[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 242 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 81436-81438]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27601]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 948

[SATS No. WV-127-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2020-0003; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 212S180110 S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 21XS501520]


West Virginia Regulatory Program

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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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). West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) 
seeks to amend its regulatory provisions related to entities authorized 
to issue surety bonds and the repair and compensation of damage 
resulting from subsidence.
    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.), January 15, 2021. If requested, 
we may hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on January 11, 
2021. We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., 
e.s.t. on December 31, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WV-127-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Director, 
Charleston Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
Enforcement, 1027 Virginia Street East, Charleston, West Virginia 
25301.
     Fax: (304) 347-7170.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID: OSM-2020-0003. 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 West 
Virginia 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 Charleston 
Field Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for 
you to read at www.regulations.gov.
    Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Director, Charleston Field Office. Office of 
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 1027 Virginia Street East, 
Charleston, West Virginia 25301, Telephone: (304) 347-7158, Email: [email protected].
    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location: West Virginia Department of 
Environmental Protection, 601 57th Street SE, Charleston, West Virginia 
25304, Telephone: (304) 926-0490.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Director, 
Charleston Field Office, Telephone: (304) 347-7158. Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on the West Virginia Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Statutory and Executive Order 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 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 West Virginia 
program on January 21, 1981. You can find additional 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 the 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

    By letter dated May 5, 2020 (Administrative Record No. 1640), West 
Virginia sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 
1201 et seq.). The State seeks to amend its regulations to modify 
language which relate to entities that may issue bond instruments. The 
State also seeks to amend language relating to the repair of, and 
compensation for, material damage

[[Page 81437]]

resulting from subsidence caused to any structures and facilities. The 
full text of the program and/or plan amendment is available for you to 
read at the locations listed above under ADDRESSES or at 
www.regulations.gov.
    House Bill 4217 (HB 4217) was signed by the Governor on March 25, 
2020. HB 4217 proposes to modify language relating to companies that 
execute surety bonds. HB 4217 also proposes to modify language relating 
to owner compensation of material damage from subsidence to an owner's 
structures or facilities.

1. CSR 38-2-11.3.a.3

    West Virginia seeks to revise its language relating to the existing 
requirements for any company that executes surety bonds in the State to 
be included on the United States Department of the Treasury's listing 
of approved sureties or to be diligently pursuing such listing. The 
proposed revision would remove the requirement to be diligently 
pursuing listing on the Treasury Department's listing of approved 
sureties for any surety company that submits proof to the West Virginia 
Department of Environmental Protection that it holds a valid license 
issued by the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner, and agrees to 
submit on at least a quarterly basis a certificate of good standing 
from the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner and such other evidence 
from the insurance regulator of its domiciliary state, if other than 
West Virginia, demonstrating that it is also in good standing in that 
state.

2. CSR 38-2-16.2.c.2

    West Virginia seeks to revise its language relating to compensating 
owners for material damage to any structures or facilities resulting 
from subsidence. The proposal alters the existing requirement of either 
repairing the damage or compensating the owner for the full amount of 
diminution in value resulting from the subsidence, by eliminating the 
option to repair and replacing that option with compensating the owner 
in the amount of the cost to repair the damage not to exceed one 
hundred and twenty percent of the premining value of the structure or 
facility. The proposal clarifies that the election of options, for 
either compensation in the amount of the repair or compensation in the 
full amount of diminution in value resulting from the subsidence, is at 
the owner's election. The proposal also inserts new language clarifying 
that this section does not create additional property rights, nor can 
it be construed as vesting in the secretary the jurisdiction to 
adjudicate property rights disputes.

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 
December 31, 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 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 and 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 81438]]

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 948

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

Thomas D. Shope,
Regional Director, Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian 
Region.
[FR Doc. 2020-27601 Filed 12-15-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P