§22-2-5. Powers and duties of director; program plans and reclamation projects.

(a) The director shall submit to the secretary a state reclamation plan and annual projects to carry out the purposes of this article.

(b) That reclamation plan shall generally identify the areas to be reclaimed, the purposes for which the reclamation is proposed, the relationship of the lands to be reclaimed and the proposed reclamation to surrounding areas, the specific criteria for ranking and identifying projects to be funded and the legal authority and programmatic capability to perform the work in conformance with the provisions of this article.

(c) On an annual basis, the director shall submit to the secretary an application for the support of the state program and implementation of specific reclamation projects. The annual requests shall include information as may be requested by the secretary including:

(1) A general description of each proposed project;

(2) A priority evaluation of each proposed project;

(3) A statement of the estimated benefits in such terms as number of acres restored, miles of stream improved, acres of surface lands protected from subsidence, population protected from subsidence, air pollution and hazards of mine and coal refuse disposal area fires;

(4) An estimate of the cost for each proposed project;

(5) In the case of proposed research and demonstration projects, a description of the specific techniques to be evaluated or objective to be attained;

(6) An identification of lands or interest therein to be acquired and the estimated cost; and

(7) In each year after the first in which a plan is filed under this article, an inventory of each project funded under the previous year's grant, which inventory shall include details of financial expenditures on the project together with a brief description of the project, including the project's location, the landowner's name, acreage and the type of reclamation performed.

(d) The costs for each proposed project under this section include actual construction costs, actual operation and maintenance costs of permanent facilities, planning and engineering costs, construction inspection costs and other necessary administrative expenses.