[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 23, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 33025-33026]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10820]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 948

[SATS No. WV-128-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2022-0004; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 222S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 22S501520]


West Virginia 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 West 
Virginia regulatory program (hereinafter, the West Virginia program) 
under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or 
the Act). The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection 
(WVDEP) seeks to amend its statutory provisions to develop and maintain 
a database to track reclamation liabilities in the WVDEP Special 
Reclamation Program. 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 p.m., 
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 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 p.m., EDT on June 7, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WV-128-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Field Office 
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-2022-0004. 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 Field Office 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 Field Office 
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 5915-5956). You can also find later actions concerning 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 August 23, 2021 (Administrative Record No. 1658), 
we required WVDEP to submit a program amendment to ensure appropriate 
tracking of existing reclamation liabilities (including water 
treatment) at coal mining operations. This tracking must ensure that 
reclamation liabilities are accurate and up-to-date. Tracking will 
enable an accurate assessment of West Virginia's alternative bonding 
system's reclamation liabilities so that solvency of the State's 
Special Reclamation Fund and the Special Reclamation Water Trust Fund 
can be determined. To comply with our request, West Virginia, by letter 
dated March 29, 2022 (Administrative Record No. 1666), sent us an 
amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). The 
State seeks to amend its statutory program to develop and maintain a 
database to track reclamation liabilities in the WVDEP Special 
Reclamation Program.
    House Bill 4758 (HB 4758) was signed by the Governor on March 28, 
2022, and will become effective under State Law on June 6, 2022. HB 
4758 amends WVSMCRA at WV 22-3-11(i)(2) and proposes to develop and 
maintain a database to track existing reclamation liabilities, 
including water treatment, at coal mining operation in the state of 
West Virginia that were permitted after August 3, 1977. This 
information is to

[[Page 33026]]

be updated on a quarterly basis beginning July 2022, to ensure that 
actuarial studies of the special reclamation fund and special 
reclamation water trust fund are informed by current data.
    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.

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., EDT 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 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.

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. 2023-10820 Filed 5-22-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P