[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 3, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12979-12981]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-06492]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 935

[SATS No. OH-260-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2018-0001; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 190S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 19XS501520]


Ohio 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, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 
(OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Ohio 
regulatory program (the Ohio program) under the Surface Mining Control 
and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Through this proposed 
amendment, Ohio seeks to revise its program to require permit 
applications to list all unabated ``violation notices,'' as that term 
is defined in the approved program. This change is necessary to be 
consistent with the Federal regulations. This document gives the times 
and locations that the Ohio 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 4:00 
p.m., Eastern Daylight Time (e.d.t.), May 3, 2019. If requested, we 
will hold a public hearing on the amendment on April 29, 2019. We will 
accept requests

[[Page 12980]]

to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., e.d.t. on April 18, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. OH-260-FOR, 
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: (412) 937-2177.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned the Docket ID OSM-2018-0001. 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 Ohio 
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: Mr. Lanny E. Erdos, Chief, 
Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral Resources 
Management, 2045 Morse Road, Building H2, Telephone: (614) 265-6893, 
Email: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ben Owens, Field Office Director, 
Pittsburgh Field Office, 3 Parkway Center, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15220. 
Telephone: (412) 937-2827, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
I. Background on the Ohio Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Procedural Determinations

I. Background on the Ohio 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 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 Ohio program on 
August 16, 1982. You can find background information on the Ohio 
program, including the Secretary's findings, the disposition of 
comments, and conditions of approval of the Ohio program in the August 
10, 1982, Federal Register (47 FR 34717). You can also find later 
actions concerning the Ohio program and program amendments at 30 CFR 
935.10, State Regulatory Program Approval; and 935.11, Conditions of 
State Regulatory Program Approval; and 935.15, Approval of Ohio 
Regulatory Program Amendments.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated November 20, 2017 (Administrative Record No. OH-
2196-01), Ohio sent OSMRE an amendment that includes statutory changes 
to its Ohio Revised Code (ORC) as well as regulatory changes to its 
Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1235). Ohio is 
submitting these changes in response to a required amendment found at 
30 CFR 935.16 (a). In an October 19, 2015 Federal Register notice (80 
FR 63125), OSRME required Ohio to amend its program to require permit 
applications to list all unabated ``violation notices,'' as that term 
is defined in the Ohio approved program. This change is necessary to be 
consistent with the Federal regulation at Sec.  778.14(c)
    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.d.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

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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 and 
dated October 12, 1993, the approval of state program amendments is 
exempted from OMB review under Executive Order 12866.

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 935

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

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

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

[FR Doc. 2019-06492 Filed 4-2-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-05-P