to any revisions or renewals thereof, or to

any existing surface mining operations for which a permit was issued

prior to August 3, 1977.

1. The operator shall be required to segregate the A horizon of

the natural soil, except where it can be shown that other available

soil materials will create a final soil having a greater productive

capacity; and if not utilized immediately, stockpile this material

separately from other spoil, and provide needed protection from wind

and water erosion or contamination by other acid or toxic material;

2. Segregate the B horizon of the natural soil, or underlying C

horizons or other strata, or a combination of such horizons or other

strata that are shown to be both texturally and chemically suitable

for plant growth and that can be shown to be equally or more

favorable for plant growth than the B horizon, in sufficient

quantities to create in the regraded final soil a root zone of

comparable depth and quality to that which existed in the natural

soil; and if not utilized immediately, stockpile this material

separately from other spoil, and provide needed protection from wind

and water erosion or contamination by other acid or toxic material;

3. Replace and regrade the root zone material described in

paragraph 2 above with proper compaction and uniform depth over the

regraded spoil material; and

4. Redistribute and grade in a uniform manner the surface soil

horizon described in paragraph 1 of this section.