[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 31 (Friday, February 14, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 8497-8499]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02886]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 948

[SATS No. WV-126-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2019-0012; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 201S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 20XS501520]


West Virginia 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 West 
Virginia regulatory program (hereinafter the West Virginia program) 
under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or 
the Act). The statutory provisions involve the method in which permit 
applications are advertised. The regulatory provisions involve non-
substantive revisions to definitions, reclamation, environmental 
security account for water quality, water quality enhancement, and 
modifying sections on incremental bonding, requirement to release 
bonds, forfeiture of bonds, and effluent limitations. This document 
gives the times and locations that the West Virginia 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 Standard Time (e.s.t.) on March 16, 2020. If requested, 
we may hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on March 10, 
2020. We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., 
e.s.t. on March 2, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WV-126-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 South, 2nd Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15220.
     Fax: (412) 937-2177.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID; OSM-2019-0012. 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: To access the docket to review copies of the West Virginia 
program, this amendment, a listing of any scheduled public hearing or 
meetings, 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 Charleston 
Field Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for 
you to read at https://www.regulations.gov.

Mr. Ben Owens, Pittsburgh Field Office Director, Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 3 Parkway Center South, 2nd Floor, 
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 locations:

West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 601 57th Street 
SE, Charleston, WV 25304, Telephone: (304) 926-0490
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Morgantown Area 
Office, 604 Cheat Road, Suite 150, Morgantown, WV 26508, Telephone: 
(304) 291-4004 (By Appointment only)
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Beckley Area 
Office, 313 Harper Park Drive, Suite 3, Beckley, WV 25801, Telephone: 
(304) 255-5265.

[[Page 8498]]


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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    I. Background on the West Virginia Program
    II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
    III. Public Comment Procedures
    IV. Statutory Orders and Executive Reviews

I. Background on the West Virginia 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 West Virginia 
program on January 21, 1981. You can find background information on the 
West Virginia program, including the Secretary's findings, the 
disposition of comments, and conditions of approval of the West 
Virginia program in the January 21, 1981, Federal Register (46 FR 
5915). You can also find later actions concerning West Virginia's 
program and program amendments at 30 CFR 948.10, 948.12, 948.13, 
948.15, and 948.16.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    West Virginia submitted two letters, dated May 2, 2018, 
(Administrative Record Nos. 1613A and 1613B), amending its program 
under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). This amendment involves revisions 
to statutory provisions at W. Va. Code Chapter 22-3 and regulatory 
provisions at W. Va. CSR Section 38-2. The revised statutory provisions 
were enacted through West Virginia Senate Bill 163, which was signed by 
the Governor on February 27, 2018. The statutory provisions involve the 
method in which permit applications are advertised. The regulatory 
provisions involve non-substantive revisions to definitions, 
reclamation, environmental security account for water quality, water 
quality enhancement, and modifying sections on incremental bonding, 
requirement to release bonds, forfeiture of bonds, and effluent 
limitations.
    The full text of the program amendment is available for you to read 
at the locations listed above under ADDRESSES or at https://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.

Electronic or Written Comments

    If you submit written or electronic comments on the proposed rule 
during the 30-day comment period, 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 
March 2, 2020. 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. Statutory Orders and Executive Reviews

Executive Order 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive 
Order 13563--Improving Regulation 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 program 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 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.

[[Page 8499]]

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 948

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: December 6, 2019.
Thomas D. Shope,
Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian Region.
[FR Doc. 2020-02886 Filed 2-13-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-05-P