[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 28, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 22370-22372]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-08736]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 935

[SATS No. OH-263-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2021-0002; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 212S180110 S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 21XS501520]


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 (Ohio program) under the Surface Mining Control and 
Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Ohio seeks to amend its 
regulatory program in order to remove the requirement that a resident 
agent's tax ID number or the last four digits of a resident agent's 
social security number must be provided in a coal mining application 
and to make a non-substantive administrative change to a paragraph 
reference.
    This document gives notice of the times when and locations where 
the Ohio program and this proposed Ohio program amendment will be 
available for public 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 Daylight Time (EDT), May 28, 2021. If requested, we will 
hold a public hearing on the amendment on May 24, 2021. We will accept 
requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., EDT on May 13, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. OH-263-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Eric Cavazza, 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-2021-0002. 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. Eric Cavazza, 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, 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. Eric Cavazza, 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

[[Page 22371]]

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 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, 
State Regulatory Program Approval; and 935.11, Conditions of State 
Regulatory Program Approval; and 935.15, Approval of Ohio Regulatory 
Program Amendments.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated January 8, 2021, Ohio sent us a proposed amendment 
to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). Submitted pursuant 
to 30 CFR 732.17, the proposed amendment would revise Ohio 
Administrative Code (OAC) 1513-4-03 and 1501:13-5-01.
    Ohio is proposing to amend its regulations at OAC 1501:13-4-
03(B)(1) and (B)(4) to remove the requirement that a resident agent's 
tax ID number or the last four digits of a resident agent's social 
security number (SSN) must be provided in a coal mining application 
because this information is not necessary for the Ohio Department of 
Natural Resources' purposes. Resident agents were removed from the list 
of persons who must provide this information in section (B)(1). 
However, section (B)(1) also includes requirements regarding the 
submission of names, addresses and telephone numbers, and this 
information will still be required for the applicant's resident agent. 
Therefore, section (B)(4) was amended to require that each application 
other than a single proprietorship contain the name, address, and 
telephone numbers of the resident agent of the applicant who will 
accept service of process.
    Ohio is also proposing to make a non-substantive change to a 
reference contained within OAC 1501:13-5-01(E)(6). In response to a 
rule passed by Ohio's state legislature (HB64) on June 28, 2018, a new 
paragraph (D)(2) was added to OAC 1501:13-4-03. This addition is the 
subject of a program amendment (OH-260-FOR), which is pending approval 
with OSMRE. If approved by OSMRE, the provision currently known as 
1501:13-4-03(D)(2) will become 1501:13-4-03(D)(3). In anticipation of 
this approval and subsequent renumbering, Ohio is proposing to revise 
an existing reference to the renumbered section that is located in OAC 
1501:13-5-01(E)(6).
    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., EDT on May 
13, 2021. 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 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

[[Page 22372]]

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.

Thomas D. Shope,
Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian Region.
[FR Doc. 2021-08736 Filed 4-27-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P