1.    Upon the basis of a complete mining application and reclamation plan or a revision thereof as required by this chapter and pursuant to regulations established under this chapter, the commission shall grant, require modification of, or deny the application for a permit and notify the applicant in writing within a reasonable time as established by regulation if no informal conference is held and if an informal conference is held, within thirty days of such conference. The applicant for a permit, or a revision of a permit, has the burden of establishing that the application is in compliance with all the requirements of this chapter. Within ten days after the granting of a permit, the commission shall notify the appropriate local governmental officials in the county in which the area of land to be affected is located that a permit has been issued and shall describe the location of the land.

2.    The commission’s approval or modification of the permit or permit revision application must include consideration of the advice and technical assistance of the state historical society, the department of environmental quality, the soil conservation committee, the game and fish department, the state forester, the state geologist, and the department of water resources, and may include those state agencies versed in soils, agronomy, ecology, geology, and hydrology, and other agencies and individuals experienced in reclaiming surface mined lands.

3.    No permit or revision application may be approved unless the applicant affirmatively demonstrates and the commission finds in writing on the basis of the information set forth in the application or from information otherwise available which will be documented in the approval and made available to the applicant, that all the following requirements are met:

a.    The permit application is accurate and complete and all the requirements of this chapter and of regulations promulgated by the commission have been complied with.

b.    The permit applicant has demonstrated that reclamation as required by this chapter and by regulations promulgated by the commission can be accomplished under the reclamation plan contained in the permit application.

c.    The assessment of the probable cumulative impact of all anticipated mining in the area on the hydrologic balance specified in subdivision o of subsection 1 of section 38-14.1-14 has been made by the commission and the proposed operation thereof has been designed to prevent material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area.

d.    The area proposed to be mined is not included within an area designated unsuitable for all or certain types of surface coal mining operations pursuant to section 38-14.1-05 or is not within an area under study for such designation in an administrative proceeding, provided the petition to have an area so designated has been filed prior to or within the time period specified in subsection 1 of section 38-14.1-18, or unless in such an area as to which an administrative proceeding has commenced, the permit applicant demonstrates that prior to January 4, 1977, the permit applicant has made substantial legal and financial commitments in relation to the operation for which the applicant is applying for a permit.

e.    The proposed surface coal mining operation, if located west of the one hundredth meridian west longitude, would:

(1) Not interrupt, discontinue, or preclude farming on alluvial valley floors that are irrigated or naturally subirrigated, but, excluding undeveloped rangelands which are not significant to farming on said alluvial valley floors and those lands as to which the commission finds that if the farming that will be interrupted, discontinued, or precluded is of such small acreage [hectarage] as to be of negligible impact on the farm’s agricultural production; or

(2) Not materially damage the quantity or quality of water in surface or underground water systems that supply these alluvial valley floors. This subdivision does not affect those surface coal mining operations which on July 1, 1979, produce coal or commercial leonardite in commercial quantities and are located within or adjacent to alluvial valley floors or have obtained specific permit approval by the commission to conduct surface coal mining operations within said alluvial valley floors.

f.    When the mineral estate has been severed from the surface estate, the applicant has complied with the requirements of chapter 38-18.

4.    The commission may delete certain areas from a permit or revision application, reject the application, require the permit applicant to amend the application or any part of such application, including any mining plan, or require any combination of the foregoing, if:

a.    The commission finds that the overburden on any part of the area of land described in the application for a permit is such that experience in the state of North Dakota with a similar type of operation upon land with similar overburden shows that substantial deposition of sediment in streambeds, landslides, water pollution, or permanent destruction of land for agricultural purposes without approved rehabilitation for other uses cannot feasibly be prevented.

b.    The commission finds that the proposed surface coal mining operation will constitute a hazard to a dwelling house, public building, school, church, cemetery, commercial or institutional building, public road, stream, lake, or other public or private property other than property subject to a coal or commercial leonardite lease.

Whenever the commission finds that ongoing surface mining operations are causing or are likely to cause any of the conditions set forth in this subsection, it may make such changes in the permit as it may deem necessary to avoid such described conditions.

5.    When information available to the commission indicates that any surface coal mining operation owned or controlled by the permit applicant is currently in violation of this chapter, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 [Pub. L. 95-87; 91 Stat. 445; 30 U.S.C. § 1201 et seq.], or any law or rule of the United States or the state of North Dakota, or of any department or agency of the United States or the state    of North Dakota, pertaining to air or water environmental protection, the permit may not be issued until the permit applicant submits proof that such violation has been corrected or is in the process of being corrected to the satisfaction of the regulatory authority with jurisdiction over the violation.

6.    In addition to finding the application in compliance with other requirements of this section, if the area proposed to be mined contains prime farmland pursuant to paragraph 3 of subdivision a of subsection 2 of section 38-14.1-14, the commission shall, pursuant to regulations issued by the commission, grant a permit to mine on prime farmland if the commission finds in writing that the permit applicant has the technological capability to restore such mined area, within a reasonable time, to a level of productivity equal to or greater than nonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalent levels of management and can meet the soil reconstruction standards in subsection 6 of section 38-14.1-24. Nothing in this chapter pertaining to prime farmland applies to any permit issued prior to July 1, 1979, or to any revisions or renewals thereof, or to any existing surface coal mining operations for which a permit was issued prior to July 1, 1979.