Proposed Construction of Etna Water Distribution System

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

Proposed Construction of Etna 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 Etna 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 is requesting $111,500.00 from the Abandoned

Mine Reclamation Fund to pay approximately 8 percent of the cost of

building the Etna Water Distribution System. The Wyoming Water

Development Commission will provide $689,300. The Rural Utility Service

will provide $540,000. 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 coal and mineral mining.

This notice describes when and where you may read the grant

application for funding the Etna 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 written 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.

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 (of 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/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 form

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

[[Page 63337]]

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 Etna 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 Etna 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 $111,500 to pay for a part of the cost of constructing the

Etna 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 non-coal reclamation work, as allowed by section

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

impacted by coal mining activities. The requested funding is

approximately 8 percent of the project's total cost. Money for the

balance of the project cost will come from the Wyoming Water

Development Commission ($689,300) and the Rural Utility Service

($540,000). The facility consists of storage, transmission, and

distribution upgrades to the water distribution system in the community

of Etna, Wyoming.

This project will mitigate the impacts of safety hazards associated

with the present condition of the Etna Water System. The Etna water

system is experiencing serious bacteriological risks as demonstrated by

an EPA Administrative Order. The Governor's certification states that

safety hazards warrant funding of this project before the remaining

inventory of non-coal projects are completed.

IV. How We Will Review Wyoming's Grant Application

We will review this grant application using the regulations at 30

CFR 875.15; specifically Sec. 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 caused by

past mining activities, and (7) an 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 Etna 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

Sec. 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 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 Etna water system. You

are welcome to comment on the project. If you do, please send us

written comments. Make sure your comments are specific and pertain to

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. 99-30259 Filed 11-18-99; 8:45 am]

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