Missouri Regulatory Program

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 925

[SPATS No. MO-035-FOR]

Missouri Regulatory Program

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening and extension of public comment period

on proposed amendment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM)

is announcing receipt of additional information about a previously

proposed amendment to the Missouri regulatory program (Missouri

program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977

(SMCRA). Missouri submitted supporting documentation for the normal

husbandry practices proposed in the previous amendment. The practices

include applying pesticides and soil amendments; subsoiling; repairing

rills and gullies; burning; overseeding; and planting and pruning

trees. Missouri intends to revise its program to be consistent with the

corresponding Federal regulations.

DATES: We will accept written comments until 4:00 p.m., c.d.t., July

19, 1999.

ADDRESSES: You should mail or hand deliver written comments to John W.

Coleman, Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating Center, at the address

listed below.

You may review copies of the Missouri program, the amendment, and

all written comments received in response to this document at the

addresses listed below during normal business hours, Monday through

Friday, excluding holidays. You may receive one free copy of the

amendment by contacting OSM's Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating

Center.

John W. Coleman, Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating Center, Office

of Surface Mining, Alton Federal Building, 501 Belle Street, Alton,

Illinois 62002, Telephone: (618) 463-6460.

Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Land Reclamation Program,

205 Jefferson Street, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102,

Telephone: (573) 751-4041.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John W. Coleman, Mid-Continent

Regional Coordinating Center. Telephone: (618) 463-6460. Internet:

[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on the Missouri Program

On November 21, 1980, the Secretary of the Interior conditionally

approved the Missouri program. You can find general background

information on the Missouri program, including the Secretary's

findings, the disposition of comments, and the conditions of approval

in the November 21, 1980, Federal Register (45 FR 77017). You can find

later actions on the Missouri program at 30 CFR 925.12, 925.15, and

925.16.

II. Discussion of the Proposed Amendment

By letter dated October 10, 1990, Missouri sent us an amendment to

its program under SMCRA (Administrative Record No. MO-519). We

announced receipt of the amendment in the November 1, 1990, Federal

Register (55 FR 46076) and invited public comment on its adequacy. The

public comment period closed December 3, 1990. In the September 29,

1992, Federal Register (57 FR 44660), we approved the amendment with

exceptions. The exceptions included revisions to Missouri's regulation

at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2 concerning normal husbandry practices. We did

not approve this regulation because Missouri had not provided evidence

to substantiate the use of each proposed practice as a normal husbandry

practice. As codified at 30 CFR 925.16(p)(15), we required Missouri to

provide such evidence for the administrative record or to delete the

regulation at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2.

By letter dated June 4, 1999, Missouri submitted agricultural

publications and

[[Page 32450]]

guidelines developed by the University of Missouri--Columbia Extension

Division (UMC); other cooperative extension services in cooperation

with the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the Missouri Department of

Conservation (MDOC); and the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS) as supporting documentation for the normal husbandry

practices proposed in its regulation at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2.

Missouri's regulation at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2 would allow the

permittee, on areas under Phase III liability or the five-year

responsibility period, to use specified normal husbandry practices. The

practices include: mowing; applying pesticides; applying soil

amendments equal to or less than that recommended by the high

management yield goals of the NRCS; subsoiling which occurs less than

two feet below the surface and which does not remove the revegetation

from the surface; burning; overseeding to maintain the approved

composition of the stand; and planting and pruning trees. Using these

practices will not cause the Phase III liability period to be extended

if the permittee can demonstrate that: (1) discontinuance of these

measures after the liability period expires will not reduce the

probability of permanent revegetation success; (2) the practices are

normal husbandry practices within the region on unmined lands having

land uses similar to the approved postmining land use of the areas; and

(3) the practices are necessary to prevent exploitation, destruction or

neglect of the resource and to maintain the prescribed level of use or

productivity. Repairing rills and gullies will not cause the Phase III

liability period to be extended when rills and gullies develop after

the initiation of the Phase III liability period and when that repair

is restricted to the filling, grading and reseeding of the eroded

portion of the area.

Missouri submitted the following documents to support the husbandry

practices proposed in 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2:

Herbicides for Conservation Tillage Cropping Systems; UMC

1980 Recom. for Chemical Weed Control in Small Grains; UMC

Soil Insect Control in Reduced Tillage Cropping Systems; UMC

Corrective Liming of Missouri Soils; UMC

Using Your Soil Test Results; UMC

Native Warm-Season Grasses; MDOC

Prescribed Burning (Code 338); NRCS

Establishing Forages; UMC

Soil Compaction: The Silent Thief; UMC

Soil Compaction Tips; Cooperative Extension, University of Nebraska

Soil Compaction and Drainage; Ohio State University

Pasture and Hayland Planting (Code 512); NRCS

Tree/Shrub Establishment (Code 612); NRCS

Tree/Shrub Pruning (Code 660); NRCS

Woodland Site Preparation (Code 490); NRCS

Woodland Pruning (Code 660); NRCS

Critical Area Planting (Code 342); NRCS

III. Public Comment Procedures

We are reopening the comment period on the proposed Missouri

program amendment at 10 CSR 40-7.021(1)(B)2 to provide you an

opportunity to reconsider the adequacy of the amendment in light of the

additional materials sent to us. Under the provisions of 30 CFR

732.17(h), we are requesting comments on whether the amendment

satisfies the program approval criteria of 30 CFR 732.15. If we approve

the amendment, it will become part of the Missouri program.

Written Comments

Your written comments should be specific and pertain only to the

issues proposed in this rulemaking. You should explain the reason for

any recommended change. In the final rulemaking, we will not

necessarily consider or include in the Administrative Record any

comments received after the time indicated under DATES or at locations

other than the Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating Center.

IV. Procedural Determinations

Executive Order 12866

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) exempts this rule from

review under Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review).

Executive Order 12988

The Department of the Interior conducted the reviews required by

section 3 of Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice Reform) and

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 regulatory programs and program amendments since each such

program is drafted and promulgated by a specific State, not by OSM.

Under sections 503 and 505 of SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1253 and 1255) and 30

CFR 730.11, 732.15, and 732.17(h)(10), decisions on State regulatory

programs and program amendments must be based solely on a determination

of whether the submittal is consistent with SMCRA and its implementing

Federal regulations and whether the other requirements of 30 CFR Parts

730, 731, and 732 have been met.

National Environmental Policy Act

This rule does not require an environmental impact statement since

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

decisions on 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

corresponding 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. Therefore, this rule will ensure that existing requirements

previously published 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 corresponding Federal regulations.

Unfunded Mandates

OSM has determined and certifies under the Unfunded Mandates Reform

Act (2 U.S.C. 1502 et seq.) that this rule will not impose a cost of

$100 million or more in any given year on local, state, or tribal

governments or private entities.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 925

Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.

Dated: June 10, 1999.

Charles E. Sandberg,

Acting Regional Director, Mid-Continent Regional Coordinating Center.

[FR Doc. 99-15399 Filed 6-16-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-05-P