[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 147 (Wednesday, August 4, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 41907-41909]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-16545]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 950

[SATS No. WY-049-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2021-0003; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 212S180110; S1D1S SS08011000 SX064A000 21XS501520]


Wyoming Regulatory Program

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; opening of 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 Wyoming 
regulatory program (hereinafter, the

[[Page 41908]]

Wyoming program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act 
of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Wyoming proposes revisions to its program, 
which includes rules regarding the disposal of decommissioned wind 
turbine blades and towers as backfill, in response to legislative 
changes made during the 2020 legislative session. In addition, 
revisions were made to Chapter 2: Permit Application Requirements for 
Surface Coal Mining Operations, to correct grammatical errors and 
provide consistency with the Secretary of State's Rules on Rules. The 
revised rules address several national, state, and local issues 
associated with wind energy generation, maintenance, and upgrades, as 
well as the resulting stockpile of decommissioned wind turbine blades 
and towers.
    This document gives the times and locations that the Wyoming 
program and 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., m.d.t. September 3, 2021. If requested, we may hold a public 
hearing or meeting on the amendment on August 30, 2021. We will accept 
requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., m.d.t. on August 19, 
2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WY-050-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Jeffrey Fleischman, Director, 
Denver Field Division; Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
Enforcement; Casper Area Office; 100 East ``B'' Street, Room 4100, P.O. 
Box 11018, Casper, Wyoming 82601.
     Fax: (307) 261-6552.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID: OSM-2021-0003. If you would like to submit 
comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments.
    We cannot ensure that comments received after the close of the 
comment period (see DATES) or sent to an address other than the ones 
listed above will be included in the docket for this rulemaking and 
considered.
    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 Wyoming 
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 Casper 
Area Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for 
you to read at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Jeffrey Fleischman, Director Denver Field Division, Office of 
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Dick Cheney Federal 
Building, 150 East B Street, Room 1018, Casper, Wyoming 82601-1018. 
Telephone: (307) 261-6550. Email: [email protected].
    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location: Kyle Wendtland, 
Administrator, Land Quality Division, Wyoming Department of 
Environmental Quality, 200 West 17th Street, Suite 10, Cheyenne, 
Wyoming 82002. Telephone: 307-777-7046. Email: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey Fleischman, Division Chief, 
Casper Area Office. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
Enforcement, Dick Cheney Federal Building, P.O. Box 11018, 150 East B 
Street Casper, Wyoming 82601-1018. Telephone: (307) 261-6555. Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on the Wyoming Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background on the Wyoming 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 approved the Wyoming program on 
November 26, 1980. You can find background information on the Wyoming 
program, including the Secretary's findings, the disposition of 
comments, and conditions of approval in the November 26, 1980, Federal 
Register (45 FR 78637). You can also find later actions concerning 
Wyoming's program and program amendments at 30 CFR 950.11, 950.12, 
950.15, 950.16, and 950.20.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated June 4, 2021 (Administrative Record No. WY-054-01), 
Wyoming sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 
et seq.). Wyoming submitted the amendment in response to legislative 
changes made, through Wyoming House Bill HB0129 during the 2020 
legislative session, to Wyoming Statute (W.S.) Sec.  35-11-
402(a)(xiii), which outlined rules regarding how decommissioned wind 
turbine blades and towers could be used as backfill in open surface 
coal mine pits in order to facilitate disposal. Due to the large volume 
of decommissioned wind turbine blades and towers, a lack of scalable 
recycling methods to facilitate their disposal, and the absence of 
guidance in SMCRA regarding the disposal of non-mining-generated, solid 
wastes at a coal mine, the Wyoming Legislature provided the Land 
Quality Division with the authority to develop rules and regulations 
regarding such disposal. The revised rules address local, state, and 
national issues associated with the resulting stockpile of 
decommissioned wind turbine blades and towers, as a result of wind 
energy generation, upgrades, and routine maintenance.
    In addition, revisions were made to Chapter 2: Permit Application 
Requirements for Surface Coal Mining Operations, to provide consistency 
with the Wyoming Secretary of State's Rules on Rules, as well as 
correct grammatical errors. 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

[[Page 41909]]

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., m.d.t. on 
August 19, 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 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 950

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

David Berry,
Regional Director, Western Region.
[FR Doc. 2021-16545 Filed 8-3-21; 8:45 am]
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