CHAPTER 22

AN ACT to authorize the Governor to declare an emergency when
there is threatened or exists a substantial interruption of
the production of coal, appoint a fuel commission with the
power to exercise the right of eminent domain to acquire,
for temporary use and operation by said commission, cer-
tain coal mines, facilities and equipment used in operating
the same, under circumstances when the owners or opera-
tors are unable or unwilling to operate same, payment of
compensation to owner or operator when property is tem-
porarily taken, restoration of property to owner or operator
and provision for appeal to court by owner or operator; to
provide punishment for violations and to declare an emer-

gency.
[H 113 ]
Approved February 17, 1950

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. <Any person, partnership, association or corporation
engaged in the business of mining, production and marketing of
coal, any portion of which is customarily used in the manufac-
ture of heat and power, is hereby declared to be engaged in a
business essential to the welfare, health and safety of the people
of Virginia, and, under the conditions and in the manner herein-
after set forth, may be seized and operated by the Common-
wealth of Virginia, or any agency created and organized for
such purpose, for public uses.

§ 2. The term “public uses’ as used herein means the
mining, production and marketing of coal for the purpose of pro-
viding and furnishing heat and power to the people of Virginia,
and any imminent threat of substantial interruption or existing
substantial interruption of such service is hereby declared to be
contrary to the public policy of the State, and it is the duty of
the Government of the State to exercise all available means and
every power at its command to prevent the same so as to protect
its citizens from any dangers, perils, calamities or catastrophes
which would result therefrom.

§ 3. It is hereby declared that whenever in the judgment
of the Governor there is an imminent threat of substantial inter-
ruption or there exists a substantial interruption of the “public
uses” as herein defined, he shall proclaim that an emergency
exists ‘in this Commonwealth endangering the welfare, health
and safety of its people and the enjoyment of public and private
property within its borders, and it shall be the duty of the Gov-
ernor to forthwith seize and operate the property of any person,
partnership, association, or corporation used in the mining, pro-
duction and marketing of coal that he deems essential for the
protection of the welfare, health and safety of the people of
Virginia.

§ 4. -The Governor shall, in addition to his inherent power
as Governor, have and may exercise the powers and authority
to possess and operate said properties for public uses in the
manner hereinafter provided and through an agency known and
designated as “Virginia Fuel Commission”, composed and cre-
ated as hereinafter set forth.

To act for and on behalf of the Governor in the
enforcement of this act, the Governor shall appoint a commis-
sion, known and designated as “Virginia Fuel Commission”,
composed of three electors in the State, one of whom shall be
designated by the Governor as Chairman. Said Commission,
subject to the approval of the Governor, shall have in addition
to such power and duties incident hereto as the Governor may
have and shall delegate to it, the following powers and duties:

(1) To proclaim and publish such rules and regulations
and to issue such orders, as may in the judgment of the Com-
mission be necessary to accomplish in full the purposes of this
act, which shall have the force and effect of law and the viola-
tion thereof shall be punishable as a misdemeanor in every case
where such order declares that its violation shall have such force
and effect.

(2) To appoint and employ such officers and personnel as in
its judgment may be required to carry out the provisions of this
act, and to remove, in its discretion, any and all persons serving
thereunder, and to fix, subject to approval by the Governor, the
remuneration of all such officers and other personnel. Such per-
sonnel shall work subject to such safety provisions as are in
force on the property at time of acquisition.

(3) To acquire under the power of eminent domain, or by
purchase, lease, or otherwise, all the property of any person,
partnership, association or corporation, used in the business of
mining, production and marketing coal, including all lands,
tipples, mines, ores, rights of way, leaseholds, and every charac-
ter and type of equipment deemed by the said Commission neces-
sary and incidental to the continuous mining and production
of coal.

(4) To operate, manage and control any such properties so
acquired; to purchase coal, coke and other fuel and to sell the
same, either at retail or at wholesale; to enter into contracts;
to allocate and provide for the distribution of coal and other
fuels so as to assure distribution deemed most likely to promote
the welfare, health and safety of the people of Virginia; and to
do any and all things necessary and incident to the mining, pro-
duction and marketing of coal.

§ 6. Whenever the Governor shall have proclaimed that
an emergency exists under this act, the “Virginia Fuel Com-
mission” shall forthwith make a bona fide attempt to negotiate
the purchase or lease of the coal properties of such persons,
partnerships, associations, or corporations, engaged in the min-
ing, production and marketing of coal as to it is deemed neces-
sary to accomplish the purposes of this act, except where such
negotiations cannot be promptly made due to the incapacity of
the owners or one or more of them of the property, or for any
other reason, no attempt to negotiate for the acquisition of such
property need be made.

§ 7. Proceedings for condemnation hereunder shall be
instituted and conducted in the name of the “Virginia Fuel Com-
mission’’, and the procedure shall, except insofar as altered
herein, be mutatis mutandis the same as prescribed by law for
condemnations in the name of the “State Highway Commis-
sioner’, and the rights of all persons, partnerships, associations
or corporations affected shall be subject to the general laws of
this State, insofar as the same may be applicable under the
general purposes of this act, and except as hereby altered or
modified.

The proceedings for condemnation shall be by petition to
the circuit court of the county in which the land, property and
property rights or the major portion thereof sought to be tem-
porarily acquired are located, which petition shall set forth with
reasonable particularity a description and designation of the
interests, rights and property intended to be temporarily taken,
the name or names of the owners of the property which is to be
taken or affected, and such other facts, if any, as may be deemed
necessary by the Commission, in order to give adequate infor-
mation to the court and all persons in interest, which petition
shall be verified by oath by a member of the Commission. Upon
the filing of said petition in the office of the clerk of the circuit
court to which it is addressed, together with as many copies
thereof as there are defendants upon which it is to be served,
and depositing with the clerk for the custody of the court, and
for the benefit of the owners of the properties taken or affected,
such an amount of money as the Commission shall estimate to
be just compensation for the property temporarily taken and
the damage done, if any, the Commission shall thereupon seize
and take possession, custody and control of said property or
properties. The amount of money so deposited shall in no wise
limit the amount of just compensation to be allowed to the
owners of the property. Service of said petition upon the de-
fendants shall be made in the manner prescribed by the Rules
ot the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia with respect to
Practice and Procedure in Actions of Law in effect at the time
the petition is filed. In all other respects the procedure shall be
as prescribed in Article 5, Title 33 of the “Code of Virginia’,
insofar as the same is applicable.

§ 8. The expense of acquiring and operating any property
or properties acquired under this act, shall be paid out of monies
transferred from the general fund of the Commonwealth not
otherwise appropriated upon such authorizations as the Gover-
nor may prescribe and shall be credited to the account of the
“Virginia Fuel Commission”, and all funds, and revenues de-
rived from or received as a result of said operations shall be
paid into the State treasury and credited to the same account.
Any amounts transferred upon authorization of the Governor
from the general fund of the State shall be known and desig-
nated as the “Capital Account’ of the Commission, which
amount, or residue thereof, together with any surplus that may
accrue, shall be returned to the general fund of the State in the
event of liquidation or, in the absence of liquidation, in such
installments and at such times as the Governor may prescribe.

§ 9. Whenever the owner or operator of the business of
mining, production and marketing coal, whose property has
been acquired by the Commission, shall notify the Commission
in writing, stating that he is in position to, and can and will
resume operation and render normal service, and shall satisfy
the Commission of the correctness of such statement or when-
ever in the judgment of the Governor the emergency declared
by him no longer exists, the Commission shall restore the pos-
session of the property so acquired by them to the owner or
operator upon his request. In the event the Commission refuses
such restoration of possession, the owner or operator shall have
the right to have a rule issued in the manner provided in Section
33-204 of the 1950 Code of Virginia requiring the Commission
to show cause why such possession should not be restored and
the court shall determine the matter as in such section provided.
CHS, “2, 23 | ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 333

Any such owner or operator shall be entitled to receive
reasonable, proper and lawful compensation for the use of the
properties so acquired by the State and paid the same out of the
State treasury. In event the Commission has acquired such
property by purchase, the owners upon reacquisition shall repay
the purchase price less fair compensation for use of such prop-
erty. In the event the Commission and the owner or operator
are unable to agree upon the amount of such compensation
either party in interest may file a petition in any court men-
tioned in Section 33-204 of the 1950 Code of Virginia for
the purpose of having the same judicially determined. The
court shall, without a jury, hear such evidence and argument of
counsel as may be deemed appropriate and render judgment
hereon or may refer to a commissioner such questions as are
onsidered proper and act upon the commissioner’s report as
n order chancery proceedings. An appeal shall lie to the Supreme
sourt of Appeals from any final judgment of the court rendered
ipon the provisions of this act.

914. This act shall be subject to all the provisions of
seneral law applicable to coal mining operations.

§ 10. Wherever in this act the word “Commission” shall
ppear, unless otherwise indicated, it shall be deemed the “Vir-
inia Fuel Commission’’.

§ 11. Members of the Commission shall be appointed to
erve at the pleasure of the Governor at a compensation fixed
y the Governor.

- In order to carry out the purposes of this act there is
ereby appropriated to the office of the Governor out of the
eneral fund of the State treasury, a sum sufficient.

. An emergency is hereby declared to exist and this act shall
e in force from its passage.