Notice2025-12436
Proposed Extension of Information Collection: Applications for Permits To Fire More than 20 Boreholes and for Use of Nonpermissible Blasting Units, Explosives, and Shot-Firing Units; and Posting Notices of Misfires
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Published
July 3, 2025
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentMine Safety and Health Administration
Abstract
The Department of Labor (DOL), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre- clearance consultation program for all information collections, to provide the public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed collections of information, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is soliciting comments on the information collection titled "Applications for Permits to Fire More than 20 Boreholes and For Use of Nonpermissible Blasting Units, Explosives, and Shot-firing Units; and Posting Notices of Misfires".
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 126 (Thursday, July 3, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 126 (Thursday, July 3, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29575-29577]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-12436]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Mine Safety and Health Administration
[OMB Control No. 1219-0025]
Proposed Extension of Information Collection: Applications for
Permits To Fire More than 20 Boreholes and for Use of Nonpermissible
Blasting Units, Explosives, and Shot-Firing Units; and Posting Notices
of Misfires
AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL), as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-
clearance consultation program for all information collections, to
provide the public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment
on proposed collections of information, in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This program helps to ensure that
requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden
(time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are
clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on
respondents can be properly assessed. The Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) is soliciting comments on the information
collection titled ``Applications for Permits to Fire More than 20
Boreholes and For Use of Nonpermissible Blasting Units, Explosives, and
Shot-firing Units; and Posting Notices of Misfires''.
DATES: All comments must be received on or before September 2, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Comments concerning the information collection requirements
of this notice may be sent by any of the methods listed below. Please
note that late comments received after the deadline will not be
considered.
<bullet> Federal E-Rulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments for docket
number MSHA-2025-0035.
<bullet> Mail/Hand Delivery: DOL-MSHA, Office of Standards,
Regulations, and Variances, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room C3522,
Washington, DC 20210. Before visiting MSHA in person,
[[Page 29576]]
call 202-693-9455 to make an appointment.
<bullet> MSHA will post all comments as well as any attachments,
except for information submitted and marked as confidential, in the
docket at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Senk, Acting Director, Office
of Standards, Regulations, and Variances, MSHA, at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#96dbc5ded7b8fff8f0f9e4fbf7e2fff9f8b8f5f9fafaf3f5e2fff9f8e5d6f2f9fab8f1f9e0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="29647a61680740474f465b44485d404647074a4645454c4a5d4046475a694d4645074e465f">[email protected]</span></a> (email); (202) 693-9440 (voice);
or (202) 693-9441 (facsimile). These are not toll-free numbers.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
A. Legal Authority
Section 103(h) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977
(Mine Act), as amended, 30 U.S.C. 813(h), authorizes the Mine Safety
and Health Administration (MSHA) to collect information necessary to
carry out its duty in protecting the safety and health of miners.
Further, section 101(a) of the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. 811(a), authorizes
the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to develop, promulgate, and revise,
as may be appropriate, improved mandatory health or safety standards
for the protection of life and prevention of injuries in coal, metal
and nonmetal mines.
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) governs paperwork burdens
imposed by Federal agencies on the public for using identical questions
to collect information from 10 or more persons. The PRA defines
paperwork burden in 44 U.S.C. 3502(2) as time, effort, or financial
resources expended to generate, maintain, or provide information to or
for a Federal agency. Under 44 U.S.C. 3507, the PRA also establishes
policies and procedures of information collection for controlling
paperwork burdens imposed by Federal agencies on the public, including
evaluating public comments.
B. Information Collection
To fulfill the statutory mandates to promote miners' health and
safety, MSHA requires information collected under the information
collection request (ICR) titled ``Applications for Permits to Fire more
than 20 Boreholes and for Use of Nonpermissible Blasting Units,
Explosives, and Shot-Firing Units; and Posting Notices of Misfires.''
The information collection is intended to provide necessary information
for MSHA to issue permits to mine operators for firing of more than 20
boreholes in a round, for the use of nonpermissible explosives and
shot-firing units, and for necessary posting of misfire notices. The
permits inform mine management and miners of the steps that need to be
taken to protect the safety of any person exposed to such blasting
while using nonpermissible items.
Under section 313 of the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. 873, any explosives
used in underground coal mines must be permissible. The Mine Act also
provides that under safeguards as the Secretary may prescribe, the
Secretary may permit mine operators to fire more than 20 shots and
allow the use of nonpermissible explosives and shot-firing units in
sinking shafts and slopes from the surface in rock. In the case of a
misfire, mines must post notices at the entrance of the areas where the
misfire occurred.
Burden costs associated with the ICR include:
1. Applying for permits to fire more than 20 boreholes or for use
of nonpermissible blasting units, explosives, and shot-firing units;
and
2. Posting of misfire notices.
Details of the authorities for these costs are described below.
1. Applying for Permits for Firing More Than 20 Boreholes and for Use
of Nonpermissible Blasting Units, Explosives, and Shot-Firing Units
Under 30 CFR 75.1321(a), applications for permits for firing more
than 20 boreholes in a round and for the use of nonpermissible blasting
units must be submitted, by the mine operator, in writing to the
District Manager for the district in which the mine is located and must
contain the following information:
(1) The name and address of the mine;
(2) The active workings in the mine affected by the permit and the
approximate number of boreholes to be fired;
(3) The period of time during which the permit will apply;
(4) The nature of the development or construction for which they
will be used, e.g., overcasts, undercasts, track grading, roof brushing
or boom holes;
(5) A plan, proposed by the mine operator designed to protect
miners in the mine from the hazards of methane and other explosive
gases during each multiple shot, e.g., changes in the mine ventilation
system, provisions for auxiliary ventilation and any other safeguards
necessary to minimize such hazards;
(6) A statement of the specific hazards anticipated by the mine
operator in blasting for overcasts, undercasts, track grading, brushing
of roof, boom holes or other unusual blasting situations such as
coalbeds of abnormal thickness; and
(7) The method to be employed to avoid the dangers anticipated
during development or construction which will ensure the protection of
life and the prevention of injuries to the miners exposed to such
underground blasting.
Under 30 CFR 75.1321(b), District Managers may permit the firing of
more than 20 boreholes of permissible explosives in a round where they
have determined that it is necessary to reduce the overall hazard to
which miners are exposed during underground blasting. The District
Managers may also permit the use of nonpermissible blasting units if
they find that a permissible blasting unit does not have adequate
blasting capacity and that the use of such permissible units will
create development or construction hazards such as: exposure to
disturbed roof in an adjacent cavity while scaling and supporting the
remaining roof prior to wiring a new series of boreholes; exposure to
underburden boreholes where prior rounds have removed the burden
adjacent to a remaining borehole; exposure to an unsupported roof while
redrilling large fragmented roof rock following the loss of predrilled
boreholes during earlier blasting operations; or any other hazard
created by the use of permissible blasting units during underground
development or construction.
Under 30 CFR 75.1321(c), permits must be issued on a mine-by-mine
basis for periods of time to be specified by the District Manager.
Under 30 CFR 75.1321(d), permits must specify and include as a
condition of their use, any safeguards, in addition to those proposed
by the mine operator, which the District Manager issuing such permits
has determined will be required to ensure the welfare of the miners
employed in the mine at the time of the blasting permitted.
Under 30 CFR 77.1909-1, where the District Manager has determined
that the use of nonpermissible explosives and nonpermissible shot-
firing units will not pose a hazard to any person during the
development of a slope or shaft, the District Manager may, after
written application by the operator, approve the use of such explosives
and shot-firing units and issue a permit for the use of such explosives
and devices setting forth the safeguards to be employed by the operator
to protect the health and safety of any person exposed to such
blasting.
2. Posting of Misfire Notices
Under 30 CFR 75.1327(a), when misfires occur, mine operators must
[[Page 29577]]
ensure that only work by a qualified person to dispose of misfires and
other work necessary to protect persons must be done in the affected
area.
Under 30 CFR 75.1327(b), when a misfire cannot be disposed of, mine
operators must ensure that:
(1) A qualified person must post each accessible entrance to the
area affected by the hazard of the misfire with a warning at a
conspicuous location to prohibit entry; and
(2) The misfire must be immediately reported to mine management.
II. Desired Focus of Comments
MSHA is soliciting comments concerning the proposed information
collection titled ``Applications for Permits to Fire More than 20
Boreholes and For Use of Nonpermissible Blasting Units, Explosives, and
Shot-firing Units; and Posting Notices of Misfires''. MSHA is
particularly interested in comments that:
<bullet> Evaluate whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency,
including whether the information has practical utility;
<bullet> Evaluate the accuracy of MSHA's estimate of the burden of
the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
<bullet> Suggest methods to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be collected; and
<bullet> Minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of responses.
The ICR will be available on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. MSHA
cautions the commenter against providing any information in the
submission that should not be publicly disclosed. Full comments,
including personal information provided, will be made available on
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov">https://www.reginfo.gov</a>.
The public may also examine publicly available documents at DOL-
MSHA, Office of Standards, Regulations and Variances, 200 Constitution
Avenue NW, Room C3522, Washington, DC 20210. Before visiting MSHA in
person, call 202-693-9455 to make an appointment.
Questions about the ICR may be directed to the person listed in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION section of this notice.
III. Current Actions
This ICR concerns provisions for Applications for Permits to Fire
More than 20 Boreholes and For Use of Nonpermissible Blasting Units,
Explosives, and Shot-firing Units; and Posting Notices of Misfires.
MSHA has updated the data with respect to the number of respondents,
responses, time burden, and burden costs supporting this ICR from the
previous ICR.
Type of Review: Extension, without change, of a currently approved
collection.
Agency: Mine Safety and Health Administration.
OMB Number: 1219-0025.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
Number of Annual Respondents: 33.
Frequency: Annually.
Number of Annual Responses: 34.
Annual Time Burden: 33 hours.
Annual Other Burden Costs: $170.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
approval of the proposed ICR; they will become a matter of public
record and be available at <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov">https://www.reginfo.gov</a>.
Jessica Senk,
Certifying Officer, Mine Safety and Health Administration.
[FR Doc. 2025-12436 Filed 7-2-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-43-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on July 3, 2025.
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.