Abstract |
This evaluation found that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) is performing many aspects of its Incidental Boundary Revision (IBR) process very well. For example, WVDEP makes sure new acreage added under an IBR is bonded; it did not use IBRs evaluated for this study to abate violations; and it frequently used its discretion to require public advertisement of IBRs. In several instances, the WVDEP also recognized that an IBR application did not quite fit the profile of a minor boundary shift and treated the requests as significant permit revisions with increased public comment periods. While WVDEP is to be commended for dealing with the complexity of the requests, OSM notes that the very complexity the WVDEP noted also contributed to the findings in this report questioning how the approvals fit the IBR process. |