A. Within one day of the day on which the application for a permit for a gas or oil operation is filed, the applicant shall provide notice of the application to the following persons:

Terms Used In Virginia Code 45.2-1632

  • Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
  • Coal operator: means any person who operates or has the right to operate a coal mine. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Coal owner: means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, or has the right to mine and produce a coal seam. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Coalbed methane gas: means occluded natural gas produced from coalbeds and rock strata associated with it. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Coalbed methane gas well: means a well capable of producing coalbed methane gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Drilling unit: means the acreage on which one gas or oil well may be drilled. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • geophysical operation: means any activity in search of gas or oil that breaks or disturbs the surface of the earth, including road construction or core drilling. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
  • Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
  • Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
  • Mineral: means the same as that term is defined in § 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Mineral owner: means any person who owns minerals, leases minerals, mines and produces minerals, or has the right to mine and produce minerals and to appropriate such minerals that he produces from it, either for himself or for himself and others. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Oil: means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
  • Pool: means an underground accumulation of gas or oil in a single and separate natural reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Royalty owner: means any owner of gas or oil in place, or owner of gas or oil rights, who is eligible to receive payment based on the production of gas or oil. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
  • Surface owner: means any person who is the owner of record of the surface of the land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Well: means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored, or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction, injection, or placement of any gaseous or liquid substance or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction, injection, or placement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600

1. Every surface owner, coal owner, and mineral owner on the tract to be drilled;

2. Every coal operator who has registered an operation plan with the Department for activities located on the tract to be drilled;

3. Every surface owner on a tract where the surface is to be disturbed;

4. Every gas, oil, or royalty owner (i) within one half of the distance specified in § 45.2-1616 for that type of well or one half of the distance to the nearest well completed in the same pool, whichever is less, or (ii) within the boundaries of a drilling unit established pursuant to the provisions of this chapter;

5. Every coal operator who has applied for or obtained a mining or prospecting permit with respect to a tract located within 500 feet of the proposed well location or, in the case of a proposed coalbed methane gas well location, within 750 feet thereof;

6. Every coal owner or mineral owner on a tract located within 500 feet of the proposed well location or, in the case of a proposed coalbed methane gas well location, within 750 feet thereof; and

7. Every operator of a gas storage field certificated by the State Corporation Commission as a public utility facility whose certificated area includes the well location or whose certificated boundary is within 1,250 feet of the proposed well location.

B. Within one day of the day on which the application for a permit modification for a gas or oil operation is filed, the applicant requesting such permit modification shall provide notice of the application to all persons listed in subsection A who may be directly affected by the proposed activity.

C. Within one day of the day on which the application for a permit for geophysical operations is submitted, the applicant shall provide notice to those persons listed in subdivisions A 1, 2, and 3.

D. Each notice required to be given pursuant to subsection A, B, or C shall contain a statement of the time within which objections may be made and the name and address of the person to whom objections shall be forwarded. Only a person entitled to notice under subsection A, B, or C shall have standing to object to the issuance of the proposed permit or permit modification for a gas, oil, or geophysical operation as the use may be. Upon receipt of notice, any person may waive in writing the time and right to object.

E. Within seven days of the day on which the application for a permit is filed, the applicant shall provide notice to (i) the local governing body or chief executive officer of the locality where the well is proposed to be located and (ii) the general public, through publication of a notice in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the locality where the well is proposed to be located.

F. An applicant shall make a reasonable effort to provide the notices required under subsections A, B, and C. If an applicant is unable to identify or locate any person to whom notice is required, then the notice provided in clause (ii) of subsection E shall be considered sufficient notice to such persons and the date of notification shall be the date of publication.

1982, c. 347, § 45.1-313; 1984, c. 590; 1987, c. 452; 1989, c. 529; 1990, c. 92, § 45.1-361.30; 1996, c. 854; 2008, c. 534; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.

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