[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 3, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12981-12982]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-06490]


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

DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 938

[SATS No. PA-168-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2017-0010; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 190S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 19XS501520]


Pennsylvania Regulatory Program

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment period and opportunity for public 
hearing on proposed amendment.

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

SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 
(OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the 
Pennsylvania program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation 
Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Through this proposed amendment, 
Pennsylvania seeks to revise its regulatory program regulations that 
involve remining operations with pollutional discharges. This document 
gives the times and locations that the Pennsylvania program and this 
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 p.m., 
Eastern Standard Time (e.s.t.), May 3, 2019. If requested, we will hold 
a public hearing on the amendment on April 29, 2019. We will accept 
requests to speak at a hearing until 4 p.m., e.s.t. on April 18, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. PA-168-FOR; 
Docket ID: OSM-2017-0010, by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Ben Owens, Field Office Director, 
Pittsburgh Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
Enforcement, 3 Parkway Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15220.
     Fax No.: 412-937-2177.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned the Docket ID OSM-2016-0012. If you would like to submit 
comments go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this rulemaking. For detailed instructions on 
submitting comments and additional information on the rulemaking 
process, see the ``Public Comment Procedures'' heading of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
    Docket: For access to the docket to review copies of the 
Pennsylvania program, this amendment, a listing of any scheduled public 
hearings, and all written comments received in response to this 
document, you must go to the address listed below during normal 
business hours, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. You may 
receive one free copy of the amendment by contacting OSMRE's Pittsburgh 
Field Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for 
you to read at www.regulations.gov.

Mr. Ben Owens, Field Office Director, Pittsburgh Field Office, Office 
of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 3 Parkway Center, 
Pittsburgh, PA 15220, Telephone: (412) 937-2827, Email: 
[email protected].

    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location: Thomas Callaghan, P.G., 
Director, Bureau of Mining and Reclamation, Pennsylvania Department of 
Environmental Protection, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 
8461, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8461, Telephone: (717) 787-5015, Email: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ben Owens, Field Office Director, 
Pittsburgh Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
Enforcement, 3 Parkway Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15220, Telephone: (412) 
937-2827, Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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

I. Background on the Pennsylvania 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, State laws and 
regulations that govern surface coal mining and reclamation operations 
in accordance with the Act and consistent with the Federal regulations. 
See 30 U.S.C. 1253(a)(1) and (7). On the basis of these criteria, the 
Secretary of the Interior conditionally approved the Pennsylvania 
program on July 30, 1982. You can find background information on the 
Pennsylvania program, including

[[Page 12982]]

the Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and conditions 
of approval in the July 30, 1982, Federal Register, (47 FR 33050). You 
can also find later actions concerning Pennsylvania's program and 
program amendments at 30 CFR 938.11, 938.12, 938.13, 938.15 and 938.16.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated July 26, 2017 (Administrative Record No. PA 
901.00), Pennsylvania sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA 
(30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). The amendment includes changes to the 
Pennsylvania regulatory program regulations that were adopted by the 
Commonwealth on September 3, 2016 to avoid concerns raised in regards 
to 30 CFR 732.17(g). These changes pertain to remining operations with 
pollutional discharges at 25 Pennsylvania Code. The following chapters 
are revised: Chapter 87, Subchapter F, (relating to minimum 
requirements for remining areas with pollutional discharges from 
bituminous surface coal mines); Chapter 88, Subchapter G (relating to 
minimum requirements for remining areas with pollutional discharges 
from anthracite surface mining activities and anthracite bank removal 
and reclamation activities), and Chapter 90, Subchapter F (relating to 
coal refuse disposal activities on areas with pre-existing pollutional 
discharges).
    The proposed regulatory changes within these chapters involve 
statistical sampling for determining baseline pollutant levels and 
include changes to definitions; development, content, notification, and 
reporting requirements involving the abatement plan; compliance 
monitoring, sampling, and discharge treatment requirements; and 
effluent limitations. Other changes include renumbering, formatting, 
and substitutions of more specific references.
    The full text of the program amendment is available for you to read 
at the locations listed above under ADDRESSES or at 
www.regulations.gov.

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 State program.

Electric or Written Comments

    If you submit written or electronic comments on the proposed rule, 
they should be specific, confined to issues pertinent to the proposed 
regulations, and explain the reason for any recommended change(s). We 
appreciate any and all comments, but those most useful and likely to 
influence decisions on the final regulations will be those that either 
involve personal experience or include citations to and analyses of 
SMCRA, its legislative history, its implementing regulations, case law, 
other pertinent State or Federal laws or regulations, technical 
literature, or other relevant publications.
    We cannot ensure that comments received after the close of the 
comment period (see DATES) or sent to an address other than those 
listed (see ADDRESSES) will be included in the docket for this 
rulemaking and considered.

Public Availability of Comments

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

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., e.s.t. on 
April 18, 2019. If you are disabled and need reasonable 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 a hearing.
    To assist the transcriber and ensure an accurate record, we 
request, if possible, that each person who speaks at the 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.

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 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review

    Pursuant to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidance dated 
October 12, 1993, the approval of State program amendments is exempted 
from OMB review under

Other Laws and Executive Orders Affecting Rulemaking

    When a State submits a program amendment to OSMRE for review, our 
regulations at 30 CFR 732.17(h) require us to publish a notice in the 
Federal Register indicating receipt of the proposed amendment, its text 
or a summary of its terms, and an opportunity for public comment. We 
conclude our review of the proposed amendment after the close of the 
public comment period and determine whether the amendment should be 
approved, approved in part, or not approved. At that time, we will also 
make the determinations and certifications required by the various laws 
and executive orders governing the rulemaking process and include them 
in the final rule.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 938

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: October 11, 2018.
Thomas D. Shope,
Regional Director, Appalachian Region.

    Editorial Note: This document was received for publication by 
the Office of the Federal Register on March 29, 2019.

[FR Doc. 2019-06490 Filed 4-2-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P