SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 27


the development of peat-using facilities and to re-consider their impacts
as more experience is gained.
4. General Policy on the Siting of Peat Mines
 "The task force recommends a four part general policy on the siting of
peat mines:

 (1.) "Permits for peat mining should not be issued for stream valley
 deposits which directly contribute organic matter to estuarine ecosys-
 tems and for floodplain peat deposits along major rivers.
 (2.) (2.) "Permits for peat mining in areas where the bottom of the
 peat deposit lies at or below sea level should not be issued unless and
 until adequate environmental safeguards are developed.
 (3.) "Permits for peat mining should not be issued on state parks
 and state-owned state gamelands, and no leases for peat mining on
 any state-owned lands should be issued without a full review of the
 environmental impacts.
 (4.) "Mining in the rest of the peat deposits should be permitted
 under careful monitoring.

 "This basic recommendation is repeated from the 1981 task force
report. In the interim no mining permits have been issued which are not in
accord with the recommendation, even though DNRCD has officially
promulgated only the state parks portion of part (3). Careful mining with
close monitoring has been the principle followed in issuing all five permits
now in effect.
 "The permit for Whitetail Farms, at least on the northern half of the
tract, is the only example thus far of a permit falling under part (2), not
issuing permits pending adequate environmental safeguards. The White-
tail Farms mining permit incorporates several safeguards which the peat
mining permit application review group found to satisfy the requirement
for "adequate environmental safeguards". In order to mine peat in a
deposit which partly extends below sea level, Whitetail Farms is required
to, among other things, mine no lower than an elevation of one foot
above mean sea level, direct all surface drainage from the part of the
tract outside the Boundary Canal, build and maintain a dike reaching
eight feet elevation above mean sea level around the area in which the
post-mining elevation will be between one and eight feet, install flood-
gates, and maintain a 300-foot wide buffer between the waterway and
the mine.
 "These extensive measures should be taken as an example rather than
a general policy statement. The principal concern addressed in part (2) is
what type of reclamation is feasible and should be permitted where the
peat deposits extend below sea level. If mining is stopped above sea
level, deep organic soils may be left which make some types of reclama-
tion very difficult to implement. If mining extends below sea level, issues
of wet reclamation and perpetual pumping are raised. The Whitetail