A. Any person who applies for a hearing in front of the Board pursuant to the provisions of § 45.1-361.20, 45.1-361.21, or 45.1-361.22 shall simultaneously with the filing of such application, provide notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to each gas or oil owner, coal owner, or mineral owner having an interest underlying the tract which is the subject of the hearing, and to the operator of any gas storage field certificated by the State Corporation Commission as a public utility facility whose certificated area includes the tract which is the subject of the hearing. Whenever a hearing applicant is unable to provide such written notice because the identity or location of a person to whom notice is required to be given is unknown, the hearing applicant shall promptly notify the Board of such inability.

B. At least 10 days prior to a hearing, the Board shall publish its agenda in newspapers of general circulation that are widely circulated in the localities where the lands that are the subject of the hearing are located. The agenda shall include the name of each applicant, the localities where the lands that are the subject of the hearing are located, the purpose of the hearing, and the date, time and location thereof.

C. The Board shall conduct all hearings on applications made to it pursuant to the formal litigated issues hearing provisions of the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.). The applicant and any person to whom notice is required to be given pursuant to the provisions of subsection A of this section shall have standing to be heard at the hearing. The Board shall render its decision on such applications within thirty days of the hearing’s closing date and shall provide notification of its decision to all parties to the hearing pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Process Act.

History

1982, c. 347, § 45.1-304; 1989, c. 529; 1990, c. 92; 1997, c. 759; 2008, c. 534.