                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

 SURFACE EFFECTS OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINING OPERATIONS (§ 45.2-1018)

A. The Director shall adopt regulations directed toward the surface effects of
underground coal mining operations and embodying the requirements of
&#xA7;&#xA7; 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 &#xA7;
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: 1979, c. 290, § 45.1-243; 1984, c. 590; 1993, c. 582; 1996, cc. 409,
410; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.