[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 150 (Monday, August 7, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 52082-52084]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16847]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 926

[SATS No. MT-037-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2021-0006; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 222S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 22XS501520]


Montana Regulatory Program

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment period reopening and opportunity 
for public hearing on proposed amendment.

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SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 
(OSMRE), are reopening the public comment period due to the receipt of 
revisions to 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). Montana is proposing 
revisions to the Administrative Rules of Montana pertaining to 
ownership and control and the applicant violator system. These changes 
were required by a March 30, 2023 letter from OSMRE to Montana 
(hereinafter, issue letter) after our review of Montana's original July 
28, 2021 proposed amendment submittal. The July 28, 2021 proposed 
amendment submittal by Montana was the result of an October 2, 2009, 
letter from OSMRE to Montana (hereinafter, 732 letter), and were 
necessitated by a Senate bill approved by the 2013 Montana Legislature. 
This document gives the times and locations that the Montana program 
and this revised proposed amendment to that program are available for 
your inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written 
comments on the revised 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), September 6, 2023. If requested, we 
may hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on September 1, 
2023. We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., 
MST on August 22, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. MT-037-FOR, 
by any of the following methods:
     Mail/Hand Delivery: 100 East B Street, Room 4100, Casper, 
WY 82601.
     Fax: (307) 421-6552.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been 
assigned Docket ID: OSM-2021-0006. 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 Denver 
Field Division or the full text of the program amendment is available 
for you to read at www.regulations.gov.

Jeffrey Fleischman, Chief, Denver Field Division, Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Dick Cheney Federal Building, POB 
11018, 100 East B Street, Casper, Wyoming 82601, 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:

Dan Walsh, Chief, Coal and Opencut Mining Bureau, Montana Department of 
Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, Montana 59620-0901, 
Telephone: (406) 444-6791, Email: [email protected]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Howard Strand, Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, One Denver Federal Center, Building 
41, Lakewood, CO 80225-0065, Telephone: (303) 236-2931, 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

[[Page 52083]]

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 
conditionally approved the Montana program on April 1, 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 in the April 1, 1980, Federal Register 
(45 FR 21560). You can also find later actions concerning the Montana 
program and program amendments at 30 CFR 926.15, 926.16, and 926.30.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    On October 28, 1994, December 19, 2000, and December 3, 2007, OSMRE 
promulgated final rules that adopted or revised certain regulatory 
definitions and provisions pertaining to review of applications, permit 
eligibility, application information, applicant, operator, and 
permittee information, automated information entry and maintenance, 
permit suspension and rescission, ownership and control findings and 
challenge procedures, transfer, assignment, or sale of permit rights, 
and alternative enforcement. Pursuant to 30 CFR 732.17(d), OSMRE 
notified Montana on October 2, 2009 with a 732 letter, requiring 
Montana to modify its regulatory program to remain consistent with 
revised Federal requirements. The 2013 Montana Legislature approved 
Senate Bill 92, which added language addressing the required changes. 
Specifically, Senate Bill 92 added language in Section 82-4-227, 
Montana Code Annotated (MCA), that provided appeal rights pertaining to 
ownership or control listings in the applicant violator system.
    By letter dated July 28, 2021 (FDMS Document ID No. OSM-2021-0006-
0001), Montana sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 
U.S.C. 1201 et seq.) that proposed revisions to existing Administrative 
Rules of Montana (ARM) that would satisfy the statutory changes in the 
MCA, including revisions to 17.24.301, 17.24.302, 17.24.303, 17.24.416, 
17.24.418. New provisions in the ARM proposed by Montana that would 
satisfy the statutory changes in the MCA include 17.24.1229, 
17.24.1264, 17.24.1265, 17.24.1266, and 17.24.1267. Montana also 
proposed minor revisions to existing ARM that were unrelated to Senate 
Bill 92.
    OSMRE reviewed the proposed changes to the MCA and ARM, on March 
30, 2023, sent Montana an issue letter outlining five areas of concern 
with their proposed changes to the ARM, including numerous typos and 
grammatical errors, requiring specific information of the applicant in 
permit application packages, applying willful or knowing standards for 
liability regarding characterizing criminal penalties and civil 
actions, and adding clarifier language to remain as effective and 
consistent with Federal counterpart rules. By letter dated May 3, 2023, 
Montana responded and agreed to address all five areas of concern by 
formally resubmitting the required revisions to the ARM. Montana agreed 
to making all the necessary typographical and grammatical errors in 
addition to the other required changes explained above. 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 15-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 
August 22, 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

[[Page 52084]]

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 926

    Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

David Berry,
Regional Director, Western Region.
[FR Doc. 2023-16847 Filed 8-4-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P