[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 10634-10636]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03744]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 917

[SATS No. KY-261-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2019-0013; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 201S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 20XS501520]


Kentucky 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.

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

SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 
(OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Kentucky 
regulatory program (hereinafter, the Kentucky program), under the 
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). 
Through this program amendment, Kentucky seeks to revise administrative 
regulations that pertain to bond calculation requirements for long-term 
treatment of surface water discharges.
    This document gives the times and locations that the Kentucky 
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.), March 26, 2020. If requested, we 
may hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on March 23, 
2020. We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., 
e.s.t. on March 11, 2020.

[[Page 10635]]


ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. KY-261-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Michael Castle, Field Office 
Director, Lexington Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 
and Enforcement, 2675 Regency Road, Lexington, KY 40503.
     Fax: (859) 260-8410.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID OSM-2019-0013. 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 Kentucky 
program, this amendment, a listing of any scheduled public hearings 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 Lexington 
Field Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for 
you to read at https://www.regulations.gov.
    Mr. Michael Castle, Field Office Director, Lexington Field Office, 
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 2675 Regency 
Road, Lexington, KY 40503, Telephone: (859) 260-3900, Email: 
[email protected].
    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location:
    Mr. Michael Mullins, Regulation Coordinator, Department for Natural 
Resources, Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, 3000 Sower 
Boulevard, Frankfort, KY 40601, Telephone: (502) 782-6720, Email: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael Castle, Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 2675 Regency Road, Lexington, KY 
40503. Telephone: (859) 260-3900; email: [email protected].

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

I. Background on the Kentucky 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 approved 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 Kentucky program 
effective May 18, 1982. You can find background information on the 
Kentucky program, including the Secretary's findings, the disposition 
of comments, and conditions of approval of the Kentucky program in the 
May 18, 1982, Federal Register (47 FR 21434). You can also find later 
actions concerning the Kentucky program and program amendments at 30 
CFR 917.11, 917.12, 917.13, 917.15, 917.16, and 917.17.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated November 25, 2019, (Administrative Record No. KY 
2004), Kentucky sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). This submission is in response to an amendment 
OSMRE required at 30 CFR 917.16(p), Required regulatory program 
amendments. We required the amendment after our review of Kentucky's 
bonding provisions under Program Amendment No. KY-256-FOR as published 
in the January 29, 2018, Federal Register (83 FR 3948). The required 
amendment was related to post-mining discharges and how operators will 
provide sufficient financial assurances for the treatment of post-
mining discharges. Kentucky was required to either notify us of how it 
will require operators to address the financial assurances, or submit 
an amendment to its program or a description of the amendment and a 
timetable for enactment.
    With this amendment, Kentucky seeks to revise its administrative 
regulations at Title 405 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations 
(KAR), Chapter 10:015, Bond and Insurance Requirements, General bonding 
provisions. The revisions at this chapter pertain to bond calculation 
requirements for long-term treatment of surface water discharges from 
the permit area at Section 8, Bonding Rate of Additional Areas, as well 
as reference changes and other minor revisions. The full text of the 
program amendment is available for you to read at the locations listed 
above under ADDRESSES or at http://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 11, 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.

[[Page 10636]]

    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 and Executive Order 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.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 917

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

    Dated: January 30, 2020.
Thomas D. Shope,
Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian Region.
[FR Doc. 2020-03744 Filed 2-24-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-05-P