[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 3 (Monday, January 6, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 521-523]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-158]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 944

[SATS No. UT-042-FOR]


Utah 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 are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Utah 
regulatory program (hereinafter, the ``Utah program'') under the 
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). 
The State proposes to revise provisions of the Utah Code Annotated 
(UCA) that pertain to submitting permit applications and reclamation 
plans, and to add new provisions for providing certain assistance to 
operators who mine no more than 300,000 tons of coal. Utah intends to 
revise its program to be consistent with SMCRA, to clarify wording, and 
to recodify parts of the Utah Code.
    This document gives the times and locations that the Utah program 
and proposed amendment to that program are available for your 
inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written 
comments on the amendment, and the procedures that we will follow for 
the public hearing, if one is requested.

DATES: We will accept written comments on this amendment until 4:00 
p.m., mountain standard time February 5, 2003. If requested, we will 
hold a public hearing on the amendment on January 31, 2003. We will 
accept requests to speak until 4:00 p.m., mountain standard time on 
January 21, 2003.

ADDRESSES: You should mail or hand-deliver written comments and 
requests to speak at the hearing to James F. Fulton at the address 
listed below.
    You may review copies of the Utah 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 
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM's) Denver 
Field Division.

James F. Fulton, Chief, Denver Field Division, Office of Surface Mining 
Reclamation and Enforcement, 1999 Broadway, Suite 3320, Denver, 
Colorado 80202-5733, Telephone: (303) 844-1400, extension 1424, E-mail: 
[email protected].
Lowell P. Braxton, Director, Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, 1594 West 
North Temple, Suite 1210, P.O. Box 145801, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-
5801, Telephone: (801) 538-5340, E-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James F. Fulton, Chief, Denver Field 
Division, telephone: (303) 844-1400, extension 1424. Internet: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on the Utah Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Procedural Determinations

[[Page 522]]

I. Background on the Utah 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 State program includes, among other things, ``a State law which 
provides for the regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation 
operations in accordance with the requirements of the Act * * *; and 
rules and regulations consistent with regulations issued by the 
Secretary pursuant to the Act.'' See 30 U.S.C. 1253(a)(1) and (7). On 
the basis of these criteria, the Secretary of the Interior 
conditionally approved the Utah program on January 21, 1981. You can 
find background information on the Utah program, including the 
Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and the conditions 
of approval of the Utah program in the January 21, 1981, Federal 
Register (46 FR 5899). You can also find later actions concerning 
Utah's program and program amendments at 30 CFR 944.15 and 944.30.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated October 22, 2002, Utah sent us a proposed amendment 
to its program (UT-042-FOR, administrative record number UT-1171) under 
SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). Utah sent the amendment in response to 
a June 19, 1997, letter (administrative record number UT-1093) that we 
sent to the State in accordance with 30 CFR 732.17(c). The State 
previously addressed most of the topics included in our June 19, 1997, 
letter in amendment UT-038-FOR, which we approved in the April 24, 
2001, Federal Register (66 FR 20600). Some of the topics described in 
that letter changed the small operator assistance program (SOAP) by 
raising the limit on coal production from 100,000 tons to 300,000 tons 
and describing changes in the type of assistance available to eligible 
operators under that program. We noted in our letter that those changes 
might require changes in State statutes. In Utah's case, it must change 
the SOAP provisions in the Utah Code Annotated before it can change its 
corresponding rules. This amendment proposes to make those SOAP changes 
in Utah's Code. In addition, the State proposes to make other changes 
at its own initiative throughout the same section of its Code that 
clarify the wording and recodify certain parts. The proposed 
clarifications involve rewording and restructuring sentences and 
phrases and changing punctuation. The full text of the program 
amendment is available for you to read at the locations listed above 
under ADDRESSES.
    Specific changes Utah proposes to make to UCA 40-10-10 in this 
amendment include: Clarifying 40-10-10-(1), which describes application 
fees; designating new 40-10-10(2)(a) and clarifying it and (2)(a)(ii), 
(iii), (iv) and (vi), which generally describe how permit applications 
and reclamation plans are to be submitted to the State as well as 
ownership and right of entry information to be included with permit 
applications and reclamation plans; clarifying 40-10-10(2)(b), (c), and 
(d) and recodifying subordinate parts of those subsections, which 
describe the maps and information about legal right of entry, probable 
hydrologic consequences and other hydrology information, and 
characteristics of the coal to be mined that must be included in permit 
applications; removing existing 40-10-10(3) and replacing it with new 
40-10-10(3)(a), (a)(i) through (a)(vi), (b), and (c), all of which 
pertain to assistance available to eligible small operators to gather 
and pay for certain baseline and survey data and limitations on that 
assistance; clarifying and recodifying 40-10-10(4)(a) and (b), which 
address availability of information pertaining to the coal; clarifying 
40-10-10(5), which describes how to file a permit application; 
clarifying and recodifying 40-10-10(6)(a), (b), (b)(i) and (ii), which 
describe the proof and type of insurance required to accompany a permit 
application; and clarifying 40-10-10(7), which requires a blasting plan 
to be part of a permit application.

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 Utah program.

Written Comments

    Send your written or electronic comments to OSM at the address 
given above. Your comments should be specific, pertain only to the 
issues proposed in this rulemaking, and include explanations in support 
of your recommendations. We will not consider or respond to your 
comments when developing the final rule if they are received after the 
close of the comment period (see Dates). We will make every attempt to 
log all comments into the administrative record, but comments delivered 
to an address other than the Denver Field Division may not be logged 
in.

Electronic Comments

    Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII file avoiding the use 
of special characters and any form of encryption. Please also include 
``Attn: SATS No. UT-042-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 Denver Field Division at 
(303) 844-1400, extension 1424.

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 4:00 p.m., mountain 
standard time, by January 21, 2003. 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 scheduled to 
speak 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.

[[Page 523]]

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 Federal regulations.

Executive Order 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review

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

Executive Order 12988--Civil Justice Reform

    The Department of the Interior conducted the reviews required by 
section 3 of Executive Order 12988 and determined that 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 because each 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. 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.

Executive Order 13211--Regulations That Significantly Affect the 
Supply, Distribution, or Use of Energy

    On May 18, 2001, the President issued Executive Order 13211 which 
requires agencies to prepare a Statement of Energy Effects for a rule 
that is (1) considered significant under Executive Order 12866, and (2) 
likely to have a significant adverse effect on the supply, 
distribution, or use of energy. Because this rule is exempt from review 
under Executive Order 12866 and is not expected to have a significant 
adverse effect on the supply, distribution, or use of energy, a 
Statement of Energy Effects is not required.

National Environmental Policy Act

    This rule does not require an environmental impact statement 
because section 702(d) of SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1292(d)) provides that 
agency decisions on proposed 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 certifies 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 on 
Federal regulations for which an economic analysis was prepared and 
certification made that such regulations would not have a significant 
economic effect on a substantial number of small entities. 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 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, Federal, State, or local government agencies, or geographic 
regions; 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 on Federal 
regulations for which an analysis was prepared and a determination made 
that the Federal regulations were not considered a major rule.

Unfunded Mandates

    This rule will not impose an unfunded mandate on State, local, or 
tribal governments or the private sector of $100 million or more in any 
given year. This determination is based upon the fact that the State 
submittal, which is the subject of this rule, is based on Federal 
regulations for which an analysis was prepared and a determination made 
that the Federal regulations did not impose an unfunded mandate.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 944

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: October 31, 2002.
Brent Wahlquist,
Regional Director, Western Regional Coordinating Center.
[FR Doc. 03-158 Filed 1-3-03; 8:45 am]
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