[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 97 (Friday, May 19, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32158-32159]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10491]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 902

[SATS No. AK-009-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2022-0007; S1D1S 
S08011000SX064A000 222S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 22XS501520]


Alaska 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 Alaska 
regulatory program (hereinafter, the Alaska program) under the Surface 
Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). This 
amendment proposes to change the Alaska Administrative Code by revising 
and adding provisions pertaining to Valid Existing Rights. Alaska 
intends to revise its program to be consistent with the corresponding 
Federal regulations and SMCRA, clarify ambiguities, and improve 
operational efficiency. This document gives the times and locations 
that the Alaska 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 p.m., 
MDT June 20, 2023. If requested, we may hold a public hearing or 
meeting on the amendment on June 13, 2023. We will accept requests to 
speak at a hearing until 4 p.m., MDT on June 5, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. AK-009-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
    Mail/Hand Delivery: OSMRE, Attn: Howard Strand, Denver Field Branch 
Manager; Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement; One 
Denver Federal Center, Building 41, P.O. Box 25065, Lakewood, Colorado 
80225-0065.
    Fax: 303-236-6056.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been assigned Docket 
ID: OSM-2022-0007. If you would like to submit comments go to https://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 Alaska 
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 Denver 
Field Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for 
you to read at www.regulations.gov.

Attn: Howard Strand, Denver Field Branch Manager, Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, One Denver Federal Center--Building 
41, Lakewood, Colorado 80225-0065, Telephone: (303) 236-2931, Email: 
[email protected]

    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location:

Attn: Russell Kirkham, Alaska Coal Regulatory Program Manager, Division 
of Mining, Land and Water, Department of Natural Resources, 550 West 
7th Avenue, Suite 900D, Anchorage, Alaska 99501-3577, Telephone: (907) 
269-8650, Email: [email protected]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey Fleischman, Field Office 
Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Dick 
Cheney Federal Building, P.O. Box 11018, 100 East B Street, Casper, 
Wyoming 82601-1018. Telephone: (307) 261-6550. Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
I. Background on the Alaska Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Procedural Determinations

Background on the Alaska 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 32159]]

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 Alaska program on May 2, 1983. 
You can find background information on the Alaska program, including 
the Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and conditions 
of approval of the Alaska program in the March 23, 1983, Federal 
Register (48 FR 12274). You can also find later actions concerning the 
program and program amendments at 30 CFR 902.10.

Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated June 27, 2022 (Administrative Record No. OSM-2022-
0019-001), Alaska sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). OSMRE received the amendment on June 28, 2022 and 
found it administratively complete on June 29, 2022.
    Alaska submitted the amendment to implement the required changes 
identified in OSMRE's April 2, 2001 and February 4, 2008 letters and 
conform with the State of Alaska ``Drafting Manual for Administrative 
Regulation.'' The amendment proposes to change the Alaska 
Administrative Code by revising and adding provisions pertaining to 
Valid Existing Rights. Specifically, Alaska proposes to add a 
definition of ``valid existing rights,'' changes to areas where mining 
may be limited or occurs in an area designated unsuitable for surface 
coal mining, and to formalize the process to request valid existing 
rights. 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.

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 p.m., MDT on June 5, 
2023. 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. Procedural Determinations

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 902

    State regulatory program approval, State-federal cooperative 
agreement, required program amendments.

David A. Berry,
Regional Director, Unified Regions 5, 7-11.
[FR Doc. 2023-10491 Filed 5-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P