[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 146 (Tuesday, July 30, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 61051-61053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-16536]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 950

[SATS No. WY-047-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2024-0002; S1D1S SS08011000 
SX064A000 245S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 24XS501520]


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 amendment to 
the Wyoming coal program (Wyoming program) under the Surface Mining 
Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). On February 19, 
2019, the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council (EQC) approved several 
revisions to the rules governing Financial Assurances and Self-Bonding 
under the Wyoming program. 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

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will follow for the public hearing, if one is requested.

DATES: We will accept written comments on this amendment until 4 p.m., 
Mountain Daylight Time (M.D.T.), August 29, 2024. If requested, we may 
hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on August 26, 2024. 
We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4 p.m., M.D.T., on 
August 14, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WY-047-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: https://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:

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

    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 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 at 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 May 20, 2024 (Admin Record No. WY-047-01), 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 May 21, 2024.
    On February 19, 2019, the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council 
(EQC) approved several revisions to the Wyoming Program's financial 
assurances regulations. The EQC approved another revision to these 
rules following a 2022 legislative change (House Bill 0045) to Wyoming 
Statute (W.S.) 35-11-417(h) which enabled Wyoming to promulgate rules 
for a new type of financial assurance instrument called a ``Voluntary 
Irrevocable Assigned Trust''. Accordingly, the State submitted this 
proposal to OSMRE at its own initiative. The Wyoming amendment proposes 
the following revisions:
    First, Wyoming proposes to delete ``Chapter 20--Letters of 
Credit,'' and instead inserts it into ``Chapter 11--Self-bonding 
Program.'' Chapter 11 is also renamed from ``Chapter 11--Self-Bonding 
Program'' to ``Chapter 11--Financial Assurance.'' As proposed, all 
Financial Assurance regulations will now be housed in Chapter 11.
    Second, Wyoming proposes several updates to its self-bonding 
program. These revisions include changes to some definitions, limiting 
self-bonding to a maximum of 75% of an operation's bond obligation, 
changing the requirements for an operation to qualify for self-bonding, 
and removing the ability for an operation to use ``collateralized self-
bonds,'' like real property, personal property, and securities. Wyoming 
proposes that ``Collateralized self-bonds'' will now be considered 
separate financial instruments called ``Collateral bonds.''
    Lastly, Wyoming proposes several changes to its Collateral bond 
section. Within the Collateral bond section Wyoming proposes to revise 
some of the Letters of Credit rules, removes Personal Property 
collateral bond instruments, adds Real Property collateral bond 
instruments, adds Irrevocable Trust Account options for collateral 
bonds, and revises some requirements for Securities bond options.
    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

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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 
August 14, 2024. 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 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.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 950

    Required program amendments, State-Federal cooperative agreement, 
State program provisions and amendments not approved, State regulatory 
program approval, Surface mining.

David A. Berry,
Regional Director, Unified Regions 5, 7-11.
[FR Doc. 2024-16536 Filed 7-29-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P