[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 212 (Friday, November 3, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 75528-75530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24272]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 950

[SATS WY-051-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2023-0004; S1D1S SS08011000 SX064A000 
223S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 22XS501520]


Wyoming 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 regulatory and statutory 
amendment to the Wyoming coal program (Wyoming program) under the 
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). 
On September 25, 2018 the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council 
approved a number of revisions to rules governing permitting, 
operation, and abandonment of Class III underground injection and 
recovery wells associated with in situ mining of coal. Specifically, 
the proposed revisions update regulations to be consistent with 
Environmental Protection Agency Underground Injection Control 
regulations for class III wells, reorganize the chapter to better 
correlate with other key Land Quality Division (LQD) regulations and to 
reference existing LQD regulations and definitions, update regulations 
to be consistent with other Wyoming regulations pertaining to well 
construction, well abandonment, and aquifer exemptions, and update 
regulations to include current best management practices specific to in 
situ coal mining.
    This document gives the times and locations that the Wyoming 
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., 
M.D.T., December 4, 2023. If requested, we may hold a public hearing or 
meeting on the amendment on November 28, 2023. We will accept requests 
to speak at a hearing until 4 p.m., M.D.T., on November 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WY-051-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: 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 Wyoming 
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 
82602, 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:

Attn: Kyle Wendtland, Administrator, Wyoming Department of 
Environmental Quality, Land Quality Division, 200 West 17th Street, 
Suite 10, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, Telephone: (307) 777-7046, Email: 
[email protected]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
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: 

Table of Contents

I. Background on the Wyoming Program
II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
III. Public Comment Procedures
IV. Procedural Determinations

I. Background on the Wyoming Program

    Subject to OSMRE's oversight, section 503(a) of the Act permits a 
State to

[[Page 75529]]

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 Wyoming program on November 26, 1980. You 
can find background information on the Wyoming program, including the 
Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and conditions of 
approval of the Wyoming program in the November 26, 1980 Federal 
Register 45 FR 78637. You can also find later actions concerning the 
Wyoming program and program amendments at 30 CFR 950.10.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

    By letter dated February 14, 2023 (Document ID No. OSM-2023-0004), 
Wyoming sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 
et seq.). We found Wyoming's proposed amendment administratively 
complete on March 7, 2023.
    Between 1994 and 2002 Wyoming enacted several revisions to the Coal 
Chapter 18 Rules. On September 25, 2018 the Wyoming Environmental 
Quality Council approved a number of revisions to the rules governing 
Class III well associated with in situ mining. The proposed amendment 
is a state initiative intended to update Chapter 18, which was last 
revised in 2002. Specifically the proposed revisions: (1) update 
regulations to be consistent with Environmental Protection Agency 
Underground Injection Control regulations for class III wells, (2) 
reorganize the chapter to better correlate with other key LQD 
regulations and to reference existing LQD regulations and definitions, 
(3) update regulations to be consistent with other Wyoming regulations 
pertaining to well construction, well abandonment, and aquifer 
exemptions, and (4) update regulations to include current best 
management practices specific to in situ coal mining.
    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 p.m., M.D.T. on 
November 20, 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, Executive Order 
13563--Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, and Executive Order 
14094--Modernizing Regulatory Review

    Executive Order 12866, as amended by Executive Order 14094, 
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/or AML plan amendments is exempted from OMB review 
under Executive Order 12866, as amended by Executive Order 14094. 
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.

[[Page 75530]]

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 950

    Intergovernmental relations, Required program amendments, State 
regulatory program approval, State-Federal cooperative agreement, 
Surface mining, Underground mining.

David A. Berry,
Regional Director, Unified Regions 5, 7-11.
[FR Doc. 2023-24272 Filed 11-2-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P