This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

868 

Vol. 74, No. 6 

Friday, January 9, 2009 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 

and Enforcement 

30 CFR Part 936 

[SATS No. OK–032–FOR; Docket ID: OSM– 

2008–0023] 

Oklahoma Regulatory Program 

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining 

Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment 

period and opportunity for public 

hearing. 

SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface 

Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 

(OSM), are announcing receipt of a 

proposed amendment to the Oklahoma 

regulatory program (Oklahoma program) 

under the Surface Mining Control and 

Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the 

Act). Oklahoma is proposing revisions 

to the Appeals procedures in section 

460:20–5–13, Appeals board in section 

460:20–5–14, and Notice of violations in 

section 460:20–59–4. 

This document gives the times and 

locations that the Oklahoma program 

and proposed amendments 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 will be followed for the 

public hearing, if one is requested. 

DATES: We will accept written 

comments on this amendment until 4 

p.m., c.d.t., February 9, 2009. If 

requested, we will hold a public hearing 

on the amendment on February 3, 2009. 

We will accept requests to speak at a 

hearing until 4 p.m., c.d.t. on January 

26, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by Docket ID: OSM–2008– 

0023, by any of the following methods: 

• E-mail: aclayborne@osmre.gov. 

Include ‘‘Docket ID: OSM–2008–0023’’ 

in the subject line of the message. 

• Mail/Hand Delivery: Alfred L. 

Clayborne, Director, Tulsa Field Office, 

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 

and Enforcement, 1645 South 101st East 

Avenue, Suite 145, Tulsa, Oklahoma 

74128–4629. 

• Fax: (918) 581–6419. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. The proposed rule 

has been assigned Docket ID: OSM– 

2008–0023. If you would like to submit 

comments through the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal, go to 

www.regulations.gov and do the 

following. Click on the ‘‘Advanced 

Docket Search’’ button on the right side 

of the screen. Type in the Docket ID 

OSM–2008–0023 and click the 

‘‘Submit’’ button at the bottom of the 

page. The next screen will display the 

Docket Search Results for the 

rulemaking. If you click on OSM–2008– 

0023, you can view the proposed rule 

and submit a comment. You can also 

view supporting material and any 

comments submitted by others. 

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 Oklahoma 

regulations, this amendment, a listing of 

any scheduled public hearings, 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 OSM’s Tulsa Field Office. 

Alfred L. Clayborne, Director, Tulsa 

Field Office, Office of Surface Mining 

Reclamation and Enforcement, 1645 

South 101st East Avenue, Suite 145, 

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74128–4629, 

Telephone: (918) 581–6430, E-mail: 

aclayborne@osmre.gov. 

In addition, you may review a copy of 

the amendment during regular business 

hours at the following locations: 

Oklahoma Department of Mines, 2915 

N. Classen Blvd., Suite 213, 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73106– 

5406, Telephone: (405) 427–3859; 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Alfred L. Clayborne, Director, Tulsa 

Field Office, Telephone: (918) 581– 

6430, E-mail: aclayborne@osmre.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background on the Oklahoma Program 

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment 

III. Public Comment Procedures 

IV. Procedural Determinations 

I. Background on the Oklahoma 

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 program 

includes, among other things, ‘‘* * * 

State law which provides for the 

regulation of surface coal mining and 

reclamation operations in accordance 

with the requirements of this Act * * *; 

and rules and regulations consistent 

with regulations issued by the Secretary 

pursuant to this Act.’’ See 30 U.S.C. 

1253(a)(1) and (7). On the basis of these 

criteria, the Secretary of the Interior 

conditionally approved the Oklahoma 

program on January 19, 1981. You can 

find background information on the 

Oklahoma program, including the 

Secretary’s findings, the disposition of 

comments, and the conditions of 

approval of the Oklahoma program in 

the January 19, 1981, Federal Register 

(46 FR 4902). You can also find later 

actions concerning the Oklahoma 

program and program amendments at 30 

CFR 936.10, 936.15 and 936.16. 

II. Description of the Proposed 

Amendment 

By letter dated November 26, 2008 

(Administrative Record No. OK–998), 

Oklahoma sent us a proposed 

amendment to its program under 

SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). 

Oklahoma sent the amendment at its 

own initiative. Below is a summary of 

the changes proposed by Oklahoma. 

Any revisions that we do not 

specifically discuss below concern 

nonsubstantive wording or editorial 

changes or corrections of crossreferences. They can be found in the full 

text document of the program 

amendment, which is available for you 

to read at the locations listed above 

under ADDRESSES. 

Specifically, Oklahoma proposes to 

make the following revisions to its 

program. 


yshivers on PROD1PC62 with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Proposed Rules 869 

A. Section 460:20–5–13—Appeals 

procedures [Revoked] 

Oklahoma proposes to delete Appeals 

procedures for State employees. 

(a) Employees have the right to appeal 

an order for remedial action under 

Section 460:20–5–12, and shall have 30 

days to exercise this right before 

disciplinary action is initiated. 

Employees may file their appeal, in 

writing, with the Appeals board 

established in Section 460:20–14 below. 

(b) Members of advisory boards, the 

Oklahoma Mining Commission, and 

commissions representing multiple 

interests should follow any appeals 

process provided for by the Oklahoma 

Governor’s Office, Director of 

Appointments. 

B. Section 460:20–5–14—Appeals board 

[Revoked] 

Oklahoma proposes to delete the 

Appeals board for State employees. A 

department appeals board, composed of 

three persons appointed by the Director 

as representatives of the Department, 

shall hear any grievance from 

Department personnel concerning 

termination, salary disputes, conflict of 

interest, or other personnel matters 

which have been determined by the 

Director. 

(1) Any decisions rendered by the 

appeals board shall be a majority vote, 

after both parties have had an 

opportunity to be heard in an individual 

proceeding under the Administrative 

Procedures Act. 

(2) Should the appeals board vote 

against the decision of the Chief 

Administrative Officer, the matter shall 

be taken to the Director, and his or her 

decision shall be considered a final 

order, appealable under the 

Administrative Procedures Act. 

C. Section 460:20–59–4—Notice of 

violation 

Oklahoma proposes to make editorial 

changes by adopting language similar to 

30 CFR 843.12 (f)(1), which specifies the 

circumstances which may qualify a 

surface coal mining operation for an 

abatement period of more than 90 days. 

Oklahoma proposes new language at 

line (F)(2) allowing for situations where 

the permittee of an ongoing permitted 

operation has timely applied for and 

diligently pursued a permit revision 

which abates an outstanding violation 

and which includes no other changes to 

permit design or plans, but such 

revision approval has not or will not be 

issued within 90 days for reasons not 

within the control of the permittee. 

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. 

Written or Electronic Comments 

Send your written or electronic 

comments to OSM at the address given 

above. Your written comments should 

be specific, pertain only to the issues 

proposed in this rulemaking, and 

include explanations in support of your 

recommendations. 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 

Tribal or Federal laws or regulations, 

technical literature, or other relevant 

publications. We will not consider or 

respond to your comments when 

developing the final rule if they are 

received after the close of the comment 

period (see DATES). We will make every 

attempt to log all comments into the 

administrative record, but comments 

delivered to an address other than the 

Tulsa Field Office may not be logged in. 

Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you may 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. We will not consider anonymous 

comments. 

Public Hearing 

If you wish to speak at the public 

hearing, contact the person listed under 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by 4 

p.m., c.s.t. on January 26, 2009. 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 there is only limited interest in 

participating in a public hearing, 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 12630—Takings 

This rule does not have takings 

implications. This determination is 

based on the analysis performed for the 

counterpart Federal regulation. 

Executive Order 12866—Regulatory 

Planning and Review 

This rule is exempted from review by 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) under Executive Order 12866. 

Executive Order 12988—Civil Justice 

Reform 

The Department of the Interior has 

conducted the reviews required by 

section 3 of Executive Order 12988 and 

has determined that 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 

because each 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 

the Federal regulations at 30 CFR 

730.11, 732.15, and 732.17(h)(10), 

decisions on proposed State regulatory 

programs and program amendments 

submitted by the States 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. 


yshivers on PROD1PC62 with PROPOSALS
870 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

Executive Order 13132—Federalism 

This rule does not have Federalism 

implications. SMCRA delineates the 

roles of the Federal and State 

governments with regard to the 

regulation of surface coal mining and 

reclamation operations. One of the 

purposes of SMCRA is to ‘‘establish a 

nationwide program to protect society 

and the environment from the adverse 

effects of surface coal mining 

operations.’’ Section 503(a)(1) of 

SMCRA requires that State laws 

regulating surface coal mining and 

reclamation operations be ‘‘in 

accordance with’’ the requirements of 

SMCRA, and section 503(a)(7) requires 

that State programs contain rules and 

regulations ‘‘consistent with’’ 

regulations issued by the Secretary 

pursuant to SMCRA. 

Executive Order 13175—Consultation 

and Coordination With Indian Tribal 

Governments 

In accordance with Executive Order 

13175, we have evaluated the potential 

effects of this rule on Federallyrecognized Indian tribes and have 

determined that the rule does not have 

substantial direct effects on one or more 

Indian tribes, on the relationship 

between the Federal Government and 

Indian tribes, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities between the 

Federal Government and Indian tribes. 

This determination is based on the fact 

that the Oklahoma program does not 

regulate coal exploration and surface 

coal mining and reclamation operations 

on Indian lands. Therefore, the 

Oklahoma program has no effect on 

Federally-recognized Indian tribes. 

Executive Order 13211—Regulations 

that Significantly Affect the Supply, 

Distribution, or Use of Energy 

On May 18, 2001, the President issued 

Executive Order 13211 which requires 

agencies to prepare a Statement of 

Energy Effects for a rule that is (1) 

considered significant under Executive 

Order 12866, and (2) likely to have a 

significant adverse effect on the supply, 

distribution, or use of energy. Because 

this rule is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866 and is not 

expected to have a significant adverse 

effect on the supply, distribution, or use 

of energy, a statement of energy effects 

is not required. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

This rule does not require an 

environmental impact statement 

because 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 the Office of 

Management and Budget under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

3507 et seq.). 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Department of the Interior 

certifies 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. 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. 

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act 

This rule is not a major rule under 5 

U.S.C. 804(2), the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. 

This rule: (a) Does not have an annual 

effect on the economy of $100 million; 

(b) Will not cause a major increase in 

costs or prices for consumers, 

individual industries, Federal, State, or 

local government agencies, or 

geographic regions; and (c) Does not 

have significant adverse effects on 

competition, employment, investment, 

productivity, innovation, or the ability 

of U.S. based enterprises to compete 

with foreign-based enterprises. This 

determination is based upon the fact 

that the State submittal, which is the 

subject of this rule, is based upon 

counterpart Federal regulations for 

which an analysis was prepared and a 

determination made that the Federal 

regulation was not considered a major 

rule. 

Unfunded Mandates 

This rule will not impose an 

unfunded mandate on State, local, or 

tribal governments or the private sector 

of $100 million or more in any given 

year. This determination is based upon 

the fact that the State submittal, which 

is the subject of this rule, is based upon 

counterpart Federal regulations for 

which an analysis was prepared and a 

determination made that the Federal 

regulation did not impose an unfunded 

mandate. 

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 936 

Intergovernmental relations, Surface 

mining, Underground mining. 

Dated: December 9, 2008. 

William Joseph, 

Acting Regional Director, Mid-Continent 

Region. 

[FR Doc. E9–204 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–05–P 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

41 CFR Part 102–192 

[FMR Amendment 200X–XXX; FMR Case 

2008–102–4; Docket 2008–0001; Sequence 

1] 

RIN 3090–AI79 

Federal Management Regulation; FMR 

Case 2008–102–4, Mail Management; 

Financial Requirements for All 

Agencies 

AGENCY: Office of Governmentwide 

Policy, General Services Administration 

(GSA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The General Services 

Administration is amending the mail 

management section of the Federal 

Management Regulation (FMR). The 

proposed changes will help agencies 

show accountability for their costs 

regardless of whether they choose to use 

commercial payment processes. 

DATES: Interested parties should submit 

comments in writing on or before March 

10, 2009 to be considered in the 

formulation of a final rule. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments 

identified by FMR case 2008–102–4 by 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Search for any 

document by first selecting the proper 

document types and selecting ‘‘General 

Services Administration’’ as the agency 

of choice. At the ‘‘Keyword’’ prompt, 

type in the FMR case number (for 

example, FMR Case 2008–102–4) and 

click on the ‘‘Submit’’ button. You may 

also search for any document by 

clicking on the ‘‘Advanced search/ 

document search’’ tab at the top of the 

screen, selecting from the agency field 

‘‘General Services Administration’’, and 

typing the FMR case number in the 

keyword field. Select the ‘‘Submit’’ 

button. 

• Fax: 202–501–4067. 


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