LAC 43:XV.3127. Improvidently Issued Permits: General Procedures

A. When the office has reason to believe that it improvidently issued a surface coal mining and reclamation permit, it shall review the circumstances under which the permit was issued. The office will make a preliminary finding that the permit was improvidently issued if, under the permit eligibility criteria section 910.C of the Act in effect at the time of permit issuance, the permit should not have been issued because the applicant or the applicant’s operator owned or controlled a surface coal mining and reclamation operation with an unabated or uncorrected violation. B. The office will make a finding under §3127.A only if the applicant or the applicant’s operator: 1. continue to own or control the operation with the unabated or uncorrected violation; 2. the violation remains unabated or uncorrected; and 3. the violation would cause the applicant to be ineligible under the permit eligibility criteria in the current regulations. C. When the office makes a preliminary finding under §3127.A, it must serve the applicant with a written notice of the preliminary finding, which must be based on evidence sufficient to establish a prima facie case that the permit was improvidently issued. D. Within 30 days of receiving a notice under §3127.C, the applicant may challenge the preliminary finding by providing the office with evidence as to why the permit was not improvidently issued under the criteria in §3127.A and B. E. The provisions of §§3131-3135 apply when a challenge under §3127.D concerns a preliminary finding under §3127.A and B.1 that the applicant or the applicant’s operator currently own or control, or owned or controlled, a surface coal mining operation.