[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 25 (Monday, February 8, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6477-6479]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-02463]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
30 CFR Part 936
[SATS No. OK-037-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2015-0006; S1D1S SS08011000
SX064A000 167S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 16XS501520]
Oklahoma Regulatory Program
AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.
ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment period and opportunity for public
hearing on proposed amendment.
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SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
(OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma
regulatory program (Oklahoma program) under the Surface Mining Control
and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Oklahoma proposes
revisions to its regulations regarding: Permit eligibility for permits
with violations on lands eligible for remining; permit suspension or
rescission posting locations and appeal procedures; requiring GPS
coordinates for aspects of permit maps; topsoil removal distances;
blasting records requirements; annual reporting requirements; temporary
cessation of operations requirements; casing and sealing temporary
underground openings; right of entry requirements; surface drainage
associated with auger mining; correcting reference errors; updating
addresses; and correcting spelling and grammatical errors. Oklahoma
intends to revise its program to be no less effective than the Federal
regulations and to improve operational efficiency.
This document gives the times and locations that the Oklahoma
program and this proposed amendment to that program are available for
your inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written
comments on the amendment, and the procedures that we will follow for
the public hearing, if one is requested.
DATES: We will accept written comments on this amendment until 4:00
p.m., central time, March 9, 2016. If requested, we will hold a public
hearing on the amendment on March 4, 2016. We will accept requests to
speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., central time on February 23, 2016.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. OK-037-FOR,
by any of the following methods:
Mail/Hand Delivery: Director, Tulsa Field Office, Office
of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 1645 South 101st East
Avenue, Suite 145, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74128-4629.
Fax: (918) 581-6419.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been
assigned Docket ID OSM-2015-0006. If you would like to submit comments
go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for
submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number for this rulemaking. For detailed instructions on
submitting comments and additional information on the rulemaking
process, see the ``Public Comment Procedures'' heading of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
Docket: For access to the docket to review copies of the Oklahoma
program, this amendment, a listing of any scheduled public hearings,
and all written comments received in response to this document, you
must go to the address listed below during normal business hours,
Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. You may receive one free
copy of the amendment by contacting OSMRE's Tulsa Field Office or the
full text of the program amendment is available for you to read at
www.regulations.gov.
Elaine Ramsey, Director, Tulsa Field Office, Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 1645 South 101st East Avenue, Suite
145, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74128-4629.
Telephone: (918) 581-6430.
Email: [email protected].
In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular
business hours at the following location: Oklahoma Department of Mines,
2915 N. Classen Blvd., Suite 213, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73106-5406.
Telephone: (405) 427-3859.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elaine Ramsey, Director, Tulsa Field
Office. Telephone: (918) 581-6430.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background on the Oklahoma Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Procedural Determinations
I. Background on the Oklahoma Program
Section 503(a) of the Act permits a State to assume primacy for the
regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation operations on non-
Federal and non-Indian lands within its borders by demonstrating that
its program includes, among other things, ``. . . State law which
provides for the regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation
operations in accordance with the requirements of this Act . . .;
[[Page 6478]]
and rules and regulations consistent with regulations issued by the
Secretary pursuant to this Act.'' See 30 U.S.C. 1253(a)(1) and (7). On
the basis of these criteria, the Secretary of the Interior
conditionally approved the Oklahoma program on January 19, 1981. You
can find background information on the Oklahoma program, including the
Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and the conditions
of approval of the Oklahoma program in the January 19, 1981, Federal
Register (46 FR 4902). You can also find later actions concerning the
Oklahoma program and program amendments at 30 CFR 936.10, 936.15, and
936.16.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
By letter dated September 25, 2015 (Administrative Record No. OK-
1003), Oklahoma sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). Oklahoma submitted the proposed amendment on its
own initiative. Below is a summary of Oklahoma's proposed changes. The
full text of the program amendment is available for you to read at the
locations listed above under ADDRESSES or at www.regulations.gov.
Oklahoma proposes to make substantive changes to Title 460.
Department of Mines: Chapter 20, The Permanent Regulations Governing
the Coal Reclamation Act of 1979, in the following subchapters.
Additionally, Oklahoma plans on making several non-substantive changes
throughout its regulations regarding updating addresses, correcting
reference errors, grammatical corrections, and spelling errors.
1. Subchapter 15. Requirements for Permits and Permit Processing
Oklahoma proposes to revoke section 460:20-15-6.7(a)(2)(A)
regarding permits issued before September 30, 2004.
Oklahoma proposes to add new a requirement that suspension or
rescission notices be posted at the field office closest to the permit
area at 460:20-15-10.1(c)(2)
Oklahoma proposes to clarify the suspension and rescission appeal
process at 460:20-15-10.1(d) and (e).
2. Subchapter 29. Underground Mining Permit Applications: Minimum
Requirements for Information on Environmental Resources
Oklahoma proposes to add the requirements for GPS coordinates for
each building on permit application maps at section 460:20-29-10(4).
Oklahoma proposes to add the permitting requirement to list the
depth to mined coal in section 460:20-29-11(a)(5).
3. Subchapter 43. Permanent Program Performance Standards: Surface
Mining Standards
Oklahoma proposes to add language regarding minimum topsoil removal
distance from the active pit in section 460:20-43-7(a)(1).
Oklahoma proposes to add new language regarding blasting records in
section 460:20-43-23.
Oklahoma proposes to add new language regarding annual reporting
requirements for contemporaneous reclamation in section 460:20-43-
37(2).
Oklahoma proposes to add new language regarding qualification
standards for temporary cessation of operations in section 460:20-43-
49(a) and (c).
4. Subchapter 45. Permanent Program Performance Standards: Underground
Mining Activities
Oklahoma proposes to add language regarding casing and sealing
underground openings during temporary cessation of operations in
section 460:20-45-5(c).
Oklahoma proposes to add language regarding right of entry
information in section 460:20-45-17(b).
5. Subchapter 47. Special Permanent Program Performance Standards:
Auger Mining
Oklahoma proposes to add new language regarding surface drainage
during auger mining operations in section 460:20-47-4(d).
III. Public Comment Procedures
Under the provisions of 30 CFR 732.17(h), we are seeking your
comments on whether the amendment satisfies the applicable program
approval criteria of 30 CFR 732.15. If we approve the amendment, it
will become part of the State program.
Electronic or Written Comments
If you submit written comments, they should be specific, confined
to issues pertinent to the proposed regulations, and explain the reason
for any recommended change(s). We appreciate any and all comments, but
those most useful and likely to influence decisions on the final
regulations will be those that either involve personal experience or
include citations to and analyses of SMCRA, its legislative history,
its implementing regulations, case law, other pertinent State or
Federal laws or regulations, technical literature, or other relevant
publications.
We cannot ensure that comments received after the close of the
comment period (see DATES) or sent to an address other than those
listed (see ADDRESSES) will be included in the docket for this
rulemaking and considered.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personally identifiable information in your comment, you should
be aware that your entire comment including your personally
identifiable information, may be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personally
identifiable information from public review, we cannot guarantee that
we will be able to do so.
Public Hearing
If you wish to speak at the public hearing, contact the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by 4:00 p.m., central time
on February 23, 2016. If you are disabled and need reasonable
accommodations to attend a public hearing, 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 a hearing.
To assist the transcriber and ensure an accurate record, we
request, if possible, that each person who speaks at the 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 given an opportunity to be 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
are 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.
[[Page 6479]]
IV. Procedural Determinations
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.
Other Laws and Executive Orders Affecting Rulemaking
When a State submits a program amendment to OSMRE for review, our
regulations at 30 CFR 732.17(h) require us to publish a notice in the
Federal Register indicating receipt of the proposed amendment, its text
or a summary of its terms, and an opportunity for public comment. We
conclude our review of the proposed amendment after the close of the
public comment period and determine whether the amendment should be
approved, approved in part, or not approved. At that time, we will also
make the determinations and certifications required by the various laws
and executive orders governing the rulemaking process and include them
in the final rule.
List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 936
Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.
Dated: October 15, 2015.
Ervin J. Barchenger,
Regional Director, Mid-Continent Region.
Note: This document was received by the Office the Federal
Register on February 3, 2016.
[FR Doc. 2016-02463 Filed 2-5-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P