Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 11 - Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality › Part 8 - Geology Regulations › Chapter 2 - Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality Regulations Governing Surface Coal Mining › Subchapter 2.2 - Areas Unsuitable for Mining › Rule 11-8-2.2-15 - State Process for Designating Areas Unsuitable for Surface Coal Mining Operations › Section 11-8-2.2-15-1501 - Procedures: Petitions

Current through June 25, 2024
(a) Right to
					 Petition. Any interested party which is or may be adversely affected has the
					 right to petition the Commission to have an area designated as unsuitable for
					 surface coal mining operations, or to have an existing designation terminated.
					 For the purpose of this Rule, an interested party is a person having an
					 interest which is or may be adversely affected by surface coal mining in the
					 area at issue in his or her petition who is able to demonstrate to the
					 Commission that he or she meets an "injury in fact" test by describing the
					 actual or potential injury to his or her specific affected interests and
					 demonstrating how he or she is or would be among the injured.
(b) Designation. The petitioner must provide:
					 identification of the petitioned area, including its location and size, and a
					 U.S. Geological Survey topographic map outlining the perimeter of the
					 petitioned area; allegations of facts and supporting evidence which would tend
					 to establish that the area is unsuitable for all or certain types of surface
					 coal mining operations; a description of how mining of the area has affected or
					 may adversely affect people, land, air, water or other resources; the
					 petitioner's name, address, telephone number and notarized signature; and
					 identification of the petitioner's interest which is or may be adversely
					 affected, including a statement demonstrating how the petitioner satisfies the
					 requirements of § 1505(a) and any additional information deemed necessary
					 by the Commission.
(c) Termination.
					 The petitioner must provide the following information in support of a petition
					 to terminate a designation:
(1) identification
					 of the petitioned area, including its location and size, and a U.S. Geological
					 Survey topographic map outlining the perimeter of the petitioned area to which
					 the termination petition applies.
(2) allegations of facts, with supporting
					 evidence, not contained in the record of the proceeding in which the area was
					 designated unsuitable, which would tend to establish the statements or
					 allegations, and which statements or allegations indicate that the designation
					 should be terminated based on:
(A) the nature
					 or abundance of the protected resource or condition or other basis of the
					 designation if the designation was based on criteria found in §
					 1303(b);
(B) reclamation now being
					 technologically and economically feasible, if the designation was based on the
					 criteria found in § 1303(a); or
(C) the resources or condition not being
					 affected by surface coal mining operations, or in the case of land use plans,
					 not being incompatible with surface coal mining operations during and after
					 mining, if the designation was based on the criteria found in §
					 1303(b);
(3) the
					 petitioner's name, address, telephone number and notarized signature;
(4) identification of the petitioner's
					 interest which is or may be adversely affected by the continuation of the
					 designation, including a statement demonstrating how the petitioner satisfies
					 the requirements of § 1505(a), and
(5) any additional information deemed
					 necessary by the Commission.