[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 194 (Monday, October 7, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 53349-53350]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-21722]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 924

[SATS No. MS-029-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2019-0008; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 190S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 19XS501520]


Mississippi Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Plan

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 
Mississippi Abandoned Mine Land Plan (hereinafter, the Plan) under the 
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). 
Mississippi proposes revisions to its Plan to allow its AML program to 
receive limited liability protection for certain non-coal reclamation 
projects. Mississippi intends to revise its Plan in order to meet the 
requirements of SMCRA and the implementing Federal regulations.
    This document gives the times and locations where the Mississippi 
Plan and this proposed amendment to that Plan 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, November 6, 2019. If requested, we will hold a public 
hearing on the amendment on November 1, 2019. We will accept requests 
to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., CST on October 22, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. MS-029-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Richard O'Dell, Director, Birmingham 
Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 135 
Gemini Circle, Suite 215, Homewood, Alabama 35209.
     Fax: (205) 290-7280.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID OSM-2019-0008. 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 
Mississippi Plan, 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 Birmingham 
Field Office, or the full text of the plan amendment is available for 
you to review at www.regulations.gov.
    Richard O'Dell, Director, Birmingham Field Office, Office of 
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 135 Gemini Circle, Suite 
215, Homewood, Alabama 35209, Telephone: (205) 290-7282, Email: 
[email protected].
    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location: Mississippi Office of 
Geology, Department of Environmental Quality, 700 N. State Street, 
Jackson, Mississippi 39202, Telephone: (601) 961-5519.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard O'Dell, Director, Birmingham 
Field Office. Telephone: (205) 290-7282, Email: [email protected].

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

I. Background on the Mississippi Plan

    The Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Program was established by 
Title IV of the Act (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.), in response to concerns 
over extensive environmental damage caused by past coal mining 
activities. The program is funded by a reclamation fee collected on 
each ton of coal that is produced. The money collected is used to 
finance the reclamation of abandoned coal mines and for other 
authorized activities. Section 405 of the Act allows States and Tribes 
to assume exclusive responsibility for reclamation activity within the 
State or on Tribal lands if they develop and submit to the Secretary of 
the Interior for approval, a program (often referred to as a Plan) for 
the reclamation of abandoned coal mines. On the basis of these 
criteria, the Secretary of the Interior approved the Mississippi Plan, 
effective September 27, 2007. You can find background information on 
the Mississippi Plan, including the Secretary's findings, the 
disposition of comments, and the conditions of approval of the 
Mississippi Plan in the September 27, 2007, Federal Register (72 FR 
54832). You can also find later actions concerning the Mississippi Plan 
and amendments to the Plan at 30 CFR 924.20 and 924.25.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated August 27, 2019 (Administrative Record No. MS-0428-
01), Mississippi sent us an amendment to its Plan under SMCRA (30 
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). Mississippi submitted the proposed amendment in 
response to a March 6, 2019, letter (Administrative Record No. MS-0428) 
OSMRE sent to Mississippi in accordance with 30 CFR 884.15. The full 
text of the plan amendment is available for you to read at the 
locations listed above under ADDRESSES.
    Effective March 9, 2015, OSMRE published a final rule allowing 
certified AML programs to receive limited liability protection for 
certain non-coal reclamation projects (80 FR 6435). In the March 6, 
2019, letter (Administrative Record No. MS-0428), we notified 
Mississippi that the state must update its Plan in order to meet the 
requirements of SMCRA and the implementing Federal regulations.
    Mississippi proposes to amend its Plan to meet the requirements to 
receive limited liability protection for certain non-coal reclamation 
projects, and to meet the requirements of SMCRA and the implementing 
Federal regulations.

III. Public Comment Procedures

    We are seeking your comments on whether the amendment satisfies the 
applicable plan approval criteria of 30 CFR 884.14 and 884.15. If we 
approve the amendment, it will become part of the state Plan.

Electronic or Written Comments

    If you submit written comments, they should be specific, confined 
to issues pertinent to the proposed Plan, 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 plan 
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.

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    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 
October 22, 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 and Executive 
Order 13563--Improving Regulations and Regulatory Review

    Executive Order 12866 provides that the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will 
review all significant rules. Pursuant to OMB guidance dated October 
12, 1993, the approval of state plan amendments is exempted from OMB 
review under Executive Order 12866. Executive Order 13563, which 
reaffirms and supplements Executive Order 12866, retains this 
exemption.

Other Laws and Executive Orders Affecting Rulemaking

    When a State submits a Plan amendment to OSMRE for review, our 
regulations at 30 CFR 884.14 and 884.15, and agency policy require 
public notification and an opportunity for public comment. We 
accomplish this by publishing a notice in the Federal Register 
indicating receipt of the proposed amendment and its text or a summary 
of its terms. 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 924

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: September 6, 2019.
Alfred L. Clayborne,
Regional Director, DOI Unified Regions 3, 4 and 6.
[FR Doc. 2019-21722 Filed 10-4-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-05-P