A. Any order or decision of the Board may be appealed to the appropriate circuit court. Whenever a coal owner, coal operator, gas owner, gas operator, or operator of a gas storage field certificated by the State Corporation Commission is a party in such action, the court shall hear such appeal de novo. The court has the power to enter interlocutory orders as necessary to protect the rights of all interested parties pending a final decision.
B. Unless the parties otherwise agree, the venue for court review shall be the county or city where the gas, oil, or geophysical operation that is the subject of such order or decision is located.
C. The Director and all parties required to be given notice of hearings of the Board pursuant to the provisions of § 45.2-1618 shall have standing to appeal any order or decision of the Board that directly affects them. The permittee or permit applicant, the Director, and those parties with standing to object pursuant to the provisions of § 45.2-1632 shall have standing to appeal any order or decision of the Board that directly affects them. However, except for an aggrieved permit applicant or the Director, no person shall have standing to appeal a decision of the Board concerning a permit application unless such person has previously filed an objection with the Director pursuant to the provisions of § 45.2-1637. The filing of any petition for appeal concerning the issuance of a new permit that was objected to pursuant to the provisions of § 45.2-1611 or 45.2-1612 or by a gas storage field operator who asserts that the proposed well work will adversely affect the operation of a gas storage field certificated by the State Corporation Commission shall automatically stay the permit until such stay is dissolved or the appeal is decided by the circuit court. However, in an appeal by a gas storage field operator, such automatic stay shall not apply to an oil, gas, or coalbed methane well completed more than 100 feet above the cap rock above the storage stratum.
1990, c. 92, § 45.1-361.9; 1997, c. 759; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.