Section 53-9-51 - Records, reports and equipment to be maintained by permittees; evaluation of results; specification of monitoring sites; entry and inspection by department; release of materials to public(1) For purposes of administering and enforcing any permit under this chapter, adequately developing a regulatory program, or determining whether any person is in violation of this chapter: (a) The commission shall require any permittee to:(i) Establish and maintain appropriate records;(ii) Make monthly reports to the department;(iii) Install, use and maintain any necessary monitoring equipment or methods;(iv) Evaluate results in accordance with the methods, at locations and intervals and in any manner as the commission shall prescribe; and(v) Provide any other information relative to surface coal mining and reclamation operations as the commission deems reasonable and necessary.(b) For those surface coal mining and reclamation operations which remove or disturb strata that serve as aquifers which significantly insure the hydrologic balance of water use either on or off the mining site, the permit board shall specify those (i) monitoring sites to record the quantity and quality of surface drainage above and below the mine site as well as in the potential zone of influence; (ii) monitoring sites to record level, amount and samples of groundwater and aquifers potentially affected by the mining and also directly below the lowermost (deepest) coal seam to be mined; (iii) records of well logs and borehole data to be maintained; and (iv) monitoring sites to record precipitation. The monitoring, data collection and analysis required by this section shall be conducted according to standards and procedures set forth by the commission in order to assure their reliability and validity; and
(c) Any authorized representative of the department without advance notice and upon presentation of appropriate credentials (i) shall have the right of entry to, upon or through any surface coal mining and reclamation operations or any premises in which any records required to be maintained under paragraph (a) of this subsection are located, and (ii) may at reasonable times, and without delay, have access to and copy any records, inspect any monitoring equipment or method of operations required under this chapter.(2) The inspections by the authorized representative of the department shall: (a) Occur on an irregular basis averaging not less than one (1) partial inspection per month and one (1) complete inspection per calendar quarter for the surface coal mining and reclamation operation covered by each permit;(b) Occur without prior notice to the permittee or the permittee's agents or employees except for necessary on-site meetings with the permittee; and(c) Include the filing of inspection reports adequate to enforce the requirements of this chapter.(3) Each inspector, upon detection of each violation of any requirement of this chapter, shall immediately inform the operator in writing and shall report in writing that violation to the department.(4) Copies of any records, reports, inspection materials or information obtained under this section by the department shall be made available as soon as possible to the public at central and sufficient locations in the county of the area of mining so that they are conveniently available to residents in the areas of mining and shall be considered public records.Laws, 1979, ch. 477, §§ 22(1)-22(2), 22(4)-22(5); Laws, 1997, ch. 306, § 25, eff. 3/10/1997.