[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 10638-10640]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03750]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
30 CFR Part 935
[SATS No. OH-256-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2017-0004; S1D1S SS08011000
SX064A000 201S180110 S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 20XS501520]
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 that an
applicant acquire legal right to enter during the term of the permit,
in addition Ohio is asking for approval of the implementation of
offsite mitigation guidelines.
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 Standard Time (e.s.t.), March 26, 2020. If requested, we
will hold a public hearing 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.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. OH-256-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 Docket ID: OSM-2017-004. 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. Dave Crow, Acting Chief, Ohio Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Mineral Resources Management, 2045 Morse Road, Building H2,
Telephone: (614) 265-1020, 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. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
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
[[Page 10639]]
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, 935.11, and 935.15.
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
By letter dated October 5, 2015 (Administrative Record No. OH-2193-
01), Ohio sent us an amendment to its program, known as Ohio Program
Amendment No. 84, which includes statutory changes to its Ohio Revised
Code (ORC). The statutory revision in Ohio House Bill 64 of the 131st
General Assemble was signed and became effective September 29, 2015.
The proposed amendment included changes to Section 1513.06 to allow the
off-site mitigation of the unavoidable loss of streams and wetlands
which cannot be restored on site. Section 1513.07 includes two changes
to the Right of Entry (ROE) requirements: (1) To change the mapping
section which currently requires maps to identify lands to be affected,
lands where applicants has legal ROE, and adds a section for lands for
which the applicant will acquire ROE during the term of the permit, and
(2) to allow acceptance of an application as administratively complete
as long as the applicant has ROE for at least 67% of the area for which
coal mining operations are proposed.
By letter dated November 20, 2017 (Administrative Record No. OH-
2193-06), Ohio sent OSMRE an addendum to its program, known by Ohio as
Program Amendment No. 84, which includes statutory changes to its Ohio
Revised Code (ORC). The statutory revision in Ohio House Bill 49 of the
132nd General Assemble was signed and became effective June 20, 2017.
The proposed addendum includes changes Section 1501:13-4-03(D)(1)
changing the word description to Notarized statement; (D)(2) is added
to require that the application include a notarized statement
identifying the specific land for which the applicant is negotiating to
acquire the legal right to enter and begin coal mining in the permit
area, for surface mining operations, or in the permit and shadow areas,
for underground mining operations, during the term of the permit.
Section 1501:13-5-01 (A)(1)(g) is proposed to be added to state
that if the application for a coal mining permit, permit renewal, or
permit revision includes a request for restoration off the permit area
by means of mitigation, this must be specified in the public notice;
(G)(3) is revised to add a provision from Section 1513.07(I)(4) enacted
by HB 64, effective September 29, 2015: The permit shall contain a
specific condition to prohibit the commencement of coal mining
operations on any land that is located within the permit area or the
shadow area if the permittee has not provided to the chief documents
that form the basis of the permittee's legal right to enter and conduct
coal mining operations on that land.
Section 1501:13-9-04 (E)(1) is proposed to clarify how to measure
the distance from the stream: ``measured horizontally.'' (E)(1)(c) is
proposed to add a provision regarding restoration off the permit area
by means of mitigation. (F)(2)(d) is proposed to be add a new paragraph
to mirror a requirement of 30 CFR 816.43(b)(4). (H)(1)(a) is proposed
to update addresses.
Section 1501:13-13-08 is proposed to be added to implement and
amplify ORC Section 1513.16(A)(25), enacted by HB 64 of the 131st
General Assembly, effective September 29, 2015.
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
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.
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.
[[Page 10640]]
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 935
Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.
Dated: November 14, 2019.
Thomas D. Shope,
Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian Region.
Editorial Note: The Office of the Federal Register received
this document on February 20, 2020.
[FR Doc. 2020-03750 Filed 2-24-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P