[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 116 (Thursday, June 17, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32449-32450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15399]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 925

[SPATS No. MO-035-FOR]


Missouri Regulatory Program

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening and extension of public comment period 
on proposed amendment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) 
is announcing receipt of additional information about a previously 
proposed amendment to the Missouri regulatory program (Missouri 
program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 
(SMCRA). Missouri submitted supporting documentation for the normal 
husbandry practices proposed in the previous amendment. The practices 
include applying pesticides and soil amendments; subsoiling; repairing 
rills and gullies; burning; overseeding; and planting and pruning 
trees. Missouri intends to revise its program to be consistent with the 
corresponding Federal regulations.

DATES: We will accept written comments until 4:00 p.m., c.d.t., July 
19, 1999.

ADDRESSES: You should mail or hand deliver written comments to John W. 
Coleman, Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating Center, at the address 
listed below.
    You may review copies of the Missouri program, the amendment, and 
all written comments received in response to this document at the 
addresses listed below during normal business hours, Monday through 
Friday, excluding holidays. You may receive one free copy of the 
amendment by contacting OSM's Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating 
Center.
    John W. Coleman, Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating Center, Office 
of Surface Mining, Alton Federal Building, 501 Belle Street, Alton, 
Illinois 62002, Telephone: (618) 463-6460.
    Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Land Reclamation Program, 
205 Jefferson Street, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102, 
Telephone: (573) 751-4041.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John W. Coleman, Mid-Continent 
Regional Coordinating Center. Telephone: (618) 463-6460. Internet: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on the Missouri Program

    On November 21, 1980, the Secretary of the Interior conditionally 
approved the Missouri program. You can find general background 
information on the Missouri program, including the Secretary's 
findings, the disposition of comments, and the conditions of approval 
in the November 21, 1980, Federal Register (45 FR 77017). You can find 
later actions on the Missouri program at 30 CFR 925.12, 925.15, and 
925.16.

II. Discussion of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated October 10, 1990, Missouri sent us an amendment to 
its program under SMCRA (Administrative Record No. MO-519). We 
announced receipt of the amendment in the November 1, 1990, Federal 
Register (55 FR 46076) and invited public comment on its adequacy. The 
public comment period closed December 3, 1990. In the September 29, 
1992, Federal Register (57 FR 44660), we approved the amendment with 
exceptions. The exceptions included revisions to Missouri's regulation 
at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2 concerning normal husbandry practices. We did 
not approve this regulation because Missouri had not provided evidence 
to substantiate the use of each proposed practice as a normal husbandry 
practice. As codified at 30 CFR 925.16(p)(15), we required Missouri to 
provide such evidence for the administrative record or to delete the 
regulation at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2.
    By letter dated June 4, 1999, Missouri submitted agricultural 
publications and

[[Page 32450]]

guidelines developed by the University of Missouri--Columbia Extension 
Division (UMC); other cooperative extension services in cooperation 
with the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the Missouri Department of 
Conservation (MDOC); and the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation 
Service (NRCS) as supporting documentation for the normal husbandry 
practices proposed in its regulation at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2.
    Missouri's regulation at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2 would allow the 
permittee, on areas under Phase III liability or the five-year 
responsibility period, to use specified normal husbandry practices. The 
practices include: mowing; applying pesticides; applying soil 
amendments equal to or less than that recommended by the high 
management yield goals of the NRCS; subsoiling which occurs less than 
two feet below the surface and which does not remove the revegetation 
from the surface; burning; overseeding to maintain the approved 
composition of the stand; and planting and pruning trees. Using these 
practices will not cause the Phase III liability period to be extended 
if the permittee can demonstrate that: (1) discontinuance of these 
measures after the liability period expires will not reduce the 
probability of permanent revegetation success; (2) the practices are 
normal husbandry practices within the region on unmined lands having 
land uses similar to the approved postmining land use of the areas; and 
(3) the practices are necessary to prevent exploitation, destruction or 
neglect of the resource and to maintain the prescribed level of use or 
productivity. Repairing rills and gullies will not cause the Phase III 
liability period to be extended when rills and gullies develop after 
the initiation of the Phase III liability period and when that repair 
is restricted to the filling, grading and reseeding of the eroded 
portion of the area.
    Missouri submitted the following documents to support the husbandry 
practices proposed in 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2:
Herbicides for Conservation Tillage Cropping Systems; UMC
1980 Recom. for Chemical Weed Control in Small Grains; UMC
Soil Insect Control in Reduced Tillage Cropping Systems; UMC
Corrective Liming of Missouri Soils; UMC
Using Your Soil Test Results; UMC
Native Warm-Season Grasses; MDOC
Prescribed Burning (Code 338); NRCS
Establishing Forages; UMC
Soil Compaction: The Silent Thief; UMC
Soil Compaction Tips; Cooperative Extension, University of Nebraska
Soil Compaction and Drainage; Ohio State University
Pasture and Hayland Planting (Code 512); NRCS
Tree/Shrub Establishment (Code 612); NRCS
Tree/Shrub Pruning (Code 660); NRCS
Woodland Site Preparation (Code 490); NRCS
Woodland Pruning (Code 660); NRCS
Critical Area Planting (Code 342); NRCS

III. Public Comment Procedures

    We are reopening the comment period on the proposed Missouri 
program amendment at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2 to provide you an 
opportunity to reconsider the adequacy of the amendment in light of the 
additional materials sent to us. Under the provisions of 30 CFR 
732.17(h), we are requesting comments on whether the amendment 
satisfies the program approval criteria of 30 CFR 732.15. If we approve 
the amendment, it will become part of the Missouri program.

Written Comments

    Your written comments should be specific and pertain only to the 
issues proposed in this rulemaking. You should explain the reason for 
any recommended change. In the final rulemaking, we will not 
necessarily consider or include in the Administrative Record any 
comments received after the time indicated under DATES or at locations 
other than the Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating Center.

IV. Procedural Determinations

Executive Order 12866

    The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) exempts this rule from 
review under Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review).

Executive Order 12988

    The Department of the Interior conducted the reviews required by 
section 3 of Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice Reform) and 
determined that, to the extent allowed by law, this rule meets the 
applicable standards of subsections (a) and (b) of that section. 
However, these standards are not applicable to the actual language of 
State regulatory programs and program amendments since each such 
program is drafted and promulgated by a specific State, not by OSM. 
Under sections 503 and 505 of SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1253 and 1255) and 30 
CFR 730.11, 732.15, and 732.17(h)(10), decisions on State regulatory 
programs and program amendments must be based solely on a determination 
of whether the submittal is consistent with SMCRA and its implementing 
Federal regulations and whether the other requirements of 30 CFR Parts 
730, 731, and 732 have been met.

National Environmental Policy Act

    This rule does not require an environmental impact statement since 
section 702(d) of SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1292(d)) provides that agency 
decisions on State regulatory program provisions do not constitute 
major Federal actions within the meaning of section 102(2)(C) of the 
National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)).

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This rule does not contain information collection requirements that 
require approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 
3507 et seq.).

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Department of the Interior has determined that this rule will 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 
The State submittal which is the subject of this rule is based upon 
corresponding Federal regulations for which an economic analysis was 
prepared and certification made that such regulations would not have a 
significant economic effect upon a substantial number of small 
entities. Therefore, this rule will ensure that existing requirements 
previously published by OSM will be implemented by the State. In making 
the determination as to whether this rule would have a significant 
economic impact, the Department relied upon the data and assumptions 
for the corresponding Federal regulations.

Unfunded Mandates

    OSM has determined and certifies under the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act (2 U.S.C. 1502 et seq.) that this rule will not impose a cost of 
$100 million or more in any given year on local, state, or tribal 
governments or private entities.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 925

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: June 10, 1999.
Charles E. Sandberg,
Acting Regional Director, Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating Center.
[FR Doc. 99-15399 Filed 6-16-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P