West Virginia Code 22-9-4 – Notice by persons operating coal mines
(a) Any person owning or operating a coal mine on June 8, 1955, and having knowledge that it overlies or is within two thousand linear feet of a gas storage reservoir, shall within thirty days notify the director and the storage operator of such fact unless such notification has already been provided to the director pursuant to the provisions of former article four, chapter twenty-two-b of this code.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-9-4
- coal mine: means those operations in a coal seam which include the excavated and abandoned portions as well as the places actually being worked. See West Virginia Code 22-9-1
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Director: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection or his or her designee. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
- gas: means any gaseous substance. See West Virginia Code 22-9-1
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- operating coal mine: means : (a) A coal mine which is producing coal or has been in production of coal at any time during the twelve months immediately preceding the date its status is put in question under this article and any worked out or abandoned coal mine connected underground with or contiguous to such operating coal mine as herein defined. See West Virginia Code 22-9-1
- person: means any individual, association, partnership or corporation. See West Virginia Code 22-9-1
- storage operator: means any person as herein defined who proposes to or does operate a storage reservoir, either as owner or lessee. See West Virginia Code 22-9-1
- storage reservoir: means that portion of any subterranean sand or rock stratum or strata into which gas is or may be injected for the purpose of storage or for the purpose of testing whether said stratum is suitable for storage. See West Virginia Code 22-9-1
(b) When any person owning or operating a coal mine hereafter expects that within the ensuing nine-month period such coal mine will be extended to a point which will be within two thousand linear feet of any storage reservoir, such person shall notify the director and the storage operator in writing of such fact.
(c) Any person hereafter intending to establish or reestablish an operating coal mine which when established or reestablished will be over a storage reservoir or within two thousand linear feet of a storage reservoir, or which upon being established or reestablished may within nine months thereafter be expected to be within two thousand linear feet of a storage reservoir, shall notify the director and the storage operator in writing before doing so and such notice shall include the date on which it is intended the operating coal mine will be established or reestablished.
Any person who serves such notice of an intention to establish or reestablish an operating coal mine under this subsection, without intending in good faith to establish or reestablish such mine, shall be liable for continuing damages to any storage operator injured by the serving of such improper notice and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor under this article and subject to the same penalties as set forth in section twelve of this article.