45.1-244 - Inspections and monitoring.
§ 45.1-244. Inspections and monitoring.
A. For the purpose of administering and enforcing any permit issued underthis chapter or of determining whether any person is in violation of anyrequirement of this chapter or any regulation promulgated hereunder:
1. The Director shall require any permittee to (i) establish and maintainappropriate records, (ii) make monthly reports to the Division, (iii)install, use and maintain any necessary monitoring equipment or methods, (iv)evaluate results in accordance with such methods, at such locations,intervals, and in such manner as the Director shall prescribe, and (v)provide such other information relative to coal surface mining andreclamation operations as the Director deems reasonable and necessary;
2. For those coal surface mining and reclamation operations which remove ordisturb strata that serve as aquifers which significantly insure thehydrologic balance of water use either on or off the mining site, theDirector shall specify those (i) monitoring sites to record the quantity andquality of surface drainage above and below the mine site as well as in thepotential zone of influence, and to record level, amount, and samples ofground water and aquifers potentially affected by mining, and also directlybelow the deepest coal seam to be mined, and to record precipitation; and(ii) records of well logs and borehole data to be maintained. The monitoringdata collection and analysis required by this section shall be conductedaccording to standards and procedures set forth in regulations promulgated bythe Director in order to assure their reliability and validity; and
3. The authorized representatives of the Director, without advance notice andupon presentation of appropriate credentials, (i) shall have the right ofentry to, upon, or through any coal surface mining and reclamation operation;and (ii) shall have the right to inspect any monitoring equipment, any methodof exploration, any method of operation, or any records required by thischapter, and shall have the right to copy any such records.
No search warrant shall be required for any entry or inspection under thissubsection, except with respect to entry into a building.
B. The inspections by the Director shall (i) occur on an irregular basisaveraging not less than one partial inspection per month and one completeinspection per calendar quarter for the coal surface mining and reclamationoperations covered by each permit; (ii) occur without prior notice to thepermittee or his agents or employees except for necessary on-site meetingswith the permittee; and (iii) include the filing of inspection reportsadequate to enforce the requirements of and to carry out the terms andpurposes of this chapter.
C. Each permittee shall conspicuously maintain at the entrance to the coalsurface mining and reclamation operation a clearly visible sign setting forthsuch information as shall be prescribed by regulation.
D. Each inspector, upon detection of each violation of any requirement ofthis chapter or of the regulations promulgated hereunder, shall forthwithinform the operator in writing and shall report in writing any such violationto the Director.
E. Copies of any records, reports, inspection materials, or informationobtained by the Director under this article shall be made immediatelyavailable to the public at central and sufficient locations in the area ofmining so that they are conveniently available to residents in such areas;however, information which pertains only to the analysis of the chemical andphysical properties of the coal, excepting information regarding mineral orelemental content which is potentially toxic in the environment, shall bekept confidential and not made a matter of public record.
(1979, c. 290; 1984, cc. 323, 590.)