[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 1, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18428-18429]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-08868]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 913

[SATS No. IL-109-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2019-0003 S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 190S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 19XS501520]


Illinois 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 Illinois 
regulatory program (Illinois program) under the Surface Mining Control 
and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Illinois proposes 
revisions to its regulations, including allowing the extraction of coal 
as an incidental part of a government-financed construction project, 
revising its Ownership and Control rules, and clarifying land use 
changes requiring a significant permit revision. Illinois intends to 
revise its program to be as effective as the Federal regulations. This 
document gives the times and locations where the Illinois program 
documents and this proposed amendment to that program are available for 
your inspection, establishes the comment period during which you may 
submit written comments on the amendment, and describes 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., CST, May 31, 2019. If requested, we will hold a public hearing on 
the amendment on May 28, 2019. We will accept requests to speak at a 
hearing until 4:00 p.m., CST on May 16, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. IL-109-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Paul Ehret, Acting Chief, Alton Field 
Division, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 501 
Belle Street, Suite 216, Alton, Illinois 62002-6169.
     Fax: (618) 463-6470
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID OSM-2019-0003. 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 Illinois 
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 Alton Field Division, or 
the full text of the program amendment is available for you to review 
at www.regulations.gov. Paul J. Ehret, Acting Chief, Alton Field 
Division, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 501 
Belle Street, Suite 216, Alton, Illinois 62002-6169, Telephone: (618) 
463-6463, Email: [email protected].
    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location: Office of Mines and Minerals, 
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, One Natural Resources Way, 
Springfield, IL 62702-1271, Telephone: (618) 439-9111.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Ehret, Acting Chief, Alton Field 
Division, Telephone: (618) 463-6463, Email: [email protected].

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

I. Background on the Illinois 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 Illinois program 
effective June 1, 1982. You can find background information on the 
Illinois program, including the Secretary's findings, the disposition 
of comments, and the conditions of approval of the Illinois program in 
the June 1, 1982, Federal Register (47 FR 23858). You can also find 
later actions concerning the Illinois program and program amendments at 
30 CFR 913.10, 913.15, and 913.17.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated December 5, 2018 (Administrative Record No. IL-
5100), Illinois sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.) at its own initiative. By email dated December 11, 
2018, Illinois requested that OSMRE's review be put on hold until they 
could resubmit the proposed amendment due to editorial changes 
requested by the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. 
Illinois resubmitted the proposed amendment to OSMRE on February 20, 
2019. OSMRE will use this date for its review. Below is a summary of 
the changes proposed by Illinois. The full text of the program 
amendment is available for you to read at the locations listed above 
under ADDRESSES.
    Illinois proposes to revise the Illinois Surface Coal Mining Land 
Conservation and Reclamation Act (225 ILCS 720), Section 1.06, ``Scope 
of the Act,'' by adding language allowing coal extraction as an 
incidental part of a government-financed project. The language added is 
nearly identical to that found in Section 528 of SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 
1278).
    Illinois also proposes to revise the following Parts of Title 62 of 
the Illinois Administrative Code:

Section 1701 Appendix A. Definitions

    Illinois proposes to revise its regulation at section 1701 Appendix 
A, amending a number of its definitions, including those for 
``ownership,'' ``control,'' and ``violations,'' to conform with the 
Federal definitions at 30 CFR 701.5 and 707.5.

Section 1703 Exemption for Coal Extraction Incident to Government-
Financed Highway or Other Construction

    Illinois proposes adding a new section 1703 to allow the extraction 
of coal as an incidental part of a government-financed construction 
project, which incorporates language identical to the Federal 
regulations at 30 CFR part 707.

[[Page 18429]]

Section 1773 Requirements for Permits and Permit Processing

    Illinois proposes to amend section 1773.15, ``Review of Permit 
Applications'' to comport with changes made to the Federal regulations 
at 30 CFR 773.12. These changes preclude the Department from 
considering violations upstream of the permit applicant by removing 
``person who owns or controls the applicant'' from this section.
    Illinois also proposes to amend section 1773.25, ``Standards for 
Challenging Ownership or Control Links and the Status Violations,'' to 
update a subsection reference.

Section 1774 Permit Revisions

    Illinois proposes to amend section 1774.13, ``Permit Revisions,'' 
to provide further clarification as to which reclamation plan land use 
changes require a significant revision for a permit application. 
Illinois proposes to remove the requirement for a significant revision 
for land use changes involving greater than five percent of the total 
permit acreage after finding the five percent limitation to be unduly 
restrictive and burdensome. Instead, the Department will consider 
changes in the reclamation plan for post-mining land use in determining 
whether a significant revision to the permit must be obtained. These 
changes are proposed in order to make the Illinois rules as effective 
as the Federal regulations at 30 CFR 774.13.

Section 1778 Permit Applications--Minimum Requirements for Legal, 
Financial, Compliance, and Related Information

    Illinois proposes adding a new section 1778.9, ``Certifying and 
Updating Existing Permit Application Information,'' which incorporates 
language identical to the Federal regulations at 30 CFR 778.9.
    Illinois proposes to amend section 1778.13, ``Identification of 
Interests,'' to comport with changes made to the Federal regulations at 
30 CFR 778.11 and 778.12.
    Illinois proposes to amend section 1778.14, ``Violation 
Information,'' to comport with changes made to the Federal regulations 
at 30 CFR 778.14.
    Illinois proposes to amend section 1778.15, ``Right of Entry 
Information,'' to add language found in the Federal regulations at 30 
CFR 778.13 related to property interest information to the existing 
right of entry language in this section, which corresponds to 30 CFR 
778.15, so that all property related rules are located in one section.

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.

Electronic or Written Comments

    If you submit written comments, 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 
program 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., CST on May 
16, 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 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 913

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: February 22, 2019.
Alfred L. Clayborne,
Regional Director, Mid-Continent Region.
[FR Doc. 2019-08868 Filed 4-30-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P