Section 762.11. Criteria for designating lands as unsuitable

(a) Upon petition an area shall be designated as unsuitable for all or certain types of surface coal mining operations, if the Director determines that reclamation is not technologically and economically feasible under the Act and this chapter.

(b) Upon petition, an area may be (but is not required to be) designated as unsuitable for certain types of surface coal mining operations, if the operations will:

(1) Be incompatible with existing Federal, State or local land use plans or programs;

(2) Affect fragile or historic lands in which the operations could result in significant damage to important historic, cultural, scientific, or aesthetic values or natural systems;

(3) Affect renewable resource lands in which the operations could result in a substantial loss or reduction of long-range productivity of water supply or of food or fiber products; or

(4) Affect natural hazard lands in which the operations could substantially endanger life and property, such lands to include areas subject to frequent flooding and areas of unstable geology.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR480-03-19 § 762.11, eff. December 15, 1981; amended, eff. June 28, 1982; October 28, 1982; December 14, 1982; October 11, 1983; December 27, 1983; May 8, 1984; June 22, 1984; August 2, 1984; October 16, 1985; January 7, 1987, July 22, 1987, November 25, 1987, October 12, 1988, December 26, 1990, July 1, 1991, July 17, 1991, November 20, 1991, July 7, 1992, May 5, 1993, and October 19, 1994.

Statutory Authority

§§ 45.1-161.3 and 45.1-230 of the Code of Virginia.