Proposed Rule2023-16847
Montana Regulatory Program
Primary source
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Published
August 7, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentSurface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Office
Abstract
We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are reopening the public comment period due to the receipt of revisions to a proposed amendment to the Montana regulatory program (hereinafter, the Montana program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Montana is proposing revisions to the Administrative Rules of Montana pertaining to ownership and control and the applicant violator system. These changes were required by a March 30, 2023 letter from OSMRE to Montana (hereinafter, issue letter) after our review of Montana's original July 28, 2021 proposed amendment submittal. The July 28, 2021 proposed amendment submittal by Montana was the result of an October 2, 2009, letter from OSMRE to Montana (hereinafter, 732 letter), and were necessitated by a Senate bill approved by the 2013 Montana Legislature. This document gives the times and locations that the Montana program and this revised proposed amendment to that program are available for your inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written comments on the revised 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 150 (Monday, August 7, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 150 (Monday, August 7, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 52082-52084]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16847]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
30 CFR Part 926
[SATS No. MT-037-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2021-0006; S1D1S SS08011000
SX064A000 222S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 22XS501520]
Montana Regulatory Program
AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.
ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment period reopening and opportunity
for public hearing on proposed amendment.
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SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
(OSMRE), are reopening the public comment period due to the receipt of
revisions to a proposed amendment to the Montana regulatory program
(hereinafter, the Montana program) under the Surface Mining Control and
Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Montana is proposing
revisions to the Administrative Rules of Montana pertaining to
ownership and control and the applicant violator system. These changes
were required by a March 30, 2023 letter from OSMRE to Montana
(hereinafter, issue letter) after our review of Montana's original July
28, 2021 proposed amendment submittal. The July 28, 2021 proposed
amendment submittal by Montana was the result of an October 2, 2009,
letter from OSMRE to Montana (hereinafter, 732 letter), and were
necessitated by a Senate bill approved by the 2013 Montana Legislature.
This document gives the times and locations that the Montana program
and this revised proposed amendment to that program are available for
your inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written
comments on the revised 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., Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), September 6, 2023. If requested, we
may hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on September 1,
2023. We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m.,
MST on August 22, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. MT-037-FOR,
by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Mail/Hand Delivery: 100 East B Street, Room 4100, Casper,
WY 82601.
<bullet> Fax: (307) 421-6552.
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been
assigned Docket ID: OSM-2021-0006. 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 Montana
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 Denver
Field Division 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>.
Jeffrey Fleischman, Chief, Denver Field Division, Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Dick Cheney Federal Building, POB
11018, 100 East B Street, Casper, Wyoming 82601, Telephone: (307) 261-
6550, Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4c262a2029253f2f24212d220c233f213e29622b233a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9cf6faf0f9f5effff4f1fdf2dcf3eff1eef9b2fbf3ea">[email protected]</span></a>
In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular
business hours at the following location:
Dan Walsh, Chief, Coal and Opencut Mining Bureau, Montana Department of
Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, Montana 59620-0901,
Telephone: (406) 444-6791, Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#ddb9aabcb1aeb59db0a9f3bab2ab"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="076370666b746f476a7329606871">[email protected]</span></a>
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Howard Strand, Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, One Denver Federal Center, Building
41, Lakewood, CO 80225-0065, Telephone: (303) 236-2931, Email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7119020503101f15311e021c03145f161e07"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cea6bdbabcafa0aa8ea1bda3bcabe0a9a1b8">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background on the Montana Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
[[Page 52083]]
I. Background on the Montana Program
Subject to OSMRE's oversight 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 Montana program on April 1, 1980. You can
find background information on the Montana program, including the
Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and conditions of
approval of the Montana program in the April 1, 1980, Federal Register
(45 FR 21560). You can also find later actions concerning the Montana
program and program amendments at 30 CFR 926.15, 926.16, and 926.30.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
On October 28, 1994, December 19, 2000, and December 3, 2007, OSMRE
promulgated final rules that adopted or revised certain regulatory
definitions and provisions pertaining to review of applications, permit
eligibility, application information, applicant, operator, and
permittee information, automated information entry and maintenance,
permit suspension and rescission, ownership and control findings and
challenge procedures, transfer, assignment, or sale of permit rights,
and alternative enforcement. Pursuant to 30 CFR 732.17(d), OSMRE
notified Montana on October 2, 2009 with a 732 letter, requiring
Montana to modify its regulatory program to remain consistent with
revised Federal requirements. The 2013 Montana Legislature approved
Senate Bill 92, which added language addressing the required changes.
Specifically, Senate Bill 92 added language in Section 82-4-227,
Montana Code Annotated (MCA), that provided appeal rights pertaining to
ownership or control listings in the applicant violator system.
By letter dated July 28, 2021 (FDMS Document ID No. OSM-2021-0006-
0001), Montana sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.) that proposed revisions to existing Administrative
Rules of Montana (ARM) that would satisfy the statutory changes in the
MCA, including revisions to 17.24.301, 17.24.302, 17.24.303, 17.24.416,
17.24.418. New provisions in the ARM proposed by Montana that would
satisfy the statutory changes in the MCA include 17.24.1229,
17.24.1264, 17.24.1265, 17.24.1266, and 17.24.1267. Montana also
proposed minor revisions to existing ARM that were unrelated to Senate
Bill 92.
OSMRE reviewed the proposed changes to the MCA and ARM, on March
30, 2023, sent Montana an issue letter outlining five areas of concern
with their proposed changes to the ARM, including numerous typos and
grammatical errors, requiring specific information of the applicant in
permit application packages, applying willful or knowing standards for
liability regarding characterizing criminal penalties and civil
actions, and adding clarifier language to remain as effective and
consistent with Federal counterpart rules. By letter dated May 3, 2023,
Montana responded and agreed to address all five areas of concern by
formally resubmitting the required revisions to the ARM. Montana agreed
to making all the necessary typographical and grammatical errors in
addition to the other required changes explained above. 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 15-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 4:00 p.m., MDT on
August 22, 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
[[Page 52084]]
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 amendments 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 926
Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.
David Berry,
Regional Director, Western Region.
[FR Doc. 2023-16847 Filed 8-4-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P
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This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.