Oregon Administrative Rules
Chapter 632 - DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL INDUSTRIES
Division 37 - CONSOLIDATED PERMITTING OF MINING OPERATIONS
Section 632-037-0080 - Notice to Proceed

(1) Within ten days after receiving a consolidated application, the Department shall provide a copy of the application to each affected local government, permitting agency, cooperating agency and federal agency. For the purposes of this section, "affected local government" shall mean those local city and county governments, school districts, people's utility districts, irrigation districts, and road districts, that are within the study area of the proposed mining operation. The Department shall also provide public notice of the receipt of a consolidated application. In addition, upon written request, a copy of the consolidated application shall be made available to any government that believes it will be impacted by the proposed mining operation.

(2) Within 90 days of receipt of a consolidated application, the Department, in conjunction with all permitting and cooperating agencies, shall determine whether the application is complete. A completeness determination shall include the verification of baseline data as accurate.

(3) Before determining whether or not the application is complete and after all members of the technical review team concur that the permitting and cooperating agencies are ready to begin preparing draft permits, the Department shall conduct a public hearing and accept written comments on whether the information contained in the consolidated application is complete and sufficient to allow the permitting agencies to determine whether to issue or deny a permit. The Department shall determine and provide public notice of the date and location of the hearing and the period allowed for written comment. Any person who believes an application is incomplete due to a lack of quantity or quality shall clearly identify the incomplete sections of the application and the reasons such sections are incomplete.

(4) If the permitting and cooperating agencies determine that the application is complete, the Department shall issue a Notice to Proceed with the permitting process and the preparation of draft permits. If the applicant is not required to submit additional information as suggested in oral or written comments that clearly identify the incomplete sections of the application and the reasons such sections are incomplete, the agencies shall prepare a written response explaining why the additional information is not being requested from the applicant.

(5) If the permitting and cooperating agencies determine that additional information is necessary, the Department shall notify the applicant in writing of the additional information that is required. Upon receipt of the additional information, the Department shall provide public notice and accept written comments for a period of 14 calendar days.

(6) After the issuance of a notice to proceed, if new information becomes available or is required by a permitting agency or cooperating agency to determine whether to issue or deny a permit or issue a permit with conditions, and the agencies determine that additional information is significant to the issuance or denial of a permit, the Department shall conduct an additional public hearing to determine whether the new information is complete within 14 days of receipt of the information. The permitting and cooperating agencies may continue to review an application while in the process of requesting additional information.