Proposed Rule2023-10820
West Virginia Regulatory Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 23, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentSurface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Office
Abstract
We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the West Virginia regulatory program (hereinafter, the West Virginia program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) seeks to amend its statutory provisions to develop and maintain a database to track reclamation liabilities in the WVDEP Special Reclamation Program. This document gives the times and locations that the West Virginia 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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 99 (Tuesday, May 23, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 23, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 33025-33026]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10820]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
30 CFR Part 948
[SATS No. WV-128-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2022-0004; S1D1S SS08011000
SX064A000 222S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 22S501520]
West Virginia 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 West
Virginia regulatory program (hereinafter, the West Virginia program)
under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or
the Act). The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
(WVDEP) seeks to amend its statutory provisions to develop and maintain
a database to track reclamation liabilities in the WVDEP Special
Reclamation Program. This document gives the times and locations that
the West Virginia 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 p.m.,
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), June 22, 2023. If requested, we may hold a
public hearing or meeting on the amendment on June 20, 2023. We will
accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4 p.m., EDT on June 7,
2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WV-128-FOR,
by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Field Office
Director, Charleston Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation
and Enforcement, 1027 Virginia Street East, Charleston, West Virginia
25301.
<bullet> Fax: (304) 347-7170.
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been
assigned Docket ID: OSM-2022-0004. If you would like to submit
comments, go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. 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 West
Virginia program, this amendment, a listing of any scheduled public
hearings or meetings, 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 Charleston
Field Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for
you to read at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Field Office Director, Charleston Field
Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 1027
Virginia Street, East Charleston, West Virginia 25301, Telephone: (304)
347-7158, Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cea1bda3e3ada6a8a18ea1bda3bcabe0a9a1b8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="82edf1efafe1eae4edc2edf1eff0e7ace5edf4">[email protected]</span></a>.
In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular
business hours at the following location: West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection, 601 57th Street, SE, Charleston, West
Virginia 25304, Telephone: (304) 926-0490.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Field Office
Director, Charleston Field Office Telephone: (304) 347-7158. Email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c2adb1afefa1aaa4ad82adb1afb0a7eca5adb4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c5aab6a8e8a6ada3aa85aab6a8b7a0eba2aab3">[email protected]</span></a>
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background on the West Virginia Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background on the West Virginia 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 approved State program includes, among other things, State laws and
regulations that govern surface coal mining and reclamation operations
in accordance with the Act and consistent with the Federal regulations.
See 30 U.S.C. 1253(a)(1) and (7). On the basis of these criteria, the
Secretary of the Interior conditionally approved the West Virginia
program on January 21, 1981. You can find additional background
information on the West Virginia program, including the Secretary's
findings, the disposition of comments, and conditions of approval of
the West Virginia program in the January 21, 1981, Federal Register (46
FR 5915-5956). You can also find later actions concerning West
Virginia's program and program amendments at 30 CFR 948.10, 948.12,
948.13, 948.15, and 948.16.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
By letter dated August 23, 2021 (Administrative Record No. 1658),
we required WVDEP to submit a program amendment to ensure appropriate
tracking of existing reclamation liabilities (including water
treatment) at coal mining operations. This tracking must ensure that
reclamation liabilities are accurate and up-to-date. Tracking will
enable an accurate assessment of West Virginia's alternative bonding
system's reclamation liabilities so that solvency of the State's
Special Reclamation Fund and the Special Reclamation Water Trust Fund
can be determined. To comply with our request, West Virginia, by letter
dated March 29, 2022 (Administrative Record No. 1666), sent us an
amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). The
State seeks to amend its statutory program to develop and maintain a
database to track reclamation liabilities in the WVDEP Special
Reclamation Program.
House Bill 4758 (HB 4758) was signed by the Governor on March 28,
2022, and will become effective under State Law on June 6, 2022. HB
4758 amends WVSMCRA at WV 22-3-11(i)(2) and proposes to develop and
maintain a database to track existing reclamation liabilities,
including water treatment, at coal mining operation in the state of
West Virginia that were permitted after August 3, 1977. This
information is to
[[Page 33026]]
be updated on a quarterly basis beginning July 2022, to ensure that
actuarial studies of the special reclamation fund and special
reclamation water trust fund are informed by current data.
The full text of the program amendment is available for you to read
at the locations listed above under ADDRESSES or at
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
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 or electronic comments on the proposed rule
during the 30-day comment period, 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 personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment including your personal identifying
information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
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 p.m., EDT on June 7,
2023. 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.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Executive Order 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive
Order 13563--Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
Executive Order 12866 provides that the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will
review all significant rules. Pursuant to OMB guidance, dated October
12, 1993, the approval of State program and is exempted from OMB review
under Executive Order 12866. Executive Order 13563, which reaffirms and
supplements Executive Order 12866, retains this exemption.
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 948
Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.
Thomas D. Shope,
Regional Director, Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian
Region.
[FR Doc. 2023-10820 Filed 5-22-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P
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