Current through Register Vol. 41, No. 3, September 23, 2024
(a) Permit review. If the division has reason
to believe that it improvidently issued a surface coal mining and reclamation
permit, it shall review the circumstances under which the permit was issued,
using the criteria in subdivision (b) of this section. Where the division finds
that the permit was improvidently issued, it shall comply with subdivision (c)
of this section.
(b) Review
criteria. The division shall find that a surface coal mining and reclamation
permit was improvidently issued if:
(1) Under
the violations review criteria of this chapter at the time the permit was
issued:
(i) The division should not have
issued the permit because of an unabated violation or a delinquent penalty or
fee; or
(ii) The permit was issued
on the presumption that a notice of violation was in the process of being
corrected to the satisfaction of the agency with jurisdiction over the
violation, but a cessation order subsequently was issued; and
(2) The violation, penalty or fee:
(i) Remains unabated or delinquent;
and
(ii) Is not the subject of a
good faith appeal, or of an abatement plan or payment schedule with which the
permittee or other person responsible is complying to the satisfaction of the
responsible agency; and
(3) Where the permittee was linked to the
violation, penalty or fee through ownership or control, under the violations
review criteria of this chapter at the time the permit was issued an ownership
or control link between the permittee and the person responsible for the
violation, penalty or fee still exists, or where the link was severed the
permittee continues to be responsible for the violation, penalty or
fee.
(c) Remedial
measures. If the division, under subdivision (b) of this section, finds that
because of an unabated violation or a delinquent penalty or fee a permit was
improvidently issued, it shall use one or more of the following remedial
measures:
(1) Implement, with the cooperation
of the permittee or other person responsible, and of the responsible agency, a
plan for abatement of the violation or a schedule for payment of the penalty or
fee;
(2) Impose on the permit a
condition requiring that in a reasonable period of time the permittee or other
person responsible abate the violation or pay the penalty or fee;
(3) Serve the permittee with a preliminary
finding that shall be based on evidence sufficient to establish a prima facie
case that the permit was improvidently issued. The finding shall inform the
permittee that the permit may be suspended or rescinded under 4VAC25-130-773.21
if the violation is not abated or the penalty or fee is not paid.
Statutory Authority
§§ 45.1-161.3 and 45.1-230 of the Code of
Virginia.
