Arizona Laws 27-447. Inspection and enforcement
A. The state mine inspector may enter and inspect any aggregate mining operation to determine compliance with an approved community notice.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 27-447
- Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Aggregate: means cinders, crushed rock or stone, decomposed granite, gravel, pumice, pumicite and sand. See Arizona Laws 27-441
- Aggregate mining: means clearing, covering or moving land using mechanized earth-moving equipment on privately owned property for aggregate development and production purposes, including ancillary aggregate finished product activities. See Arizona Laws 27-441
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Inspector: means the state mine inspector and except in article 7 of this chapter his deputies. See Arizona Laws 27-301
- Mine: means all lands containing excavations, underground passageways, shafts, tunnels and workings, structures, facilities, equipment, machines or other property including impoundments, retention dams, tailings and waste dumps, on the surface or underground, used in, to be used in or resulting from the work of extracting minerals or other materials, excluding hydrocarbons. See Arizona Laws 27-301
- Mining: means those activities conducted to develop or extract materials from a mine including on-site transportation, concentrating, milling, leaching, smelting or other processing of ores or other materials. See Arizona Laws 27-301
- operation: means property that is owned, operated or managed by the same person for mining aggregate and is located in an aggregate mining operations zoning district established pursuant to section 11-812. See Arizona Laws 27-441
- Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
B. If the inspector determines that a person is violating this article, an approved community notice or aggregate mining operations zoning district standards regulation adopted by a county and approved by the state mining inspector pursuant to section 11-812, the inspector may issue an order requiring compliance either immediately if the violation is causing an imminent and substantial danger to the public or within a stated period of time. A compliance order must state with reasonable specificity the nature of the community notice violation, a reasonable amount of time for compliance, if applicable, and the right to a hearing. The inspector shall transmit the compliance order to the alleged violator either by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by hand delivery. At the inspector’s request, the attorney general may file an action to enforce orders issued under this section after the order becomes final. The action must be filed in the superior court in the county in which the alleged violation occurred or in which the inspector maintains an office.
C. The inspector may suspend, withdraw or revoke a community notice approval if the inspector determines that the aggregate mining operation is in violation of an approved community notice. Any action taken under this subsection must comply with the requirements of Title 41, Chapter 6, Article 10 and section 41-1009, subsection E.
D. If the inspector has reason to believe that a person is violating this article or an approved community notice or aggregate mining operations zoning district standards regulation adopted by a county and approved by the inspector pursuant to section 11-812 or that a person is causing an imminent and substantial danger to the public safety, the inspector, through the attorney general, may request a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction or any other relief necessary to protect the public safety without regard to whether the person has requested a hearing. An action filed pursuant to this subsection must be brought in the superior court in the county in which the alleged violation occurred or in which the inspector maintains an office.