(a)
(1) The applicant for a water rights permit or any affected person shall have the right to protest:
- (A) The action of the Director of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission in either granting or denying the application for a permit; or
- (B) Any special conditions that may be placed thereon.
- (2) A permittee shall have the right to protest the cancellation of a permit.
- (b) If a protest is filed by the applicant within ten (10) days of the action of the director or is filed by an affected person within twenty (20) days of filing of the permit in the office of the circuit clerk of the county of the point of diversion, a hearing shall be scheduled before the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission or a hearing officer that may be designated by the commission for review of the director’s action in the issuance, nonissuance, or inclusion of special conditions on the permit.