(a) An applicant whose request for a permit to conduct surface mining operations in an area of statewide or regional significance has been denied by a lead agency, or any person who is aggrieved by the granting of a permit to conduct surface mining operations in an area of statewide or regional significance, may, within 15 days of exhausting his rights to appeal in accordance with the procedures of the lead agency, appeal to the board.
(b) The board may, by regulation, establish procedures for declining to hear appeals that it determines raise no substantial issues.
(c) Appeals that the board does not decline to hear shall be scheduled and heard at a public hearing held within the jurisdiction of the lead agency which processed the original application within 30 days of the filing of the appeal, or such longer period as may be mutually agreed upon by the board and the person filing the appeal. In any such action, the board shall not exercise its independent judgment on the evidence but shall only determine whether the decision of the lead agency is supported by substantial evidence in the light of the whole record. If the board determines the decision of the lead agency is not supported by substantial evidence in the light of the whole record it shall remand the appeal to the lead agency and the lead agency shall schedule a public hearing to reconsider its action.