Mississippi Code Title 53. Oil, Gas, and Other Minerals § 53-7-69

(1) There is created in the State Treasury a fund to be designated as the “Surface Mining and Reclamation Fund,” referred to hereinafter as the “fund.” There is created in the fund an account designated as the “Land Reclamation Account” and an account designated as the “Surface Mining Program Operations Account.”

(2) The fund shall be treated as a special trust fund. Interest earned on the principal therein shall be credited by the Treasurer to the fund.

(3) The fund may receive monies from any available public or private sources, including, but not limited to, collection of fees, interest, grants, taxes, public and private donations, judicial actions, penalties and forfeited performance bonds. Any monies received from penalties, forfeited performance bonds, judicial actions and the interest thereon, less enforcement and collection costs, shall be credited to the Land Reclamation Account. Any monies received from the collection of fees, grants, taxes, public or private donations and the interest thereon shall be credited to the Surface Mining Program Operations Account.

(4) The commission shall expend or utilize monies in the fund by an annual appropriation by the Legislature as provided herein. Monies in the Land Reclamation Account may be used to defray any costs of reclamation of land affected by mining operations. Monies in the Surface Mining Program Operations Account may be used to defray the reasonable direct and indirect costs associated with the administration and enforcement of this chapter.

(5) Proceeds from the forfeiture of performance bonds or deposits and penalties recovered shall be available to be expended to reclaim, in accordance with this chapter, lands with respect to which the performance bonds or deposits were provided and penalties assessed. If the commission expends monies from the fund for which the cost of reclamation exceeded the proceeds from the forfeiture of performance bonds or deposits, the commission may seek to recover any monies expended from the fund from any responsible party.