Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 181 / Wednesday, September 20, 2023 / Proposed Rules 64855 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 

and Enforcement 

30 CFR Part 926 

[SATS No. MT–043–FOR; Docket ID: OSM– 

2023–0008 S1D1S SS08011000 SX064A000 

231S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 

SX064A000 23XS501520] 

Montana Regulatory Program 

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining 

Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of the 

public comment period. 

SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface 

Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 

(OSMRE), are reopening the public 

comment period due to a request for an 

extension of the public comment period 

to a proposed amendment to the 

Montana regulatory program 

(hereinafter, the Montana program) 

under the Surface Mining Control and 

Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the 

Act). During the 2023 legislative 

session, the Montana legislature passed 

Senate Bill 392 (SB 392), amending the 

Montana Strip and Underground Mine 

Reclamation Act (MSUMRA) as well as 

the Montana Code Annotated (MCA). 

Accordingly, Montana submitted this 

proposed amendment to OSMRE on its 

own initiative. 

This document gives the times and 

locations that the Montana program and 

this proposed amendment to the 

program are available for your 

inspection, the comment period during 

which you may submit written 

comments on the amendment, and the 

procedures that we will follow for the 

public hearing, if one is requested. 

DATES: We will accept written 

comments on this amendment until 4:00 

p.m., M.D.T, until November 6, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by SATS No. MT–043–FOR, 

by any of the following methods: 

• Mail/Hand Delivery: OSMRE, Attn: 

Jeffrey Fleischman, P.O. Box 11018, 100 

East B Street, Room 4100, Casper, 

Wyoming 82602. 

• Fax: (307) 261–6552. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: The 

amendment has been assigned Docket 

ID: OSM–2023–0007. If you would like 

to submit comments, go to http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

We cannot ensure that comments 

received after the close of the comment 

period (see DATES) or sent to an address 

other than the ones listed above will be 

included in the docket for this 

rulemaking and considered. 

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 Montana program, 

this amendment, a listing of any 

scheduled public hearings or meetings, 

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 OSMRE’s Casper Field 

Office or the full text of the program 

amendment is available for you to read 

at www.regulations.gov. 

Attn: Jeffrey Fleischman, Field Office 

Director, Office of Surface Mining 

Reclamation and Enforcement, 100 East 

B Street, Casper, Wyoming 82602, 

Telephone: (307) 261–6550, Email: 

jfleischman@osmre.gov. 

In addition, you may review a copy of 

the amendment during regular business 

hours at the following location: 

Attn: Dan Walsh, Mining Bureau 

Chief, Coal and Opencut Mining 

Bureau, Department of Environmental 

Quality, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, MT 

59601–0901, Telephone: (406) 444– 

6791, Email: dwalsh@mt.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Attn: Jeffrey Fleischman, Field Office 

Director, Office of Surface Mining 

Reclamation and Enforcement, 100 East 

B Street, Casper, Wyoming 82602, 

Telephone: (307) 261–6550, Email: 

jfleischman@osmre.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 

7, 2023 (88 FR 52086) we published a 

proposed rule announcing receipt of a 

program amendment from Montana. 

Under section 1 of SB 392 Montana 

proposes to add a provision to MCA, 

section 1, for the equal application of 

court costs to the prevailing party in 

contested case proceedings by a court or 

administrative agency that issues a 

decision pursuant to § 82–4–2. This 

proposed section allows that a court or 

administrative agency may award the 

prevailing party reasonable costs of 

litigation, including filing fees, attorney 

fees, and witness costs. Under this 

proposal a court or administrative 

agency may not consider the identity of 

the party when awarding costs. The 

proposal applies equally to all parties in 

an action and places the burden of proof 

and persuasion for awarding court costs 

on the requesting party. SB 392 does not 

state where section 1 will be codified in 

the MCA. This will be done by the 

legislature later; however, section 1 will 

be an integral part of the MCA. 

The proposal amends § 82–4–251(7) 

and § 82–4–252(5) to reference the equal 

application of court costs in section 1. 

§ 82–4–251(7), which discusses the 

awarding of court costs. 

Lastly, SB 392 adds four 

contingencies to section 1 and the 

proposed amendments to § 82–4–251 

and § 82–4–252. The contingencies will 

not be codified into the MCA but apply 

to section 1 as proposed and the 

amended sections of the MCA. Section 

4 of SB 392 contains codification 

instructions which state that [section 1] 

is intended to be codified as an integral 

part of § 82–4–2 and the provisions of 

§ 82–4–2 apply to [section 1]. Section 5 

is a severability clause and states that if 

a part of SB 392 is found to be invalid, 

any part(s) found valid will remain in 

effect. Section 6 of SB 392 is an effective 

date, which states that the act is 

effective on passage and approval. 

Lastly, section 7 of SB 392 is an 

applicability clause, which states that 

SB 392 applies to court actions filed on 

or after the effective date of SB 392. 

By letter dated August 18, 2023 

(FDMS Document ID No. OSM–2023– 

0008–0008), multiple conservation 

groups sent us a letter requesting an 

extension of the public comment period. 

The conservation groups cited the 

controversial nature of the amendment, 

technical difficulties accessing the 

comment page, and scheduling 

difficulties around a Public Holiday, as 

reasons why OSMRE should grant an 

extension on the comment period. 

OSMRE reviewed the request for an 

extension of the public comment period 

and agree that the controversial nature 

of the amendment affords the public 

more time to submit the fullest and most 

comprehensive comments possible. The 

full text of the program amendment is 

available for you to read at the locations 

listed above under ADDRESSES. 

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. 

Electronic or Written Comments 

If you submit written or electronic 

comments on the proposed rule during 

the 30-day comment period, they should 

be specific, confined to issues pertinent 

to the proposed regulations, and explain 

the reason for any recommended 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
64856 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 181 / Wednesday, September 20, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

change(s). 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 

State or Federal laws or regulations, 

technical literature, or other relevant 

publications. 

We cannot ensure that comments 

received after the close of the comment 

period (see DATES) or sent to an address 

other than those listed (see ADDRESSES) 

will be included in the docket for this 

rulemaking and considered. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email 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 can 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. 

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 926 

State regulatory program approval, 

State-Federal cooperative agreement, 

required program amendments. 

David A. Berry, 

Regional Director, Unified Regions 5, 7–11. 

[FR Doc. 2023–20349 Filed 9–19–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2023–0103; 

FF09E21000 FXES1111090FEDR 234] 

RIN 1018–BG31 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Threatened Species Status 

With Section 4(d) Rule for the Miami 

Cave Crayfish 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), propose to 

list the Miami cave crayfish 

(Procambarus milleri), a crayfish species 

from Miami-Dade County, Florida, as a 

threatened species under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (Act). This determination also 

serves as our 12-month finding on a 

petition to list the Miami cave crayfish. 

After a review of the best available 

scientific and commercial information, 

we find that listing the species is 

warranted. Accordingly, we propose to 

list the Miami cave crayfish as a 

threatened species with a rule issued 

under section 4(d) of the Act (‘‘4(d) 

rule’’). If we finalize this proposed rule, 

it would add this species to the List of 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and extend the Act’s protections to the 

species. 

DATES: We will accept comments 

received or postmarked on or before 

November 20, 2023. Comments 

submitted electronically using the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal (see 

ADDRESSES, below) must be received by 

11:59 p.m. eastern time on the closing 

date. We must receive requests for a 

public hearing, in writing, at the address 

shown in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT by November 6, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by one of the following methods: 

(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: https://

www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, 

enter FWS–R4–ES–2023–0103, which is 

the docket number for this rulemaking. 

Then, click on the Search button. On the 

resulting page, in the panel on the left 

side of the screen, under the Document 

Type heading, check the Proposed Rule 

box to locate this document. You may 

submit a comment by clicking on 

‘‘Comment.’’ 

(2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail 

to: Public Comments Processing, Attn: 

FWS–R4–ES–2023–0103, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 

Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041– 

3803. 

We request that you send comments 

only by the methods described above. 

We will post all comments on https:// 

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post any personal 

information you provide us (see 

Information Requested, below, for more 

information). 

Availability of supporting materials: 

Supporting materials, such as the 

species status assessment report, are 

available at https://www.regulations.gov 

at Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2023–0103. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lourdes Mena, Division Manager, 

Florida Classification and Recovery, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida 

Ecological Services Field Office, 7915 

Baymeadows Way, Suite 200, 

Jacksonville, FL 32256–7517; telephone 

904–731–3134. Individuals in the 

United States who are deaf, deafblind, 

hard of hearing, or have a speech 

disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or 

TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. For a 

summary of the proposed rule, please 

see the ‘‘rule summary document’’ in 

docket FWS–R4–ES–2023–0103 on 

https://www.regulations.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Summary 

Why we need to publish a rule. Under 

the Act, a species warrants listing if it 

meets the definition of an endangered 

species (in danger of extinction 

throughout all or a significant portion of 

its range) or a threatened species (likely 

to become an endangered species within 

the foreseeable future throughout all or 

a significant portion of its range). If we 

determine that a species warrants 

listing, we must list the species 

promptly and designate the species’ 

critical habitat to the maximum extent 

prudent and determinable. We have 

determined that the Miami cave crayfish 

meets the definition of a threatened 

species; therefore, we are proposing to 

list it as such. Listing a species as an 

endangered or threatened species can be 

completed only by issuing a rule 

through the Administrative Procedure 

Act rulemaking process (5 U.S.C. 551 et 

seq.). 

What this document does. We 

propose to list the Miami cave crayfish 

as a threatened species with a rule 

under section 4(d) of the Act. 

The basis for our action. Under the 

Act, we may determine that a species is 

an endangered or threatened species 

because of any of five factors: (A) The 

present or threatened destruction, 

modification, or curtailment of its 

habitat or range; (B) overutilization for 

commercial, recreational, scientific, or 

educational purposes; (C) disease or 

predation; (D) the inadequacy of 

existing regulatory mechanisms; or (E) 

other natural or manmade factors 

affecting its continued existence. We 

have determined that the primary threat 

to Miami cave crayfish is saltwater 

intrusion caused by sea level rise as a 

result of climate change. 

Information Requested 

We intend that any final action 

resulting from this proposed rule will be 

based on the best scientific and 

commercial data available and be as 

accurate and as effective as possible. 

Therefore, we request comments or 

information from other governmental 

agencies, Native American Tribes, the 


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