Recommendations 



RECOMMENDATIONS 



The Environmental Review Commission recommends the following legislative 

 proposals to the 1 999 General Assembly for action in the 2000 Regular Session. The fiill 

 text of each proposal is included in Appendix I: Legislative Proposals. 



Administration 



Add. Notice/ Mining Permit Applications 



Currently, an applicant for a mining permit must give notice of the application to owners 

 of land adjoining the parcel affected by the proposed mining activity. This proposal 

 would require that the applicant give notice to owners of land adjoining any land under 

 the control of the applicant that is contiguous with the affected parcel. The applicant 

 would also have to notify: 



• The chief administrative officer of each county and municipality in which the affected 

 land is located. 



• Owners of land directly across a highway (with five lanes or less), a watercourse, or a 

 railway fi-om land under the control of the applicant that is contiguous with the 

 affected parcel. 



• Owners of land directly across fi-om any other public right-of-way from land under 

 the control of the applicant that is contiguous with the affected parcel, to the extent 

 that DENR determines is necessary to provide adequate notice. 



The proposal would become effective September 1, 2000. 



Delegation of Env. Program Authority 



This proposal would grant DENR and various commissions responsible for the protection 

 of public health and the environment a general authorization to delegate administrative 

 responsibilities for envirormiental permitting and enforcement programs to qualified local 

 governments. In order to qualify for delegation, a local government would be required to 

 have a local program with the legal authority and administrative capacity to adequately 

 enforce standards that meet or exceed minimum Statewide standards. The proposal 

 would become effective July 1, 2000. 



Environmental Excellence Agreements - 1 



This proposal would give the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources 

 (Secretary) the authority to enter into Environmental Excellence Program Agreements 

 (EEPAs) with interested parties as an alternative to requiring compliance with statutory 

 and regulatory permit requirements. Under an EEPA, the Secretary would agree to 

 replace the permit requirements with an agreement designed to give a party the flexibility 

 to try alternative approaches to achieve minimum compliance with environmental 

 standards at a lower cost, achieve greater than minimum compliance, or both. The 

 proposal would become effective July 1, 1999. 



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