[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 223 (Friday, November 19, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63337-63339]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-30260]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
Proposed Construction of Converse County Road 37
agency: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM),
Interior.
action: Notice of application for grant funding; public comment period
on request to fund the Converse County Road 37.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
summary: OSM is announcing its receipt of a grant application from the
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Abandoned Mine Land
Division (AMLD). Wyoming is requesting $246,500.00 from the Abandoned
Mine Reclamation Fund to pay 50 percent of the cost of building
Converse County Road 37 in Converse County, Wyoming. The Power River
Coal Company will provide $71,750. Kennocott Energy Company will
provide $71,750 and Converse County will provide $103, 000. In its
application, the State purposes paying for part of the reconstruction
cost as a public facility project that will benefit a community
impacted by coal and mineral mining.
This notice describes when and where you may read the grant
application for funding the Converse County Road 37 project. It also
sets the time period during which you may send written comments on the
request to us.
dates: We will accept written comments until 4:00 p.m., m.s.t.,
December 20, 1999.
addresses: You should mail or hand-deliver written comment to Guy V.
Padgett, Casper Field Office Director, at the address shown below. You
may read Wyoming's grant application for this proposed project during
normal business hours Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) at the
same address. Also, we will send one free copy of the grant application
to you if you contact OSM's Casper Field Office. Guy V. Padgett,
Director, Casper Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and
Enforcement, Federal Building, Rm. 2403, 100 East ``B'' Street, Caster,
Wyoming 82601-1918.
for further information contact: Guy V. Padgett, Telephone (307) 261-
6555.
Our practice is to make comments, including names and home
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular
business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold
their home address from the rulemaking [or administrative] record,
which we will honor to the
[[Page 63338]]
extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which we
would withhold from the rulemaking [or administrative] record a
respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold
your name and/or address, you must state this prominently at the
beginning of your comment. However, we will not consider anonymous
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 inspection in their entirety.
supplementary information:
I. Background on Title IV of SMCRA
Title IV of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA)
established an Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation (AMLR) program. The
purpose of the AMLR program is to reclaim and restore lands and waters
that were adversely affected by past mining. The program is funded by a
reclamation fee paid by active coal mining operations. Lands and waters
eligible for reclamation under Title IV are primarily those that were
mined, or affected by mining, and abandoned or inadequately reclaimed
before August 3, 1977, and for which there is no continuing reclamation
responsibility under State, Federal, or other laws.
Title IV of SMCRA allows States to submit AMLR plans to us. We, on
behalf of the Secretary, review those plans and consider any public
comments we receive about them. If we determine that a State has the
ability and necessary legislation to operate an AMLR program, the
Secretary can approve it. The Secretary's approval gives a State
exclusive authority to put its AMLR plan into effect.
Once the Secretary approves a State's AMLR plan, the State may
apply to us for money to fund specific projects that will achieve the
goals of its approved plan. We follow the requirements of the Federal
regulations at 30 CFR parts 874, 875, and 886 when we review and
approve such applications.
II. Background on the Wyoming AMLR Plan
The Secretary of the Interior approved Wyoming's AMLR plan on
February 14, 1983. You can find background information on the Wyoming
AML program, including the Secretary's findings and our responses to
comments, in the February 14, 1983 Federal Register (48 FR 6536).
Wyoming changed its plan a number of times since the Secretary first
approved it. In 1984, we accepted the State's certification that it had
addressed all known coal-related impacts in Wyoming that were eligible
for funding under its program. As a result, the State may now reclaim
low priority non-coal reclamation projects. You can read about the
certification and OSM acceptance in the May 25, 1984, Federal Register
(49 FR 22139). At the same time, we also accepted Wyoming's proposal
that it will ask us for funds to reclaim any additional coal-related
problems that occur during the life of the Wyoming AML program as soon
as it becomes aware of them. In the April 13, 1992, Federal Register
(57 FR 12731), we announced our decision to accept other changes in
Wyoming's plan that describe how it will rank eligible coal, non-coal,
and facility projects for funding. Those changes also authorized the
Governor of Wyoming to elevate the priority of a project based upon the
Governor's determination of need and urgency. They also expanded the
State's ability to construct public facilities under section 411 of
SMCRA. We approved additional changes in Wyoming's plan concerning non-
coal lien authority and contractor eligibility that improve the
efficiency of the State's AML program. That approval is described in
the February 21, 1996, Federal Register (61 FR 6537).
Once a State certifies that it has addressed all remaining
abandoned coal mine problems and the Secretary concurs, then it may
request funds to undertake abandoned non-coal mine reclamation,
community impact assistance, and public facilities projects under
sections 411(b), (e), and (f), of SMCRA.
State law and regulations that apply to the proposed Abandoned Coal
Mine Land Program Converse County Road 37 funding request include
Wyoming Statute 35-11-1202 and Wyoming Abandoned Mine Land Regulations,
Chapter VII, of the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Program.
III. Wyoming's Request To Fund the Cost of Converse County Road 37
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality submitted to us a
grant application dated November 1, 1999. In that application, Wyoming
asked for $246,500 to pay for a part of the cost of reconstructing
Converse County Road 37. The Governor of Wyoming certified the need and
urgency to fund this project prior to completing the State's remaining
inventory of non-coal reclamation work, as allowed by section 411(f) of
SMCRA. That certification says the project is in a community impacted
by coal mining activities. The requested funding is 50 percent of the
project's total cost. Money for the balance of the project cost will
come from the County's general fund (25 percent), Powder River Coal
Company and Kennecott Energy Company (25 percent). The project involves
rebuilding 3 miles of County Road 37. This road is one of the busiest
roads in the County. The road directly serves the employees of three
coal mines. Employees commute daily to these mines by personal vehicles
and company buses.
This project will mitigate the impacts of safety hazards associated
with the present condition of County Road 37. The Governor's
certification states that safety hazards impacting coal mine employees
warrant funding of this project before the remaining inventory of non-
coal projects are completed.
IV. How We Will Review Wyoming's Grant Application
We will review this grant application using the regulations at 30
CFR 875.15; specifically Sec. 875.15(e) (1) through (7). As stated in
those regulations, the application must include the following
information: (1) The need or urgency for the activity or the
construction of the public facility; (2) the expected impact the
project will have on Wyoming's coal or minerals industry; (3) the
availability of funding from other sources and, if other funding is
provided, its percentage of the total cost involved; (4) documentation
from other local, State, and Federal agencies with oversight for such
utilities or facilities describing what funding they have available and
why their agency is not fully funding this project; (5) the impact on
the State, the public, and the minerals industry if the facility is not
funded; (6) the reason why this project should be selected before the
priority project relating to the protection of the public health and
safety or the environment from the damages caused by past mining
activities, and (7) an analysis and review of the procedures Wyoming
used to notify and involve the public in this request, and a copy of
all comments received and their resolution by the State. Wyoming's
application for the Converse County Road 37 project contains the
information described in these seven subsections.
Section 875.15(f) requires us to evaluate all comments we receive
and determine whether the funding meets the requirements of
Secs. 875.15(e) (1) through (7) described above. It also requires us to
determine if the request is in the best interests of the State's AML
program. We will approve Wyoming's request to fund this project
[[Page 63339]]
if we conclude that it meets all the requirements of 30 CFR 875.15.
V. What To Do If You Want To Comment on the Proposed Project
We are asking for public comments on Wyoming's request for funds to
pay for part of the cost of rebuilding Converse County Road 37. You are
welcome to comment on the project. If you do, please send us written
comments. Make sure your comments are specific and pertain to Wyoming's
funding request in the context of the regulations at 30 CFR 875.15 and
the provisions of section 411 of SMCRA. You should explain any
recommendations you make. If we receive your comments after the time
shown under DATES or at locations other than the Casper Field Office,
we will not necessarily consider them in our final decision or include
them in the administrative record.
Dated: November 1, 1999.
Guy Padgett,
Director, Casper Field Office.
[FR Doc. 99-30260 Filed 11-18-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-M