36106 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 110 / Wednesday, June 7, 2000 / Proposed Rules

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. Section 503(a)(7) requires that

State programs contain rules and

regulations ‘‘consistent with’’

regulations issued by the Secretary

pursuant to SMCRA.

National Environmental Policy Act

Section 702(d) of SMCRA (30 U.S.C.

1292(d)) provides that a decision on a

proposed State regulatory program

provision does not constitute a major

Federal action within the meaning of

section 102(2)(C) of the National

Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C.

4332(2)(C)). A determination has been

made that such decisions are

categorically excluded from the NEPA

process (516 DM 8.4.A).

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

that 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.

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, geographic

regions, or Federal, State or local

governmental agencies; 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 a cost of

$100 million or more in any given year

on any governmental entity or the

private sector.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 931

Intergovernmental relations, Surface

mining, Underground mining.

Dated: May 24, 2000.

Brent T. Wahlquist,

Regional Director, Western Regional

Coordinating Center.

[FR Doc. 00–14358 Filed 6–6–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–05–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. 00–7145]

[RIN No. 2127–AH61]

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety

Standards; Head Impact Protection

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Extension of comment period.

SUMMARY: This document grants a

request to extend the comment period

on an agency proposal to amend the

upper interior impact requirements of

its standard on occupant protection in

interior impact by modifying the

minimum distance between certain

target points on vertical surfaces inside

a vehicle and by adding target points for

pillar-like structures that do not meet

the definition of ‘‘pillar,’’ i.e., certain

door frames and vertical seat belt

mounting structures.

DATES: Extended comment closing date:

Comments on the April 5, 2000

proposal, 65 FR 17842, Docket No. 00–

7145, must be received by the agency on

or before close of business on July 5,

2000.

ADDRESSES: You should mention the

docket number of this document in your

comments and submit your comments

in writing to: Docket Management,

Room PL–401, 400 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20590. Alternatively,

you may submit your comments

electronically by e-mail at http://

dms.dot.gov.

You may call the Docket at 202–366–

9324, and visit it from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00

p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

non-legal issues, you may call Dr.

William Fan, Office of Crashworthiness

Standards, at (202) 366–4922, facsimile

(202) 366–4329, electronic mail

‘‘bfan@nhtsa.dot.gov’’. For legal issues,

you may call Otto Matheke, Office of the

Chief Counsel, at 202–366–5263.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April

5, 2000, NHTSA published a notice of

proposed rulemaking proposing to

amend the upper interior impact

requirements of Standard No. 201,

Occupant Protection in Interior Impact,

in several respects. One proposal

addressed the minimum distance

between certain target points on vertical

surfaces inside a vehicle. Compliance

with the upper interior impact

requirements is determined, in part, by

measuring the forces experienced by a

test device known as the Free Motion

Headform (FMH) when it impacts

certain target points in the vehicle

interior. To ensure that the damage

caused by the testing of one target point

does not overlap the testing of nearby

target points, the standard specifies that

tested targets be at least a certain

distance apart; currently 150 mm (6

inches). We proposed expanding this

minimum distance to 200 mm (8 inches)

for tests performed on certain vertical

surfaces in order to alleviate concerns

that the current distance is not large

enough to prevent the FMH impact area

for one target point from overlapping

the FMH impact areas for nearby target

points in the same vehicle. We also

proposed adding target points for pillarlike structures that do not meet the

definition of ‘‘pillar,’’ i.e., certain door

frames and vertical seat belt mounting

structures and are therefore not

currently subject to Standard No. 201.

We tentatively concluded that these

structures are the equivalent of ‘‘pillars’’

now covered by the Standard.

The NPRM specified a comment

closing date of June 5, 2000 (60 days

after date of publication). However, on

May 16, 2000, we received a request for

an extension of the comment closing

date from Advocates for Highway and

Auto Safety (Advocates). Advocates

stated that it wished to provide

comments on our proposal, but was

unable to do so in a timely fashion due

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 110 / Wednesday, June 7, 2000 / Proposed Rules 36107

to the organization’s limited resources

and a competing need to comment on a

number of other pending regulatory

proposals affecting highway and

highway safety. Therefore, Advocates

requested an additional 60 days for

submission of its comments.

Particularly because Advocates is a

prominent public interest organization

dedicated to the consideration of issues

related to highway and vehicle safety,

the agency is interested in its comments.

Thus, in order to provide the Advocates

and other interested parties ample time

and opportunity to express their views

on the proposed amendments to

Standard No. 201, NHTSA believes that

there is good cause for the extension of

the comment period. However, the

agency does not believe that an

extension of 60 days is warranted or

would be in the public interest. NHTSA

has determined that it is appropriate to

extend the comment period for 30 days

and that such extension is consistent

with the public interest. Accordingly,

the Advocates request to extend the

comment period for an additional 60

days is denied, but the comment period

is extended for a period of 30 days to

July 5, 2000.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115,

30117, and 30166; delegation of authority is

at 49 CR 1.50.

Issued on June 2, 2000.

Stephen R. Kratzke,

Associate Administrator for Safety

Performance Standards.

[FR Doc. 00–14277 Filed 6–2–00; 12:34 pm]

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