[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 57 (Monday, March 25, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13659-13660]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-7089]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement


Proposed Construction of City of Lander Water Treatment Plant

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

ACTION: Notice of application for grant funding; public comment period 
on request to fund the City of Lander Water Treatment Plant.

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SUMMARY: OSM is announcing its receipt of a grant application from the 
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Abandoned Mine Land 
Division (AMLD). Wyoming is requesting $1,000,000 from the Abandoned 
Mine Land Reclamation Fund to pay part of the cost of building a City 
of Lander Water Treatment Plant. In its application, the State proposes 
paying for part of the construction cost as a public facility project 
that will benefit a community impacted by mineral mining.
    This notice describes when and where you may read the grant 
application for funding the City of Lander Water Treatment Plant. It 
also sets the time period during which you may send written comments on 
the request to us.

DATES: We will accept written comments until 4 p.m., m.s.t., April 24, 
2002.

ADDRESSES: You should mail or hand-deliver written comments to Guy V. 
Padgett, Casper Field Office Director, at the address shown below. You 
may read Wyoming's grant application for this proposed project during 
normal business hours Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) at the 
same address. Also, we will send one free copy of the grant application 
to you if you contact OSM's Casper Field Office.
    Guy V. Padgett, Director, Casper Field Office, Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Federal Building, Rm. 2403, 100 
East ``B'' Street, Casper, Wyoming 82601-1918.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Guy V. Padgett, Telephone: (307) 261-
6555.
    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular 
business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their home address from the rulemaking [or administrative] record, 
which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There also may be 
circumstances in which we would withhold from the rulemaking [or 
administrative] 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 take 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on Title IV of SMCRA

    Title IV of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) 
established an Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation (AMLR) program. The 
purpose of the AMLR program is to reclaim and restore lands and waters 
that were adversely affected by past mining. The program is funded by a 
reclamation fee paid by active coal mining operations. Rands and waters 
eligible for reclamation under Title IV are primarily those that were 
mined, or affected by mining, and abandoned or inadequately reclaimed 
before August 3, 1977, and for which there is no continuing reclamation 
responsibility under State, Federal, or other laws.
    Title IV of SMCRA allows States to submit AMLR plans to us. We, on 
behalf of the Secretary review those plans and consider any public 
comments we receive about them. If we determine that a State has the 
ability and necessary legislation to operate an AMLR program, the 
Secretary can approve it. The Secretary's approval gives a State 
exclusive authority to put its AMLR plan into effect.
    Once the Secretary approves a State's AMLR plan, the State may 
apply to us for money to fund specific projects that will achieve the 
goals of its approved plan. We follow the requirements on the Federal 
regulations at 30 CFR parts 874, 875, and 886 when we review and 
approve such applications.

II. Background on the Wyoming AMLR Plan

    The Secretary of the Interior approved Wyoming's AMLR plan on 
February 14, 1983. You can find background information on the Wyoming 
AML program, including the Secretary's findings and our responses to 
comments, in the February 14, 1983 Federal Register (48 FR 6536). 
Wyoming changed its plan a number of times since the Secretary first 
approved it. In 1984, we accepted the State's certification that it had 
addressed all known coal-related impacts in Wyoming that were eligible 
for funding under its program. As a result, the State may now

[[Page 13660]]

reclaim low priority non-coal reclamation projects. You can read about 
the certification and OSM's acceptance in the May 25, 1984, Federal 
Register (49 FR 22139). At the same time, we also accepted Wyoming's 
proposal that it will ask us for funds to reclaim any additional coal-
related problems that occur during the life of the AML program as soon 
as it becomes aware of them. In the April 13, 1992, Federal Register 
(57 FR 12731), we announced our decision to accept other changes in 
Wyoming's plan that describe how it will rank eligible coal, non-coal, 
and public facility projects for funding. Those changes also authorized 
the Governor of Wyoming to elevate the priority of a project based upon 
the Governor's determination of need and urgency. They also expanded 
the State's ability to construct public facilities under section 411 of 
SMCRA. We approved additional changes in Wyoming's plan concerning non-
coal lien authority and contractor eligibility that improved the 
efficiency of the State's AML program. That approval is described in 
the February 21, 1996, Federal Register (61 FR 6537).
    Once a State certifies that it has addressed all remaining 
abandoned coal mine problems and the Secretary concurs, then it may 
request funds to undertake abandoned non-coal mine reclamation, 
community impact assistance, and public projects under sections 411(b), 
(e), and (f), of SMCRA.
    State law and regulations that apply to the proposed Abandoned Coal 
Mine Land Program City of Lander Water Treatment Plant funding request 
include Wyoming Statue 35-11-1202 and Wyoming Abandoned Mine Land 
Regulations, Chapter VII, of the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Program.

III. Wyoming's Request To Fund the Cost of the City of Lander Water 
Treatment Plant

    The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality will submit to us a 
grant application in the fall of 2003. In that application, Wyoming 
will ask for $1,000,000 to pay for a part of the cost of constructing 
the City of Lander Water Treatment Plant. The Governor of Wyoming 
certified the need and urgency to fund this project prior to completing 
the State's remaining inventory of non-coal reclamation work, as 
allowed by section 411(f) of SMCRA. That certification says the project 
is in a community impacted by mineral mining activities. This project 
is the second phase of AML Project 44 which was included in the 2001 
AML grant. This grant provided $887,239 of funding for the initial 
design and construction of the City of Lander Water Treatment Plant.
    This project addresses an Enforcement Order from the EPA. The 
Governor's certification states that the safety hazards impacting the 
City of Lander water users warrant funding of this project before the 
remaining inventory of non-coal projects are completed.

IV. How We Will Review Wyoming's Grant Application

    We will review the grant application using regulations at 30 CFR 
875.15; specifically subsections 875.15(e)(1) through (7). As stated in 
those regulations, the application must include the following 
information: (1) The need or urgency for the activity or the 
construction of the public facility; (2) the expected impact the 
project will have on Wyoming's coal or minerals industry; (3) the 
availability of funding from other sources and, if other funding is 
provided, its percentage of the total cost involved; (4) documentation 
from other local, State, Federal agencies with oversight for such 
utilities or facilities describing what funding they have available and 
why their agency is not fully funding this specific project; (5) the 
impact on the State, the public, and the minerals industry if the 
facility is not funded; (6) the reason why this project should be 
selected before the priority projects relating to the protection of 
public health and safety or the environment from the damages caused by 
past mining activities, and (7) an analysis and review of the 
procedures Wyoming used to notify and involve the public in this 
request, and a copy of all comments received and their resolution by 
the State. Wyoming's application for the City of Lander Water Treatment 
Plant project contains the information described in these seven 
subsections.
    Section 875.15(f) requires us to evaluate all comments we received 
and determine whether the funding meets the requirements of sections 
875.15(e)(1) through (7) described above. It also requires us to 
determine if the request is in the best interests of the State's AML 
program. We will approve Wyoming's request to fund this project if we 
conclude that it meets all the requirements of 30 CFR 875.15.

V. What To Do If You Want To Comment on the Proposed Project

    We are asking for public comments on Wyoming's request for funds to 
pay for part of the cost of constructing the City of Lander Water 
Treatment Plant. You are welcome to comment on the project. If you do, 
please send us written comments. Make sure your comments are specific 
and pertain to Wyoming's funding request in the context of the 
regulations at 30 CFR 875.15 and the provisions of section 411 of 
SMCRA. You should explain any recommendations you make. If we receive 
your comments after the time shown under DATES or at locations other 
than the Casper Field Office, we will not necessarily consider them in 
our final decision or include them in the administrative record.

    Dated: March 18, 2002.
Guy Padgett,
Director, Casper Field Office.
[FR Doc. 02-7089 Filed 3-22-02; 8:45 am]
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