Section 764.15. Initial processing, recordkeeping, and notification requirements

(a)(1) Within 60 days of receipt of a petition, the division shall notify the petitioner by certified mail whether the petition is complete under 4VAC25-130-764.13(b) or (c). Complete, for a designation or termination petition, means that the information required under 4VAC25-130-764.13(b) or (c) has been provided.

(2) The division shall determine whether any identified coal resources exist in the area covered by the petition, without requiring any showing from the petitioner. If the division finds there are not any identified coal resources in that area, the Director shall return the petition to the petitioner with a statement of the findings.

(3) If the Director determines that the petition is incomplete, frivolous, or that the petitioner does not meet the requirements of 4VAC25-130-764.13(a), he shall return the petition to the petitioner with a written statement of the reasons for the determination and the categories of information needed to make the petition complete. A frivolous petition is one in which the allegations of harm lack serious merit.

(4) When considering a petition for an area which was previously and unsuccessfully proposed for designation, the division shall determine if the new petition presents significant new allegations of facts with evidence which tends to establish the allegations. If the petition does not contain such material, the Director may choose not to consider the petition and may return the petition to the petitioner, with a statement of his findings and a reference to the record of the previous designation proceedings where the facts were considered.

(5) The Director shall notify the person who submits a petition of any application for a permit received which includes any area covered by the petition.

(6) The Director may determine not to process any petition received insofar as it pertains to lands for which an administratively complete permit application has been filed and the first newspaper notice has been published. Based on such a determination, the division may issue a decision on a complete and accurate permit application and the Director shall inform the petitioner why he cannot consider the part of the petition pertaining to the proposed permit area.

(b)(1) Promptly after a petition is received, the Director shall notify the general public of the receipt of the petition by a newspaper advertisement placed in the locale of the area covered by the petition, in the newspaper providing broadest circulation in the region of the petitioned area and in the Virginia Register of Regulations. The Director shall make copies of the petition available to the public and shall provide copies of the petition to other interested governmental agencies, intervenors, persons with an ownership interest of record in the property, and other persons known to the Director to have an interest in the property. Notice to the person with an ownership interest of record in the property shall be by certified mail.

(2) Promptly after the determination that a petition is complete, the Director shall request submissions from the general public of relevant information by a newspaper advertisement placed once a week for two consecutive weeks in the locale of the area covered by the petition, in the newspaper providing broadest circulation in the region of the petitioned area, and in the Virginia Register of Regulations.

(c) Until three days before the Director holds a hearing under 4VAC25-130-764.17, any person may intervene in the proceeding by filing allegations of facts describing how the designation determination directly affects the intervenor, supporting evidence, a short statement identifying the petition to which the allegations pertain, and the intervenor's name, address and telephone number.

(d) Beginning from the date a petition is filed, the Director shall compile and maintain a record consisting of all documents relating to the petition filed with or prepared by the Director. The Director shall make the record available to the public for inspection, free of charge, and for copying at reasonable cost during all normal hours at the Director's Richmond office and the Division's Big Stone Gap office. The division shall also maintain information at a public office or public building in the area in which the petitioned area is located and make this information available to the public for inspection free of charge and for copying at reasonable cost during all normal business hours. At a minimum, this information shall include a copy of the petition.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR480-03-19 § 764.15, 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; October 19, 1994.

Statutory Authority

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