Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Revegetation Standards topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
PSC staff proposes adding Risk Management Agency crop data to revegetation standards
Summary
Staff proposed updating revegetation evaluation standards to allow Risk Management Agency county yield data and to reference NRCS field-office guidance; commissioners gave general consent to send the revisions for public comment.
Public Service Commissioners staff proposed revisions to the agency's revegetation evaluation standards that would add Risk Management Agency crop-yield data as an allowable source for county cropland yields and add a standing reference to the Natural Resources Conservation Service field office technical guide.
The change matters because county cropland-yield figures are used to set revegetation performance standards and to evaluate bond-release applications for lignite mine reclamation. Under current practice, missing or inconsistent county yield reports have limited operators’ ability to demonstrate successful revegetation and secure bond release.
Warren Swenson, a staff member, told the commissioners that the North Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service has not consistently published county wheat-yield data in some counties over the past decade, leaving mines with fewer reliable data years to support bond-release requests. "In McLean County ... they did not receive yield data in 2023. And then in 2024, there's absolutely no data being published," Swenson said. "With the way our current standards are sitting, we are completely taking away an avenue of bond release for our mines." Swenson said adding Risk Management Agency (RMA) data would provide a more consistently available data set because farmers using federal crop insurance must report yields to RMA.
Swenson also said the proposal would not remove the North Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service as an option but would add RMA as an additional allowable source. He described other, related changes to tables for native grassland and tame pastureland to reflect current values from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and said the commission's revegetation guidelines will reference the NRCS Field Office Technical Guide to keep technical values up to date.
A commissioner asked how the commission has handled bond-release reviews when county data were missing. Swenson said mines often had to wait for data or rely on a control-area comparison, but recent changes in farming practices and declining voluntary response rates have made control-area comparisons less reliable.
Swenson requested that the commission send the draft revisions to industry and interested parties for formal comment, naming the Lignite Energy Council among the stakeholders. The commissioners gave their general consent for staff to send the proposal out for public comment; no formal motion or vote was recorded.
Next steps: staff will solicit written comments, consider responses, and return to the commission with any recommended edits before seeking formal action.
