[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 23, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 33018-33020]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10492]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 926

[SATS No. MT-040-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2023-0001; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 231S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 23XS501520]


Montana 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 Montana 
regulatory program (hereinafter, the Montana program) under the Surface 
Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). During 
the 2019 legislative session, Montana updated its Montana Strip and 
Underground Mine Reclamation Act and Montana Code Annotated. 
Accordingly, Montana submitted this proposed amendment to OSMRE on its 
own initiative. The proposed amendment requires a permit applicant's 
compliance information to be updated and approved if a bankruptcy or 
reorganization results in a change of ownership for the applicant. 
Furthermore, the proposed amendment requires permit owners to provide 
financial assurance for employee pensions. Lastly, Montana proposes a 
typographical correction.
    This document gives the times and locations that the Montana 
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., Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), June 22, 2023. If requested, we may 
hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on June 20, 2023. We 
will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., MDT on June 
7, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. MT-040-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: OSMRE, Attn: Jeffrey Fleischman, P.O. 
Box 11018, 100 East B Street, Room 4100, Casper, Wyoming 82602.
     Fax: (307) 261-6552.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID: OSM-2023-0001. 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 Montana 
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 
Field Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for 
you to read at www.regulations.gov.
    Attn: Jeffrey Fleischman, Field Office Director, Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 100 East B Street, Casper, Wyoming 
8260 Telephone: (307) 261-6550, Email: [email protected].

[[Page 33019]]

    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location:
    Attn: Dan Walsh, Mining Bureau Chief, Coal and Opencut Mining 
Bureau, Department of Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, 
MT 59601-0901, Telephone: (406) 444-6791, Email: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Attn: Jeffrey Fleischman, Field Office 
Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 100 
East B Street, Casper, Wyoming 82602, Telephone: (307) 261-6550, Email: 
[email protected].

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

I. Background on the Montana Program

    Subject to OSMRE's oversight, 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 Montana program on October 24, 1980. You can find 
background information on the Montana program, including the 
Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and conditions of 
approval of the Montana program a in the October 24, 1980, Federal 
Register (45 FR 70445). You can also find later actions concerning the 
Montana program and program amendments at 30 CFR 926.25.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated February 16, 2023 (Administrative Record No. MT-
040-01), Montana sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). We found Montana's proposed amendment to be 
administratively complete on February 17, 2023. Montana submitted the 
proposed amendment to us, on its own volition, following changes to its 
statutes in 2019. During the 2019 legislative session, the Montana 
legislature passed Senate Bill 201 (SB 201). SB 201 updated the Montana 
Strip and Underground Mine Reclamation Act and Sec.  82-4-222, Montana 
Code Annotated (MCA).
    Montana first proposes to add language, at MCA 82-4-222(1)(g)(i), 
that would require an applicant for a permit to update their ownership 
or compliance history with the Montana Department of Environmental 
Quality (DEQ) if bankruptcy or reorganization results in changes to 
ownership parties specified in this section. The proposed language also 
requires that DEQ approve these changes.
    Second, the amendment proposes to add language, at MCA 82-4-
222(1)(g)(iii), that would require the DEQ to develop rules for permit 
owners to provide bonding or other financial assurance necessary to 
meet their financial obligations for employee pensions and reclamation 
obligations. Furthermore, operators are prohibited from passing 
associated costs onto purchasers who are dependent on the operator to 
generate electricity for customers. Lastly, Montana proposes a 
typographical correction at MCA 82-4-222(1)(q). 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.

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., MDT on June 
7, 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. 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

[[Page 33020]]

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 926

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

David A. Berry,
Regional Director, Unified Regions 5, 7-11.
[FR Doc. 2023-10492 Filed 5-22-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P