[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 186 (Monday, September 25, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57583-57585]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-24580]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 926

[SPATS No. MT-020-FOR]


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: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) 
is 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). Montana proposed revisions 
to, and additions of statutes about, the definition of what constitutes 
a mine operator, the notice requirements for alternate reclamation 
plans; the use of introduced species on lands mined, disturbed, or 
redisturbed after May 2, 1978, and reseeded prior to January 1, 1984; a 
new statute section concerning subsidence; and other editorial 
revisions. Montana intends to revise its program to be consistent with 
SMCRA, provide additional safeguard, clarify ambiguities, and improve 
operational efficiency.

DATES: We will accept written comments on this amendment until 4 p.m., 
m.d.t. October 25, 2000. If requested, we will hold a public hearing on 
the amendment on October 20, 2000. We will accept requests to speak 
until 4 p.m., m.d.t. on October 10, 2000.

ADDRESSES: You should mail, hand deliver, or e-mail written comments 
and requests to speak at the hearing to Guy Padgett at the address 
listed below.
    You may review copies of the Montana program, this amendment, a 
listing of any scheduled public hearings, 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 Casper Field Office.

Guy Padgett, Director, Casper Field Office, Office of Surface Mining 
Reclamation and Enforcement, 100 East ``B'' Street, Federal Building, 
Room 2128, Casper, Wyoming 82601-1918, Telephone: (307) 261-6550.
Steve Welch, Chief, Industrial and Energy Minerals Bureau, Montana 
Department of Environmental Quality, 1520 E. Sixth Ave., P.O. Box 
200901, Helena, MT 59620-0901, Telephone: (406) 444-4964.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

    Guy Padgett, Telephone: (307) 261-6550. Internet: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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

    On April 1, 1980, the Secretary of the Interior conditionally 
approved the Montana program. 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 April 1, 1980, Federal Register (45 FR 21560). You can 
also find later actions concerning Montana's program and program 
amendments at 30 CFR 926.15, 926.16, and 926.30.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letters dated July 20 and August 17, 2000, Montana sent us a 
proposed amendment to its program (Administrative Record No. MT-17-01) 
under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). Montana sent the amendment in 
response to a June 5, 1996, letter (Administrative Record No. MT-17-03) 
that we sent to Montana in accordance with 30 CFR 732.17(c), and to 
include the changes made at its own initiative by the 1997 State 
legislature. In addition, Montana has included revisions from the 1995 
State legislature which OSM approved in the January 22, 1999, Federal 
Register (64 FR 3604). The full text of this program amendment is 
available for you to read at the locations listed above under 
ADDRESSES.
    The provisions of the Montana Code Annotated (MCA) that Montana 
proposes to revise or add are: 82-4-203(21), MCA (Definitions); 82-4-
232(7), MCA (Area mining required-bond-alternative plan); 82-4-233, MCA 
(Planting of vegetation following grading of disturbed area); 82-4-243, 
MCA (Subsidence); 82-4-253(2), MCA (Suit for damage to water supply); 
and 82-4-254(4), MCA (Violation-Penalty-Waiver).
    Specifically, Montana proposes to revise the Montana program to (1) 
include uranium mining using in situ methods in the definition of 
operator; (2) require newspaper publication of alternate reclamation 
plans; (3) allow introduced species to compose a major or dominant 
component of the reclaimed vegetation for lands mined, disturbed, or 
redisturbed after May 2, 1978, and seeded prior to January 1, 1984; (4) 
allow for the prompt repair or compensation for material damage to any 
occupied residential dwelling and related structures and to any 
noncommercial building resulting from subsidence caused by underground 
mining operations; (5) promptly replace any drinking, domestic, or 
residential water supply from a well or spring that was in existence 
prior to the permit application that has been affected by 
contamination, diminution, or interruption resulting from underground 
coal mining operations; (6) include an editorial revision to MCA 82-4-
253(2); and (7) propose a revision at MCA 82-4-254(4) to reflect the 
1995 State reorganization to designate a director of environmental 
quality.

III. Public Comment Procedures

    Under the provisions of 30 CFR 732.17(h), OSM requests 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 Montana program.

Written Comments

    Send your written comments to OSM at the address given above. Your 
written comments should be specific, pertain only to the issues 
proposed in this rulemaking, and include explanations in support of 
your recommendations. 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 
Casper Field Office.

Electronic Comments

    Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII file avoiding the use 
of special

[[Page 57584]]

characters and any form of encryption. Please also include ``Attn: 
SPATS No. MT-020-FOR'' and your name and return address in your 
Internet meassage. If you do not receive a confirmation that we have 
received your Internet message, contact the Casper Field Office at 
(307) 261-6550.

Availability of Comments

    We will make comments, including names and addresses of 
respondents, available for public review during normal business hours. 
We will not consider anonymous comments. If individual respondents 
request confidentiality, we will honor their request to the extent 
allowable by law. Individual respondents who wish to withhold their 
name or address from public review, except for the city or town, must 
state this prominently at the beginning of their comments. We will make 
all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, available for public review in their entirety.

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 
October 10, 2000. If you are disabled and need special 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 the hearing.
    To assist the transcriber and ensure an accurate record, we 
request, if possible, that each person who speaks at a public hearing 
provide us with a written copy of his or her comments. The public 
hearing will continue on the specified date until everyone schedule to 
speak has been 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 schedule 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 12630--Takings

    This rule does not have takings implications. This determination is 
based on the analysis performed for the counterpart Federal 
regulations.

Executive Order 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review

    This rule is exempted from review by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) and Executive Order 12866.

Executive Order 12988--Civil Justice Reform

    The Department of the Interior has conducted the reviews required 
by section 3 of Executive order 12988 and had determined that, to the 
extent allowable 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 the Federal regulations at 30 CFR 730.11, 
732.15, and 732.17(h)(10), decisions on proposed State regulatory 
programs and program amendments submitted by the States 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.

Executive Order 13132--Federalism

    This rule does not have Federalism implications within the meaning 
of Executive Order 13132. SMCRA delineates the roles of the Federal and 
State governments with regard to the regulation of surface coal mining 
and reclamation operations. One of the purposes of SMCRA is to 
``establish a nationwide program to protect society and the environment 
from the adverse effects of surface coal mining operations.'' Section 
503(a)(1) of SMCRA requires that State laws regulating surface coal 
mining and reclamation operations be ``in accordance with'' the 
requirements of SMCRA. Section 503(a)(7) requires that State programs 
contain rules and regulations ``consistent with'' regulations issued by 
the Secretary pursuant to SMCRA.

National Environmental Policy Act

    Section 702(d) of SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1292(d)) provides that a 
decision on a proposed State regulatory program provision does not 
constitute a major Federal action within the meaning of section 
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 
4332(2)(C)). A determination has been made that such decisions are 
categorically excluded from the NEPA process (516 DM 8.4.A).

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 (4 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 
The State submittal that is the subject of this rule is based upon 
counterpart 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. Accordingly, this rule will ensure that existing requirements 
established by SMCRA or previously promulgated 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 counterpart Federal 
regulations.

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act

    This rule is not a major rule under 5 U.S.C. 804(2), the Small 
Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. This rule (a) does not 
have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million; (b) will not 
cause a major increase in costs or prices for consumers, individual 
industries, geographic regions, or Federal, State or local governmental 
agencies; and (c) does not have significant adverse effects on 
competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or the 
ability of U.S. based enterprises to compete with foreign-based 
enterprises. This determination is based upon the fact that the State 
submittal which is the subject of this rule is based upon counterpart 
Federal regulations for which an analysis was prepared and a 
determination made that the Federal

[[Page 57585]]

regulation was not considered a major rule.

Unfunded Mandates

    This rule will not impose a cost of $100 million or more in any 
given year on any governmental entity or the private sector.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 926

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: September 19, 2000.
Brent Wahlquist,
Regional Director, Western Regional Coordinating Center.
[FR Doc. 00-24580 Filed 9-22-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-M