Proposed Rule2025-20018
Kentucky 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
November 17, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentSurface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Office
Abstract
We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), announce receipt of a proposed amendment to the Kentucky regulatory program (Kentucky program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Through this program amendment, Kentucky seeks to amend its law to add a statutory definition for "long-term treatment" and to specify how the additional bonds for long-term treatment are to be calculated.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 219 (Monday, November 17, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 219 (Monday, November 17, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51232-51234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-20018]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
30 CFR Part 917
[SATS No. KY-267-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2025-0023; S1D1S SS08011000
SX064A000 256S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 25XS501520]
Kentucky 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), announce receipt of a proposed amendment to the Kentucky
regulatory program (Kentucky program) under the Surface Mining Control
and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Through this program
amendment, Kentucky seeks to amend its law to add a statutory
definition for ``long-term treatment'' and to specify how the
additional bonds for long-term treatment are to be calculated.
DATES: We will accept written comments on this amendment until 4:00
p.m., eastern time, on December 17, 2025. If requested, we may hold a
public hearing or meeting on the amendment on December 12, 2025. We
will accept
[[Page 51233]]
requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., eastern time, on
December 2, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. KY-267-FOR,
by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Justin Adams, Acting Field Office
Director, Lexington Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation
and Enforcement, 2675 Regency Road, Lexington, KY 40503.
<bullet> Fax: (859) 260-8410.
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been
assigned Docket ID OSM-2025-0023. 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 Kentucky
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: OSMRE's
Lexington Field Office: Mr. Justin Adams, Acting Field Office Director,
Lexington Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and
Enforcement, 2675 Regency Road, Lexington, KY 40503, telephone: (304)
977-7177, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b0dad1d4d1ddc3f0dfc3ddc2d59ed7dfc6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c1aba0a5a0acb281aeb2acb3a4efa6aeb7">[email protected]</span></a>. The full text of the program
amendment is available for you to read at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
You may receive one free copy of the amendment by contacting Mr. Adams
at the above contact information.
In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular
business hours at the following location: Ms. Dawn Baase, Regulation
Coordinator, Department for Natural Resources, Kentucky Energy and
Environment Cabinet, 300 Sower Boulevard, Frankfort, KY 40601,
telephone: (502) 782-6311, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4a2e2b3d2464282b2b392f0a2133642d253c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="dfbbbea8b1f1bdbebeacba9fb4a6f1b8b0a9">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Justin Adams, Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 2675 Regency Road, Lexington, KY
40503. Telephone: (304) 977-7177; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9ff5fefbfef2ecdff0ecf2edfab1f8f0e9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b9d3d8ddd8d4caf9d6cad4cbdc97ded6cf">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background on the Kentucky Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Statutory and Executive Orders Reviews
I. Background on the Kentucky 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 Kentucky program
effective May 18, 1982. You can find background information on the
Kentucky program, including the Secretary's findings, the disposition
of comments, and conditions of approval of the Kentucky program in the
May 18, 1982, Federal Register (47 FR 21434). You can also find later
actions concerning the Kentucky program and program amendments at 30
CFR 917.11, 917.12, 917.13, 917.15, 917.16, and 917.17.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
By letter dated June 5, 2025, (Administrative Record No. KY-2010-
01), Kentucky sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). This submission proposes to define ``long-term
treatment.'' We did not approve Kentucky's prior attempt to define
``long-term treatment'' in our decision associated with KY-262 on
September 21, 2023 (88 FR 65125).
With this submission, the Kentucky Department for Natural Resources
proposes to amend its regulatory program reflecting statutory changes
made by the Kentucky General Assembly. Under this proposed program
amendment (KY-267), Kentucky seeks to add a definition for ``long-term
treatment'' to Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 350.10(27) and to amend
KRS 350.060 to specify how the additional bonds for long-term treatment
are calculated. These statutory changes were passed by the Kentucky
General Assembly during the 2025 legislative session in Senate Bill 89
and found in the 2025 Regular Session Acts of the Kentucky General
Assembly at chapter 119 (2025 KY. Acts ch. 119, sec. 3 and 4). The full
text of the program amendment is available for you to read at the
locations listed above under ADDRESSES and at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://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 changes. 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 this proposed rule's docket
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 and Meeting
If you wish to speak at a public hearing, contact the person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by 4:00 p.m., eastern time, on
December 2, 2025. 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
[[Page 51234]]
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.
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.
Any meeting is 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 amendments is exempted from OMB
review under Executive Order 12866.
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 917
Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.
Ben H. Owens,
Acting Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian Region.
[FR Doc. 2025-20018 Filed 11-14-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P
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