§ 45.2-1018 Surface effects of underground coal mining operations
A. The Director shall adopt regulations directed toward the surface effects of underground coal mining operations and embodying the requirements of §§ 516 and 720(a)(1) of the federal act. The provisions of this chapter relating to permits, bonds, inspections and enforcement, public review, and administrative and judicial review shall be applicable to any surface operation or surface impact incident to an underground coal mine with such modifications to the permit application requirements, permit approval or denial procedures, and bond requirements as are necessary to accommodate the differences between surface and underground coal mining. Nothing in § 720(a)(1) of the federal act shall be construed to prohibit or interrupt any underground coal mining operation.
B. The regulations adopted by the Director shall require that each permit applicant submit hydrologic reclamation plans that include measures to prevent the sudden release of accumulated water from underground workings.
C. The Director shall suspend underground coal mining under any elementary or secondary school, institution of higher education, urbanized area, city, town, or community, and adjacent to any industrial or commercial building, major impoundment, or permanent stream, if he finds imminent danger to people from such underground coal mining.
History
This law was first created in 1979. The record of its establishment is cataloged in chapter 290 of that year’s edition of “Acts of Assembly,” the annual state publication listing all changes made to the Code of Virginia in that year. Unfortunately, the 1979 “Acts” aren’t available online. It has been modified 3 times. Those modifications are cataloged by “The Acts of Assembly,” a state publication, by year and chapter. Those modifications that can be read on the General Assembly’s website will be linked accordingly. Those modifications are as follows: in 1984, chapter 590; in 1993, chapter 582; in 1996, chapters 409 and 410.
1979, c. 290, § 45.1-243; 1984, c. 590; 1993, c. 582; 1996, cc. 409, 410; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.