Proposed Rule2024-16536
Wyoming 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
July 30, 2024
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 regulatory amendment to the Wyoming coal program (Wyoming program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). On February 19, 2019, the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council (EQC) approved several revisions to the rules governing Financial Assurances and Self-Bonding under the Wyoming program. This document gives the times and locations that the Wyoming 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 89 Issue 146 (Tuesday, July 30, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 146 (Tuesday, July 30, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 61051-61053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-16536]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
30 CFR Part 950
[SATS No. WY-047-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2024-0002; S1D1S SS08011000
SX064A000 245S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 24XS501520]
Wyoming 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 regulatory amendment to
the Wyoming coal program (Wyoming program) under the Surface Mining
Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). On February 19,
2019, the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council (EQC) approved several
revisions to the rules governing Financial Assurances and Self-Bonding
under the Wyoming program. This document gives the times and locations
that the Wyoming 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
[[Page 61052]]
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.), August 29, 2024. If requested, we may
hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on August 26, 2024.
We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4 p.m., M.D.T., on
August 14, 2024.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WY-047-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: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://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 Wyoming
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#83e9e5efe6eaf0e0ebeee2edc3ecf0eef1e6ade4ecf5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7319151f161a00101b1e121d331c001e01165d141c05">[email protected]</span></a>.
In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular
business hours at the following location: Attn: Kyle Wendtland,
Administrator, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Land
Quality Division, 200 West 17th Street, Suite 10, Cheyenne, Wyoming
82002, Telephone: (307) 777-7046, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c3a8baafa6edb4a6ada7b7afa2ada783b4baaceda4acb5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="90fbe9fcf5bee7f5fef4e4fcf1fef4d0e7e9ffbef7ffe6">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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#5238343e373b21313a3f333c123d213f20377c353d24"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1e7478727b776d7d76737f705e716d736c7b30797168">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background on the Wyoming Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Procedural Determinations
I. Background on the Wyoming 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 Wyoming program on November 26, 1980. You
can find background information on the Wyoming program, including the
Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and conditions of
approval of the Wyoming program in the November 26, 1980 Federal
Register at 45 FR 78637. You can also find later actions concerning the
Wyoming program and program amendments at 30 CFR 950.10.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
By letter dated May 20, 2024 (Admin Record No. WY-047-01), Wyoming
sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et
seq.). We found Wyoming's proposed amendment administratively complete
on May 21, 2024.
On February 19, 2019, the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council
(EQC) approved several revisions to the Wyoming Program's financial
assurances regulations. The EQC approved another revision to these
rules following a 2022 legislative change (House Bill 0045) to Wyoming
Statute (W.S.) 35-11-417(h) which enabled Wyoming to promulgate rules
for a new type of financial assurance instrument called a ``Voluntary
Irrevocable Assigned Trust''. Accordingly, the State submitted this
proposal to OSMRE at its own initiative. The Wyoming amendment proposes
the following revisions:
First, Wyoming proposes to delete ``Chapter 20--Letters of
Credit,'' and instead inserts it into ``Chapter 11--Self-bonding
Program.'' Chapter 11 is also renamed from ``Chapter 11--Self-Bonding
Program'' to ``Chapter 11--Financial Assurance.'' As proposed, all
Financial Assurance regulations will now be housed in Chapter 11.
Second, Wyoming proposes several updates to its self-bonding
program. These revisions include changes to some definitions, limiting
self-bonding to a maximum of 75% of an operation's bond obligation,
changing the requirements for an operation to qualify for self-bonding,
and removing the ability for an operation to use ``collateralized self-
bonds,'' like real property, personal property, and securities. Wyoming
proposes that ``Collateralized self-bonds'' will now be considered
separate financial instruments called ``Collateral bonds.''
Lastly, Wyoming proposes several changes to its Collateral bond
section. Within the Collateral bond section Wyoming proposes to revise
some of the Letters of Credit rules, removes Personal Property
collateral bond instruments, adds Real Property collateral bond
instruments, adds Irrevocable Trust Account options for collateral
bonds, and revises some requirements for Securities bond options.
The full text of the program and/or plan 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
[[Page 61053]]
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
August 14, 2024. 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 Executive Order
14094--Modernizing Regulatory Review
Executive Order 12866, as amended by Executive Order 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 amendments is exempted from OMB review under Executive
Order 12866, as amended by Executive Order 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.
List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 950
Required program amendments, State-Federal cooperative agreement,
State program provisions and amendments not approved, State regulatory
program approval, Surface mining.
David A. Berry,
Regional Director, Unified Regions 5, 7-11.
[FR Doc. 2024-16536 Filed 7-29-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P
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