Proposed Rule2023-23034
Montana Regulatory Program
Primary source
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Published
October 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 Montana regulatory program (hereinafter, the Montana program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Montana submitted this proposed amendment to us, on its own initiative, following the passage of a Montana House Bill during the 2023 legislative session. Montana proposes several changes to the Montana Code Annotated (MCA). Montana adds a new section detailing the procedures a permittee must follow when applying for a "minor revision" to its permit. Montana adds several new definitions and removes the current procedures for a permit revision application. Furthermore, Montana adds clarifying language regarding "minor revisions" of permits. Lastly, Montana adds contingencies that will not be codified into law but that will apply to the proposed amendment: "Codification Instructions" and "Contingent Termination." This document gives the times and locations that the Montana 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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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 203 (Monday, October 23, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 72699-72701]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23034]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 203 / Monday, October 23, 2023 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 72699]]
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
30 CFR Part 926
[SATS No. MT-044-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2023-0009; S1D1S SS08011000
SX064A000 231S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 23XS501520]
Montana 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 Montana
regulatory program (hereinafter, the Montana program) under the Surface
Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Montana
submitted this proposed amendment to us, on its own initiative,
following the passage of a Montana House Bill during the 2023
legislative session. Montana proposes several changes to the Montana
Code Annotated (MCA). Montana adds a new section detailing the
procedures a permittee must follow when applying for a ``minor
revision'' to its permit. Montana adds several new definitions and
removes the current procedures for a permit revision application.
Furthermore, Montana adds clarifying language regarding ``minor
revisions'' of permits. Lastly, Montana adds contingencies that will
not be codified into law but that will apply to the proposed amendment:
``Codification Instructions'' and ``Contingent Termination.'' This
document gives the times and locations that the Montana 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.,
Mountain Daylight Time (M.D.T.) November 22, 2023. If requested, we may
hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on November 17, 2023.
We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4 p.m., M.D.T. on
November 7, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. MT-042-FOR,
by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Mail/Hand Delivery: OSMRE, Attn: Jeffrey Fleischman, P.O.
Box 11018, 100 East B Street, Room 4100, Casper, Wyoming 82602.
<bullet> Fax: (307) 261-6552.
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been
assigned Docket ID: OSM-2023-0009. If you would like to submit
comments, go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the instructions
for submitting comments.
We cannot ensure that comments received after the close of the
comment period (see DATES) or sent to an address other than the ones
listed above will be included in the docket for this rulemaking and
considered.
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 Casper
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>.
Attn: Jeffrey Fleischman, Field Office Director, Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 100 East B Street, Casper, Wyoming
82602, Telephone: (307) 261-6550, Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8de7ebe1e8e4feeee5e0ece3cde2fee0ffe8a3eae2fb"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3c565a5059554f5f54515d527c534f514e59125b534a">[email protected]</span></a>.
In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular
business hours at the following location:
Attn: Dan Walsh, Mining Bureau Chief, Coal and Opencut Mining Bureau,
Department of Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, MT 59601-
0901, Telephone: (406) 444-6791, Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dfbba8beb3acb79fb2abf1b8b0a9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="acc8dbcdc0dfc4ecc1d882cbc3da">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Attn: Jeffrey Fleischman, Field Office Director, Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 100 East B Street, Casper, Wyoming
82602, Telephone: (307) 261-6550, Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5339353f363a20303b3e323d133c203e21367d343c25"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4a202c262f23392922272b240a253927382f642d253c">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Background on the Montana Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Procedural Determinations
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
approved the Montana program on October 24, 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 October 24, 1980, Federal
Register (45 FR 70445). You can also find later actions concerning the
Montana program and program amendments at 30 CFR 926.25.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
By letter dated July 13, 2023 (Administrative Record No. MT-044-
01), Montana sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C.
1201 et seq.). We found Montana's proposed amendment to be
administratively complete on July 14, 2023. Montana submitted this
proposed amendment to us, on its own initiative, following the passage
of Montana House Bill 656 (HB 656) during the 2023 legislative session.
[[Page 72700]]
Montana proposes several changes to title 82, chapter 4, part 2 of
the MCA. First, Montana proposes to add a new section titled ``Minor
Revisions--application--exemptions,'' which tells a permittee what must
be included in minor permit revision applications and provides a
timeline for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ)
review of said applications.
Second, Montana proposes to add four new entries to 82-4-203 MCA--
Definitions: (5) Amendment, (28) Incidental Boundary Revision, (33)
Major Revision, and (39) Minor Revision. Due to the new definitions,
Montana also proposes to update the numbers listed for existing
definitions.
Third, Montana proposes to amend 82-4-221 MCA--Mining Permit
Required. Here, Montana proposes to remove language that gives
direction to a permittee when it files an application to revise its
permit. It also removes language that outlines DEQ's timeline for
reviewing minor revision applications.
Fourth, Montana proposes to amend 82-4-225 MCA--Application for
increase or reduction in permit area amendment. Montana amends the
title of this section to be ``Application for permit amendment.''
Montana then removes two occurrences of the phrase ``area of land
affected,'' replacing one with ``permit area'' and the other with
``permit boundary.'' Montana also removes language that allows a
permittee to apply to ``reduce'' its permit area, and removes language
that allows an operator to apply, at any time, to increase or reduce
its area of land affected. Lastly, Montana adds ``minor revisions'' to
the list of permit revision applications that do not follow the same
procedures as original permit applications.
Finally, HB 656 adds two contingencies that affect the amended
sections above, but that are not codified into the MCA. Section 5 of HB
656 states that the changes proposed through HB 656 are intended to be
codified into title 82, chapter 4, part 2 of the MCA. Section 6 of HB
656 states that HB 656 will terminate if OSMRE disapproves the proposed
changes made in the bill. The date of termination would be the date DEQ
certifies to the Montana code commissioner that OSMRE disapproved the
proposed changes.
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., M.D.T. on
November 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. Procedural Determinations
Executive Order 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review, Executive Order
13563--Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, and 14094--
Modernizing Regulatory Review
Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, as amended by E.O. 14094, 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/or AML plan amendments is exempted from OMB review under Executive
Order 12866, as amended by E.O. 14094. 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.
[[Page 72701]]
List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 926
State regulatory program approval, State-Federal cooperative
agreement, Required program amendments.
David A. Berry,
Regional Director, Unified Regions 5, 7-11.
[FR Doc. 2023-23034 Filed 10-20-23; 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.