2005 West Virginia Code - §5B-2A-6. — Community impact statement.

§5B-2A-6. Community impact statement.
(a)(1) The operator shall develop a community impact statement as described in this section, which shall be submitted to the office within sixty days of the filing of a surface-mining application pursuant to the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-two of this code. Failure to submit a community impact statement to the office shall be considered a violation under the provisions of section seventeen, article three, chapter twenty-two of this code; and
(2) The operator shall provide copies of the community impact statement to the division's office of mining reclamation and office of explosives and blasting and to the county commissions, county clerks' offices and local or regional economic development authorities of the areas to be affected by the surface-mining operations.
(b) The community impact statement, where practicable, shall not be a highly technical or legalistic document, but shall be written in a clear and concise manner understandable to all citizens. The community impact statement shall include the following:
(1) The amount and location of land to be mined or used in the actual mining operations;
(2) The expected duration of the mining operations in each area of the community;
(3) The extent of anticipated mining-related property acquisitions, to the extent that such acquisitions are known or knowable;
(4) The intentions of the surface and mineral owners relative to the acquired property, to the extent that such intentions are known or knowable;
(5) A statement of the post-mining land use for all land within the permit boundary;
(6) The intended blasting plan and the expected time and duration it will affect each community;
(7) Information concerning the extent and nature of valley fills and the watersheds to be affected; and
(8) Economic information, such as the number of jobs created and annual coal production resulting from the surface-mining operation, the anticipated life of the mining operation and such other information as may be deemed appropriate.
(c) Where the operator makes any significant revision to the permit application under section eighteen, article three, chapter twenty-two of this code, which revision substantially affects any of the information provided in subsection (b) of this section, the operator shall revise the affected provisions of its community impact statement and shall submit such revisions as set forth in subsection (a) of this section.
(d) The provisions of this section shall apply as follows:
(1) To all surface-mining permits granted after the effective date of this article; and
(2) At the first renewal date of all previously issued permits: Provided, That the permittee shall be afforded ninety days from said date to comply with the provisions of this section.