[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 186 (Monday, September 25, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57581-57583]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-24581]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
30 CFR Part 926
[SPATS No. MT-021-FOR]
Montana Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Plan
AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.
ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment period and opportunity for public
hearing on proposed amendment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM)
is announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Montana abandoned
mine land reclamation (AMLR) plan (hereinafter, the ``Montana plan'')
under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA).
Montana proposes revisions to a statute about AMLR reclamation,
proposes deletion of the AMLR rules in the Administrative Rules of
Montana (ARM), and proposes a plan of reorganization of the AMLR
program. Montana intends to revise its AMLR plan to be consistent with
SMCRA, meet the requirements of the Federal regulations, and improve
operational efficiency.
DATES: We will accept written comments on this amendment until 4 p.m.,
m.d.t., October 25, 2000. If requested, we will hold a public hearing
on the amendment on October 20, 2000. We will accept requests to speak
until 4 p.m., m.d.t., October 10, 2000.
ADDRESSES: You should mail, hand deliver, or e-mail written comments
and requests to speak at the hearing to Guy Padgett at the address
listed below.
You may review copies of the Montana plan, this amendment, a
listing of any scheduled public hearings, and all written comments
received in response to this document at the addresses listed below
during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, excluding
holidays. You may receive one free copy of the amendment by contacting
OSM's Casper Field Office.
Guy Padgett, Director, Casper Field Office, Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement, 100 East ``B'' Street, Federal Building,
Room 2128, Casper, Wyoming 82601-1918, Telephone: (307) 261-6550.
Vic Anderson, Chief, Mine Waste Cleanup Bureau, Remediation Division,
Montana Department of Environmental Quality, 1520 E. Sixth Ave., P.O.
Box 20091, Helena, MT 59620-0901, Telephone: (406) 444-4972.
Steve Welch, Chief, Industrial and Energy Minerals Bureau, Montana
Department of Environment Quality, 1520 E. Sixth Ave., P.O. Box 200901,
Telena, MT 59620-0901, Telephone: (406) 444-4964.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Guy Padgett, Telephone: (307) 261-
6550, Internet address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background on the Montana Plan.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment.
III. Public Comment Procedures.
IV. Procedural Determinations.
I. Background on the Montana Plan
On November 24, 1980, the Secretary of the Interior conditionally
approved the Montana plan as administered by the Department of State
Lands. You can find general background information on the Montana plan,
including the Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and
the conditions of approval of the Montana plan in the October 24, 1980,
Federal Register (45 FR 70445). You can also find later actions
concerning Montana's plan and plan amendments at 30 CFR 926.21 and
926.25.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
By letter dated August 15, 2000, Montana sent us a proposed
amendment to its plan (SPATS No. MT-021-FOR, Administrative Record No.
MT-18-01) under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). Montana sent the
amendment in response to the required plan amendment at 30 CFR
926.21(a) and at its own initiative. The full text of the plan
amendment is available for you to read at the locations listed above
under ADDRESSES.
Montana proposes to delete its AMLR rule definitions of ``abandoned
mine land reclamation fund,'' ``emergency,'' and ``extreme danger'' at
ARM 26.4.301 and its definitions of ``abandoned mine land reclamation
fund,'' ``emergency,'' ``expended,'' ``extreme danger,'' ``fund,''
``left or abandoned in either an unreclaimed or inadequately reclaimed
condition,'' ``Montana abandoned mine reclamation program,'' and
``reclamation activities'' at ARM 26.4.1231.
Montana proposes to delete the AMLR rules at ARM 26.41232 through
26.41242, which concern the AMLR fund, eligible lands and water,
reclamation objectives and priorities, reclamation project evaluation,
consent to enter lands, land eligible for acquisition, procedures for
acquisition, acceptance of gifts of land, management of acquired lands,
disposition of reclaimed lands, and reclamation on private land.
In lieu of the deleted rules, Montana intends to rely on the
requirements of its AMLR plan and on the statutory provisions at
Montana Code Annotated (MCA) 82-4-239, 82-4-371, and 82-4-445. Montana
proposes to revise MCA 82-4-239 to reflect the reorganized duties of
the Board of Environmental Review and Department of Environmental
Quality. Montana has changed the wording to delete ``Board'' and insert
``Department'' as approporiate. These proposed revisions are the same
as those proposed by Montana on May 16, 1995 (SPATS No. MT-017-FOR,
Administrative Record No. MT-14-01). At that time, OSM found no
problems with the revisions to MCA 82-4-239 but deferred a decision on
it due to a lack of information concerning the 1995 Montana
reorganization and its impact on the AMLR plan. (For more information,
see final rule Federal Register notice, 64 FR 3604, dated January 22,
1999.)
Lastly, in this amendment, Montana presents its 1995 reorganization
moving the AMLR program from the Department of State Lands to the
Department of Environmental Quality.
III. Public Comment Procedures
Under the provisions of 30 CFR 884.15(a), OSM requests your
comments on whether the amendment satisfies the applicable State
reclamation plan approval criteria of 30 CFR 884.14. If we approve the
amendment, it will become part of the Montana plan.
Written Comments
Send your written comments to OSM at the address given above. Your
written comments should be specific, pertain only to the issues
proposed in this rulemaking, and include explanations in support of
your recommendations. In the final rulemaking, we will not consider or
include in the Administrative Record any comments received after the
time indicated under DATES or at locations other than the Casper Field
Office.
[[Page 57582]]
Electronic Comments
Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII or WordPerfect file
avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption.
Please also include ``Attn: SPATS No. MT-021-FOR'' and your name and
return address in your Internet message. If you do not receive a
confirmation that we have received your Internet message, contact the
Casper Field Office at (307) 261-6550.
Availability of Comments
We will make comments, including names and addresses of
respondents, available for public review during normal business hours.
We will not consider anonymous comments. If individual respondents
request confidentiality, we will honor their request to the extent
allowable by law.
Individual respondents who wish to withhold their name or address
from public review, except for the city or town, must state this
prominently at the beginning of their comments. We will make all
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, available for public review in their entirety.
Public Hearing
If you wish to speak at the public hearing, contact the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by 4 p.m., m.d.t., October
10, 2000. If you are disabled and need special accommodations to attend
a public hearing, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. We will arrange the location and time of the
hearing with those persons requesting the hearing. If no one requests
an opportunity to speak, we will not hold the hearing.
To assist the transcriber and ensure an accurate record, we
request, if possible, that each person who speaks at a public hearing
provide us with a written copy of his or her comments. The public
hearing will continue on the specified date until everyone scheduled to
speak has been heard. If you are in the audience and have not been
scheduled to speak and wish to do so, you will be allowed to speak
after those who have been scheduled. We will end the hearing after
everyone scheduled to speak and others present in the audience who wish
to speak, have been heard.
Public Meeting
If only one person requests an opportunity to speak, we may hold a
public meeting rather than a public hearing. If you wish to meet with
us to discuss the amendment, please request a meeting by contacting the
person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. All such meetings
will be open to the public and, if possible, we will post notices of
meetings at the locations listed under ADDRESSES. We will make a
written summary of each meeting a part of the Administrative Record.
IV. Procedural Determination
Executive Order 12630--Takings
This rule does not have takings implications. This determination is
based on the analysis performed for the counterpart Federal
regulations.
Executive Order 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review
This rule is exempted from review by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under Executive Order 12866.
Executive Order 12988--Civil Justice Reform
The Department of the Interior has conducted the reviews required
by section 3 of Executive Order 12988 and has determined that, to the
extent allowable by law, this rule meets the applicable standards of
subsections (a) and (b) of that section. However, these standards are
not applicable to the actual language of Montana AMLR plans and
revisions thereof since each such plan is drafted and promulgated by
Montana, not by OSM. Decisions on proposed Montana AMLR plans and
revisions thereof submitted by a Montana AMLR are based on a
determination of whether the submittal meets the requirements of Title
IV of SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1231-1243) and the applicable Federal
regulations at 30 CFR Parts 884 and 888.
Executive Order 13132--Federalism
This rule does not have Federalism implications within the meaning
of Executive Order 13132. SMCRA delineates the roles of the Federal and
State governments with regard to the regulation of surface coal mining
and reclamation operations. One of the purposes of SMCRA is to
``establish a nationwide program to protect society and the environment
from the adverse effects of surface coal mining operations.'' Section
405 of SMCRA authorized the creation of State AMLR programs for the
purpose of reclaiming and restoring land and water resources adversely
affected by past coal mining operations. Section 405(d) of SMCRA
specifies the criteria for the approval and disapproval of these State
abandoned mine reclamation programs which are funded at 100 percent by
grants from the Federal government.
National Environmental Policy Act
No environmental impact statement is required for this rule since
agency decisions on proposed Montana AMLR plans and revisions thereof
are categorically excluded from compliance with the National
Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4332) by the Manual of the
Department of the Interior (516 DM 6, appendix 8, paragraph 8.4B(29)).
Paperwork Reduction Act
This rule does not contain information collection requirements that
require approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
3507 et seq.).
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Department of the Interior has determined that this rule will
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).
The Montana submittal which is the subject of this rule is based upon
counterpart Federal regulations for which an economic analysis was
prepared and certification made that such regulations would not have a
significant economic effect upon a substantial number of small
entities. Accordingly, this rule will ensure that existing requirements
established by SMCRA or previously promulgated by OSM will be
implemented by Montana. In making the determination as to whether this
rule would have a significant economic impact, the Department relied
upon the data and assumptions in the analyses for the corresponding
Federal regulations.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act
This rule is not a major rule under 5 U.S.C. 804(2), the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. This rule (a) does not
have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million; (b) will not
cause a major increase in costs or prices for consumers, individual
industries, geographic regions, or Federal, State or local governmental
agencies; and (c) does not have significant adverse effects on
competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or the
ability of U.S.-based enterprises to compete with foreign-based
enterprises. This determination is based upon the fact that the Montana
submittal which is the subject of this rule is based upon counterpart
Federal regulations for which an analysis was prepared and a
determination made that the Federal
[[Page 57583]]
regulation was not considered a major rule.
Unfunded Mandates
This rule will not impose a cost of $100 million or more in any
given year on any governmental entity or the private sector.
List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 926
Abandoned mine reclamation programs, Intergovernmental relations,
Surface mining, Underground mining.
Dated: September 18, 2000.
Brent Wahlquist,
Regional Director, Western Regional Coordinating Center.
[FR Doc. 00-24581 Filed 9-22-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-M