NRS513.094. Additional fee; Administrator to establish program to discover dangerous conditions of nonoperating mines; employment of qualified assistant; regulations.

      1.  An additional fee, in an amount established pursuant to subsection 4, is imposed upon all filings to which NRS 517.185 applies. Each county recorder shall collect and pay over the additional fee, and the additional fee must be deposited in the same manner as provided in that section.

      2.  The Administrator shall, within the limits of the money provided by this fee, establish a program to discover dangerous conditions that result from mining practices which took place at a mine that is no longer operating, identify if feasible the owner or other person responsible for the condition, and rank the conditions found in descending order of danger. The Administrator shall annually during the month of January, or more often if the danger discovered warrants, inform each board of county commissioners concerning the dangerous conditions found in the respective counties, including their degree of danger relative to one another and to those conditions found in the State as a whole. In addition, the Administrator shall work to educate the public to recognize and avoid those hazards resulting from mining practices which took place at a mine that is no longer operating.

      3.  To carry out this program and these duties, the Administrator shall employ a qualified assistant, who must be in the unclassified service of the State and whose position is in addition to the unclassified positions otherwise authorized in the Division by statute.

      4.  The Commission shall establish by regulation:

      (a) The fee required pursuant to subsection 1, in an amount not to exceed $4 per claim.

      (b) Standards for determining the conditions created by the abandonment of a former mine or its associated works that constitute a danger to persons or animals and for determining the relative degree of danger. A condition whose existence violates a federal or state statute or regulation intended to protect public health or safety is a danger because of that violation.

      (c) Standards for abating the kinds of dangers usually found, including, but not limited to, standards for excluding persons and animals from dangerous open excavations.

      (Added to NRS by 1987, 1867; A 1993, 298, 1683; 1995, 579; 1999, 890, 3627; 2001, 66)