[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 237 (Friday, December 8, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 76954-76956]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-31324]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 938

[PA-122-FOR]


Pennsylvania Regulatory Program

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of public comment period.

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

SUMMARY: OSM is reopening the public comment period on Pennsylvania's 
responses to comments we made in regard to a proposed amendment to the 
Pennsylvania permanent regulatory program under the Surface Mining 
Control and Reclamation Act of 1997 (SMCRA). The amendment, submitted 
on July 29, 1998, (Administrative Record No. PA-841.07), proposed 
changes to the Pennsylvania program with regard to the mine subsidence 
control, subsidence damage repair or replacement, and water supply 
replacement provisions of SMCRA. The amendment submission included 
changes to the Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act 
(BMSLCA) made through Act 54 and changes to regulations at 25 PA Code 
Chapter 89. After reviewing the amendment, we sent two letters to 
Pennsylvania requesting clarification of numerous issues. The letters 
were sent on June 21, 1999, (Administrative record number PA 841.32) 
and June 23, 2000, (Administrative record number PA 841.40). 
Pennsylvania responded to the first letter on June 1, 2000, 
(Administrative record number PA

[[Page 76955]]

841.39) and to the second on July 14, 2000, (Administrative record 
number PA 841.41). We are reopening the comment period to allow public 
input into Pennsylvania's responses to the two letters.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before 4:00 p.m. (local 
time), on December 26, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Mail, hand-deliver or e-mail your written comments to Mr. 
Robert J. Biggi, Director, Harrisburg Field Office, at the address 
listed below.
    You may review copies of the Pennsylvania program, the proposed 
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 proposed amendment by contacting OSM's Harrisburg Field 
Office.

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Harrisburg Field 
Office, Third Floor, Suite 3C, Harrisburg Transportation Center, 415 
Market Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101, Telephone: (717) 782-
4036, e-mail: [email protected]
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Mining 
and Reclamation, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 8461, 
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105-8461, Telephone: (717) 787-5103

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert J. Biggi, Director, Harrisburg 
Field Office, Telephone: (717) 782-4036.

I. Background on the Pennsylvania Program

    On July 31, 1982, the Secretary of the Interior conditionally 
approved the Pennsylvania program. You can find background information 
on the Pennsylvania program, including the Secretary's findings, the 
disposition of comments, and the conditions of the approval in the July 
31, 1982, Federal Register (47 FR 33050). Subsequent actions concerning 
the Pennsylvania program and previous amendments are codified at 30 CFR 
938.11, 938.12, 938.15 and 938.16.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated July 29, 1998 (Administrative Record Number PA 
841.07), the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (PADEP) 
submitted an amendment to its approved permanent regulatory program 
pursuant to the Federal regulations at 30 CFR 732.17(b).
    The proposed rulemaking was published in the August 25, 1998, 
Federal Register (63 FR 45199). The first public comment period closed 
on September 24, 1998. In response to requests from several people, the 
comment period was reopened on September 25, 1998, (63 FR 51324).
    This second comment period closed on October 19, 1998. A public 
hearing was held on October 13, 1998, at Washington, Pennsylvania 
(Administrative record numbers PA 841.21, 841.22, and 841.31). After 
reviewing the public comments and the information received at the 
public hearing and conducting our own review of the amendment, we sent 
Pennsylvania the two letters described above to request clarification 
of numerous issues. The sections of the BMSLCA that we asked 
Pennsylvania for additional information on are: 5.1(a)(1)--(3), 5.1(b), 
5.2(a)(1) and (2), 5.2(a)(2), 5.2(b)(2), 5.2(d), 5.2(e)(1)--(3), 
5.2(g), 5.2(g)(1), 5.2(h), 5.2(i), 5.2(k), 5.3(a), 5.3(c), 5.4(a)(1), 
5.4(a)(2), 5.4(a)(3), 5.4(c), 5.5(a), 5.5(b), 5.5(c), 5.5(e), 5.5(g), 
5.6(a), 5.6(c), and 9.1(b).
    The sections of Pennsylvania's regulations at 25 PA Code Chapter 89 
that we asked Pennsylvania for additional information on are: 
Sec. 89.5, definitions of the terms, ``de minimis cost increase,'' 
``permanently affixed appurtenant structures,'' and ``public buildings 
and facilities,'' Sec. 89.35, Sec. 89.67(b), Sec. 89.141(d), 
Sec. 89.141(d)(2), Sec. 89.141(d)(3), Sec. 89.141(d)(6), 
Sec. 89.141(d)(9), Sec. 89.142a(a)(3), Sec. 89.142a(b)(1), 
Sec. 89.142a(b)(2), Sec. 89.142a(c)(2), Sec. 89.142a(c)(3), 
Sec. 89.142a(e), Sec. 89.142a(f)(1), Sec. 89.142a(f)(2), 
Sec. 89.142a(g)(2)--(4), Sec. 89.143a(b), Sec. 89.145a(a)(1), 
Sec. 89.145a(a)(3), Sec. 89.145a(b), Sec. 89.145a(d), Sec. 89.145a(e), 
Sec. 89.145a(e)(2), Sec. 89.145a(f)(1), Sec. 89.145a(f)(3), 
Sec. 89.146a(a), Sec. 89.146a(b)(4), Sec. 89.152(b), Sec. 89.154(a), 
Sec. 89.154(a)(5) and (6).
    The full text of our letters and Pennsylvania's responses can be 
obtained at the Harrisburg Field Office at the address listed above.

III. Public Comment Procedures

    In accordance with the provisions of 30 CFR 732.17(h), OSM is 
seeking comments only on Pennsylvania's responses to our two letters.

Written Comments

    If you submit written or electronic comments on the proposed rule 
during the 15-day comment period, they should be specific, should be 
confined to issues pertinent to the notice, and should explain the 
reason for your recommendation(s). We may not be able to consider or 
include in the Administrative Record comments delivered to an address 
other than the one listed above (see ADDRESSES).

Electronic Comments

    Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII, WordPerfect, or Word 
file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption. 
Please also include ``Attn: SPATS NO. PA-122-FOR'' and your name and 
return address in your Internet message. If you do not receive a 
confirmation that we have received your Internet message, contact the 
Harrisburg Field Office at (717) 782-4036.

Availability of Comments

    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular 
business hours at the OSM Administrative Record Room (see ADDRESSES). 
Individual respondents may request that we withhold their home address 
from the rulemaking record, which we will honor to the extent allowable 
by law. There also may be circumstances in which we would withhold from 
the rulemaking record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If 
you wish us to withhold your name and/or address, you must state this 
prominently at the beginning of your comment. However, we will not 
consider anonymous 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 inspection in their entirety.

Procedural Determinations

Executive Order 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review

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

Executive Order 12630--Takings

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

Executive Order 13132--Federalism

    This rule does not have federalism implications. 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

[[Page 76956]]

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, and section 503(a)(7) 
requires that state programs contain rules and regulations ``consistent 
with'' regulations issued by the Secretary pursuant to SMCRA.

Executive Order 12988--Civil Justice Reform

    The Department of the Interior has conducted the reviews required 
by section 3 of Executive Order 12988 and has 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 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.

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 (NEPA) (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 the Office of Management and Budget 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 
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 
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 regulation.

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, federal, state, or local government 
agencies, or geographic regions.
    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 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 938

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: November 30, 2000.
George J. Rieger,
Acting Regional Director, Appalachian Regional Coordinating Center.
[FR Doc. 00-31324 Filed 12-7-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P