Virginia Code 45.2-1637: Objections to permits; hearing
A. Objections to a new permit or permit modification may be filed with the Director by any person having standing as set out in § 45.2-1632. Such objections shall be filed within 15 days of the objecting party’s receipt of the notice required by § 45.2-1632. Any person objecting to a permit shall state the reasons for his objections.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 45.2-1637
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- Pipeline: means any pipe above or below the ground used or to be used to transport gas or oil. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
- 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
B. The only objections to permits or permit modifications that may be raised by a surface owner are:
1. The operations plan for soil erosion and sediment control is not adequate or not effective;
2. Measures in addition to the requirement for a well‘s water-protection string are necessary to protect freshwater-bearing strata;
3. The permitted work will constitute a hazard to the safety of any person;
4. Location of the coalbed methane well or coalbed methane well pipeline will unreasonably infringe on the surface owner’s use of the surface, so long as a reasonable alternative site is available within the unit and granting the objection will not materially impair any right contained in an agreement, valid at the time of the objection, between the surface owner and the operator or their predecessors or successors in interest; and
5. If the surface owner is an interstate park commission, the location of the well or pipeline will unreasonably infringe on the surface owner’s use of the surface, so long as a reasonable alternative site is available within the unit and granting the objection will not materially impair any right contained in an agreement, valid at the time of the objection, between the surface owner and the operator or their predecessors or successors in interest.
C. The only objections to permits or permit modifications that may be raised by a royalty owner are that the proposed well work:
1. Directly impinges upon the royalty owner’s gas and oil interest;
2. Threatens to violate the objecting royalty owner’s property or statutory rights aside from his contractual rights; and
3. Would not adequately prevent the escape of the Commonwealth’s gas and oil resources or provide for the accurate measurement of gas and oil production and delivery to the first point to sale.
D. Objections to permits or permit modifications may be raised by a coal owner or operator pursuant to the provisions of §§ 45.2-1611 and 45.2-1612.
E. The only objections to permits or permit modifications that may be raised by a mineral owner are those that could be raised by a coal owner under § 45.2-1611, so long as the mineral owner makes the objection and affirmatively proves that it does in fact apply with equal force to the mineral in question.
F. The only objections to permits or permit modifications that may be raised by a gas storage field operator are those in which the gas storage operator affirmatively proves that the proposed well work will adversely affect the operation of his gas storage field certificated by the State Corporation Commission; however, nothing in this subsection shall be construed to preclude the owner of nonstorage strata from drilling a well for the purpose of producing oil or gas from any stratum above or below the storage stratum.
G. The Director shall fix a time and place for an informal fact-finding hearing concerning an objection filed pursuant to this section. The hearing shall be scheduled for not less than 20 nor more than 30 days after the objection is filed. The Director shall prepare a notice of the hearing, stating all objections and by whom each is made, and send a copy of such notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, at least 10 days prior to the hearing date to the permit applicant and to every person with standing to object as prescribed by § 45.2-1632.
H. At the hearing, if the parties fail to come to an agreement, the Director shall proceed to decide the objection pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) relating to informal fact-finding procedures.
1982, c. 347, §§ 45.1-315, 45.1-316, 45.1-317; 1987, c. 452; 1989, c. 529; 1990, c. 92, § 45.1-361.35; 1996, c. 854; 1998, c. 228; 2002, c. 277; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.