Ohio Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Plan

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 935

[OH-236-FOR]

Ohio Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Plan

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM),

Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment period and opportunity for public

hearing.

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SUMMARY: OSM is announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Ohio

abandoned mine land reclamation plan (hereinafter the ``Ohio plan'')

under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA),

30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq., as amended. The proposed amendment consists of

changes to provisions of the Ohio plan pertaining to the acid mine

drainage set-aside program, water quality improvement, project

eligibility, and remining incentives. The amendment is intended to

revise the Ohio plan to be consistent with SMCRA, as amended.

DATES: Written comments must be received by 4:00 p.m., [E.S.T.], May

17, 1996. If requested, a public hearing on the proposed amendment will

be held on May 13, 1996. Requests to speak at the hearing must be

received by 4:00 p.m., [E.S.T.], on May 2, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests to speak at the hearing should

be mailed or hand delivered to George Rieger, Field Branch Chief, at

the address listed below.

Any disabled individual who has need for a special accommodation to

attend a public hearing should contact the individual listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Copies of the Ohio plan, the proposed amendment, a listing of any

scheduled public hearings, and all written comments received in

response to this document will be available for public review at the

addresses listed below during normal business hours, Monday through

Friday, excluding holidays. Each requester may receive one free copy of

the proposed amendment by contacting OSM's Appalachian Regional

Coordinating Center.

George Rieger, Field Branch Chief, Appalachian Regional Coordinating

Center

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 3 Parkway Center,

Pittsburgh, PA 15220, Telephone: (412) 937-2153

Ohio Division of Mines and Reclamation, 1855 Fountain Square Court,

Columbus, Ohio, 43224, Telephone: (614) 265-1076

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

George Rieger, Field Branch Chief, Appalachian Regional Coordinating

Center, Telephone: (412) 937-2153.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on the Ohio Plan

On August 10, 1982, the Secretary of the Interior approved the Ohio

plan. Background information on the Ohio plan, including the

Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and the conditions

of approval can be found in the April 15, 1994, Federal Register (59 FR

17930). Subsequent actions concerning the conditions of approval and

program amendments can be found at 30 CFR 935.25.

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment

By letter dated March 19, 1996, (Administrative Record No. OH-2163)

Ohio submitted a proposed amendment to its program pursuant to SMCRA at

its own initiative. The provisions of the Ohio plan that it proposes to

amend are: acid mine drainage set-aside program, water quality

improvement, project eligibility, and remining incentives.

Specifically, Ohio proposes the following changes. At section 4.1,

subsection G is added to (1) provide for the reclamation of areas

causing acid mine drainage (AMD) such that: AMD problems are eliminated

as a component of a high priority reclamation project; AMD areas

causing a ``general welfare'' impact to the public will be eligible for

abatement; and AMD areas impacting watersheds will be abated in

accordance with AMD set-aside criteria; and (2) encourage the remining

of areas causing AMD within certain areas through the funding of AMD

remediation projects and studies necessary to authorize mining

activities on certain previously mined areas.

At section 4.5, the requirement that research and demonstration

projects be submitted to OSM independent of work plan submissions is

deleted. At section 4.5.3, the project selection process is revised to

include AMD projects under certain conditions, such as the AMD set-

aside, AMD associated with other high priority projects, AMD associated

with general welfare, and AMD associated with remining operations.

III. Public Comment Procedures

In accordance with the provisions of 30 CFR 732.17(h), OSM is

seeking comments on whether the proposed amendment satisfies the

applicable program approval criteria of 30 CFR 732.15. If the amendment

is deemed adequate, it will become part of the Ohio plan.

Written Comments

Written comments should be specific, pertain only to the issues

proposed in this rulemaking, and include explanations in support of the

commenter's recommendations. Comments received after the time indicated

under DATES or at locations other than the Appalachian Regional

Coordinating Center will not necessarily be considered in the final

rulemaking or included in the Administrative Record.

Public Hearing

Persons wishing to speak at the public hearing should contact the

person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by 4:00 p.m.,

[E.S.T.] on May 2, 1996. The location and time of the hearing will be

arranged with those persons requesting the hearing. If no one requests

an opportunity to speak at the

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public hearing, the hearing will not be held.

Filing of a written statement at the time of the hearing is

requested as it will greatly assist the transcriber. Submission of

written statements in advance of the hearing will allow OSM officials

to prepare adequate responses and appropriate questions.

The public hearing will continue on the specified date until all

persons scheduled to speak have been heard. Persons in the audience who

have not been scheduled to speak, and who wish to do so, will be heard

following those who have been scheduled. The hearing will end after all

persons scheduled to speak and persons present in the audience who wish

to speak have been heard.

Any disabled individual who has need for a special accommodation to

attend a public hearing should contact the individual listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Public Meeting

If only one person requests an opportunity to speak at a hearing, a

public meeting, rather than a public hearing, may be held. Persons

wishing to meet with OSM representatives to discuss the proposed

amendment may request a meeting by contacting the person listed under

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. All such meetings will be open to the

public and, if possible, notices of meetings will be posted at the

locations listed under ADDRESSES. A written summary of each meeting

will be made a part of the Administrative Record.

IV. Procedural Determinations

Executive Order 12866

This rule is exempted from review by the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) under Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory Planning and

Review).

Executive Order 12778

The Department of the Interior has conducted the reviews required

by section 2 of Executive Order 12778 (Civil Justice Reform) and has

determined that, to the extent allowed by law, this rule meets the

applicable standards of subsections (a) and (b) of that section.

However, these standards are not applicable to the actual language of

State and Tribal abandoned mine land reclamations plan and revisions

since each plan is drafted and promulgated by a specific State or

Tribe, not by OSM. Decisions on proposed abandoned mine land

reclamation plans submitted by a State or Tribe must be based solely on

a determination of whether the submittal is consistent with Title IV of

SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1231-1243) and whether the other requirements of 30

CFR Parts 884 and 888 have been met.

National Environmental Policy Act

No environmental impact statement is required for this rule since

section 702(d) of SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1292(d)) provides that agency

decisions on proposed State regulatory program provisions do not

constitute major Federal actions within the meaning of section

102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C.

4332(2)(C)).

Paperwork Reduction Act

This rule does not contain information collection requirements that

require approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.

3507 et seq.).

Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Department of the Interior has determined that this rule will

not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small

entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).

The State submittal which is the subject of this rule is based upon

counterpart Federal regulations for which an economic analysis was

prepared and certification made that such regulations would not have a

significant economic effect upon a substantial number of small

entities. Accordingly, this rule will ensure that existing requirements

previously promulgated by OSM will be implemented by the State. In

making the determination as to whether this rule would have a

significant economic impact, the Department relied upon the data and

assumptions for the counterpart Federal regulations.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 935

Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

Dated: April 4, 1996.

Allen D. Klein,

Regional Director, Appalachian Regional Coordinating Center.

[FR Doc. 96-9429 Filed 4-16-96; 8:45 am]

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