Proposed Construction of Frannie Water Distribution System

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

Proposed Construction of Frannie Water Distribution System

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

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of application for grant funding; public comment period

on request to fund the Frannie Water Distribution System.

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SUMMARY: OSM is announcing its receipt of a grant application from the

Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Abandoned Mine Land

Division (AMLD). Wyoming requesting $420,200 from the Abandoned Mine

Reclamation fund to pay approximately 44 percent of the cost of

building the Frannie Water Distribution System. The Frannie community

will provide $37,500. The Rural Utility Service will provide $464,000.

The State Loan and Investment Board will provide $29,300. In its

application, the State proposes paying for part of the reconstruction

cost as a public facility project that will benefit a community

impacted by bentonite and gypsum mining.

This notice describes when and where you may read the grant

application for funding the Frannie Water Distribution System project.

It also sets the time period during which you may send written comments

on the request to us.

DATES: We will accept comments until 4:00 p.m., m.s.t., December 20,

1999.

ADDRESSES: You should mail or hand-deliver written comments to Guy V.

Padgett, Casper Field Office Director, at the address shown below. You

may read Wyoming's grant application for this proposed project during

normal business hours Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) at the

same address. Also, we will send one free copy of the grant application

to you if you contact OSM's Casper Field Office. Guy V. Padgett,

Director, Casper Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and

Enforcement, Federal Building, Rm. 2403, 100 East ``B'' Street, Casper,

Wyoming 82601-1918.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Guy V. Padgett, Telephone: (307) 261-

6555.

[[Page 63335]]

Our practice is to make comments, including names and home addresses of

respondents, available for public review during regular business hours.

Individual respondents may request that we withhold their home address

from the rulemaking (or administrative) record, which we will honor to

the extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which

we would withhold from the rulemaking (or administrative) record a

respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold

your name and/or address, you must state this prominently at the

beginning of your comment. However, we will not consider anonymous

comments. We will make all submissions from organizations or

businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available

for public inspection in their entirety.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on Title IV of SMCRA

Title IV of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA)

established an Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation (AMLR) program. The

purpose of the AMLR program is to reclaim and restore lands and waters

that were adversely affected by past mining. The program is funded by a

reclamation fee paid by active coal mining operations. Lands and waters

eligible for reclamation under Title IV are primarily those that were

mined, or affected by mining, and abandoned or inadequately reclaimed

before August 3, 1977, and for which there is no continuing reclamation

responsibility under State, Federal, or other laws.

Title IV of SMCRA allows States to submit AMLR plans to us. We, on

behalf of the Secretary, review those plans and consider any public

comments we receive about them. If we determine that a state has the

ability and necessary legislation to operate an AMLR program, the

Secretary can approve it. The Secretary's approval gives a State

exclusive authority to put its AMLR plan into effect.

Once the Secretary approves a State's AMLR plan, the State may

apply to us for money to fund specific projects that will achieve the

goals of its approved plan. We follow the requirements of the Federal

regulations at 30 CFR parts 874, 875, and 886 when we review and

approve such applications.

II. Background on the Wyoming AMLR Plan

The Secretary of the Interior approved Wyoming's AMLR plan on

February 14, 1983. You can find background information on the Wyoming

AML program, including the Secretary's findings and our responses to

comments, in the February 14, 1983 Federal Register (48 FR 6536).

Wyoming changed its plan a number of times since the Secretary first

approved it. In 1984, we accepted the State's certification that it had

addressed all known coal-related impacts in Wyoming that were eligible

for funding under its program. As a result, the State may now reclaim

low priority non-coal reclamation projects. You can read about the

certification and OSM's acceptance in the May 25, 1984, Federal

Register (49 FR 22139). At the same time, we also accepted Wyoming's

proposal that it will ask us for funds to reclaim any additional coal-

related problems that occur during the life of the Wyoming AML program

as soon as it becomes aware of them. In the April 13, 1992, Federal

Register (57 FR 12731), we announced our decision to accept other

changes in Wyoming's plan that describe how it will rank eligible coal,

non-coal, and facility projects for funding. Those changes also

authorized the Governor of Wyoming to elevate the priority of a project

based upon the Governor's determination of need and urgency. They also

expanded the State's ability to construct public facilities under

section 411 of SMCRA. We approved additional changes in Wyoming's plan

concerning non-coal lien authority and contractor eligibility that

improve the efficiency of the State's AML program. That approval is

described in the February 21, 1996, Federal Register (61 FR 6537).

Once a State certifies that it has addressed all remaining

abandoned coal mine problems and the Secretary concurs, then it may

request funds to undertake abandoned non-coal mine reclamation,

community impact assistance, and public facilities projects under

sections 411(b), (e), and (f), of SMCRA.

State law and regulations that apply to the proposed Abandoned Coal

Mine Land Program Frannie Water Distribution System funding request

include Wyoming Statute 35-11-1202 and Wyoming Abandoned Mine Land

Regulations, Chapter VII, of the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Program.

III. Wyoming's Request to Fund the Cost of Frannie Water

Distribution System

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality submitted to us a

grant application dated November 1, 1999. In that application, Wyoming

asked for $420,200 to pay for a part of the cost of constructing the

Frannie Water Distribution System. The Governor of Wyoming certified

the need and urgency to fund this project prior to completing the

State's remaining inventory of noncoal reclamation work, as allowed by

section 411(f) of SMCRA. That certification says the project is in a

community impacted by bentonite and gypsum mining activities. The

facility consists of total replacement of the water distribution system

in the community of Frannie, Wyoming.

This project will mitigate the impacts of safety hazards associated

with the present condition of the Frannie Water System. The Frannie

water system is inadequate for fire suppression. The Governor's

certification states that safety hazards warrant funding of this

project before the remaining inventory of non-coal projects and

completed.

IV. How We Will Review Wyoming's Grant Applicant

We will review this grant application using the regulations at 30

CFR 875.15; specifically Secs. 875.15(e)(1) through (7). As stated in

those regulations, the application must include the following

information: (1) The need or urgency for the activity or the

construction of the public facility; (2) the expected impact the

project will have on Wyoming's coal or minerals industry; (3) the

availability of funding from other sources and, if other funding is

provided, its percentage of the total cost involved; (4) documentation

from other local, State, and Federal agencies with oversight for such

utilities or facilities describing what funding they have available and

why their agency is not fully funding this specific project; (5) the

impact on the State, the public, and the minerals industry if the

facility is not funded; (6) the reason why this project should be

selected before the priority project relating to the protection of the

public health and safety or the environment from the damages cause by

past mining activities, and (7) and analysis and review of the

procedures Wyoming used to notify and involve the public in this

request, and a copy of all comments received and their resolution by

the State. Wyoming's application for the Frannie Water Distribution

System project contains the information described in these seven

subsections.

Section 875.15(f) requires us to evaluate all comments we receive

and determine whether the funding meets the requirements of

Secs. 875.15(e)(1) through (7) described above. It also requires us to

determine if the request is in the best interests of the State's AML

program. We will approve Wyoming's request to fund this project

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if we conclude that it meets all the requirements of 30 CFR 875.15.

V. What to Do if You Want to Comment on the Proposed Project

We are asking for public comments on Wyoming's request for funds to

pay for part of the cost of reconstructing the Frannie water system.

You are welcome to comment on the project. If you Wyoming's funding

request in the context of the regulations at 30 CFR 875.15 and the

provisions of section 411 of SMCRA. You should explain any

recommendations you make. If we receive your comments after the time

shown under DATES or at locations other than the Casper Field Office,

we will not necessarily consider them in our final decision or include

them in the administrative record.

Dated: November 3, 1999.

Guy Padgett,

Director, Casper Field Office.

[FR Doc. 99-30258 Filed 11-18-99; 8:45 am]

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