[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 23, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 33016-33018]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10822]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 917

[SATS No. KY-264-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2022-0008; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 234S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 23XS501520


Kentucky 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 Kentucky 
regulatory program (hereinafter, the Kentucky program), under the 
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). 
Kentucky proposes to revise their regulations regarding the 
qualifications of members of the Reclamation Guaranty Fund Commission. 
This document gives the times and locations that the Kentucky 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. KY-264-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Michael Castle, Field Office 
Director, Lexington Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 
and Enforcement, 2675 Regency Road, Lexington, KY 40503.
     Fax: (859) 260-8410.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID OSM-2022-0008. If you would like to submit comments, 
go to https://

[[Page 33017]]

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 Kentucky 
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 Lexington 
Field Office or the full text of the program amendment is available for 
you to read at https://www.regulations.gov.

Mr. Michael Castle, Field Office Director, Lexington Field Office, 
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 2675 Regency 
Road, Lexington, KY 40503, Telephone: (859) 260-3900, Email: 
[email protected].
    In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular 
business hours at the following location:

Mr. Gordon Slone, Commissioner, Department for Natural Resources, 
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, 3000 Sower Boulevard, 
Frankfort, KY 40601, Telephone: (502) 564-6940, Email: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael Castle, Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 2675 Regency Road, Lexington, KY 
40503. Telephone: (859) 260-3900; email: [email protected].

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

I. Background on the Kentucky 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 
conditionally approved the Kentucky program effective May 18, 1982. You 
can find background information on the Kentucky program, including the 
Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and conditions of 
approval of the Kentucky program in the May 18, 1982, Federal Register 
(47 FR 21434). You can also find later actions concerning the Kentucky 
program and program amendments at 30 CFR 917.11, 917.12, 917.13, 
917.15, 917.16, and 917.17.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated April 18, 2022, (Administrative Record No. KY-
2008), Kentucky sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). This submission proposes to revise the 
qualifications necessary for members to be appointed to the seven-
person Reclamation Guaranty Fund Commission. Currently, the governor 
appoints three members to the commission that are representatives of 
the coal industry. Representatives are selected based on the amount of 
coal produced annually by the permittees they represent. Three tiers 
are created based on the amount of production with one member being 
selected from each tier. The proposed revisions would allow the 
governor to appoint a member from a lower tier when no permittee that 
participates in the fund meets the production level of an upper tier. 
This submission also removes, and proposes minor revisions to, 
requirements that are no longer relevant to the operation of the 
Commission. 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.
    The proposed amendment would make the following changes to KRS 
350.506:
    A. Deleting the date ``July 1, 2013'' in section 1.
    B. The word ``industry'' is replaced in 1(a) with ``permittees that 
participate in the fund'' and adds the language ``tiered to represent 
the size of the operator measured in tons of coal sold''.
    C. The numbering has been updated in section 1(a)(3).
    D. Section 1(a)(3)(b), which read as follows ``If no permittee 
which participates in the fund has mined and sold more the five million 
(5,000,000) tons of coal in the twelve (12) months preceding 
appointment, the member shall be selected from permittees which meet 
the criteria for appointment set out in subparagraph 2. of this 
paragraph'', is being deleted.
    E. The following language is being added section 1(a) ``If no 
permittee that participates in the fund meets the qualifications stated 
in subparagraph 2 or in subparagraph 3, of this paragraph, then a 
qualified permittee shall be selected in a lower tier.''
    F. Section 2(a) is being deleted, and subsequent paragraphs are 
renumbered accordingly.
    G. The following language in section 5, ``commission shall meet no 
less than once a month with the first meeting to be held on or before 
July 1, 2013, during the first year. Commencing with the second year, 
the'' is being deleted and replaced with, ``The commission shall meet 
no less than once every three (3) months. Four (4) members of the 
commission shall constitute a quorum at any meeting''.

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 approved, the amendment 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

[[Page 33018]]

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 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 917

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

Thomas D. Shope,
Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian Region.
[FR Doc. 2023-10822 Filed 5-22-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P