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

72699 

Vol. 88, No. 203 

Monday, October 23, 2023 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 

and Enforcement 

30 CFR Part 926 

[SATS No. MT–044–FOR; Docket ID: OSM– 

2023–0009; S1D1S SS08011000 SX064A000 

231S180110; S2D2S SS08011000 

SX064A000 23XS501520] 

Montana Regulatory Program 

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining 

Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment 

period and opportunity for public 

hearing on proposed amendment. 

SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface 

Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 

(OSMRE), are announcing receipt of 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). Montana 

submitted this proposed amendment to 

us, on its own initiative, following the 

passage of a Montana House Bill during 

the 2023 legislative session. Montana 

proposes several changes to the 

Montana Code Annotated (MCA). 

Montana adds a new section detailing 

the procedures a permittee must follow 

when applying for a ‘‘minor revision’’ to 

its permit. Montana adds several new 

definitions and removes the current 

procedures for a permit revision 

application. Furthermore, Montana adds 

clarifying language regarding ‘‘minor 

revisions’’ of permits. Lastly, Montana 

adds contingencies that will not be 

codified into law but that will apply to 

the proposed amendment: ‘‘Codification 

Instructions’’ and ‘‘Contingent 

Termination.’’ This document gives the 

times and locations that the Montana 

program and this proposed amendment 

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 we will follow for the 

public hearing, if one is requested. 

DATES: We will accept written 

comments on this amendment until 4 

p.m., Mountain Daylight Time (M.D.T.) 

November 22, 2023. If requested, we 

may hold a public hearing or meeting on 

the amendment on November 17, 2023. 

We will accept requests to speak at a 

hearing until 4 p.m., M.D.T. on 

November 7, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by SATS No. MT–042–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–2023–0009. If you would like 

to submit comments, go to https://

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: 

Table of Contents 

I. Background on the Montana Program 

II. Description of the Proposed Amendment 

III. Public Comment Procedures 

IV. Procedural Determinations 

I. Background on the Montana Program 

Subject to OSMRE’s oversight, 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 nonIndian lands within its borders by 

demonstrating that its approved, State 

program includes, among other things, 

State laws and regulations that govern 

surface coal mining and reclamation 

operations in accordance with the Act 

and consistent with the Federal 

regulations. See 30 U.S.C. 1253(a)(1) 

and (7). 

On the basis of these criteria, the 

Secretary of the Interior approved the 

Montana program on October 24, 1980. 

You can find background information 

on the Montana program, including the 

Secretary’s findings, the disposition of 

comments, and conditions of approval 

of the Montana program in the October 

24, 1980, Federal Register (45 FR 

70445). You can also find later actions 

concerning the Montana program and 

program amendments at 30 CFR 926.25. 

II. Description of the Proposed 

Amendment 

By letter dated July 13, 2023 

(Administrative Record No. MT–044– 

01), Montana sent us an amendment to 

its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 

1201 et seq.). We found Montana’s 

proposed amendment to be 

administratively complete on July 14, 

2023. Montana submitted this proposed 

amendment to us, on its own initiative, 

following the passage of Montana House 

Bill 656 (HB 656) during the 2023 

legislative session. 


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72700 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 203 / Monday, October 23, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

Montana proposes several changes to 

title 82, chapter 4, part 2 of the MCA. 

First, Montana proposes to add a new 

section titled ‘‘Minor Revisions— 

application—exemptions,’’ which tells a 

permittee what must be included in 

minor permit revision applications and 

provides a timeline for the Montana 

Department of Environmental Quality’s 

(DEQ) review of said applications. 

Second, Montana proposes to add 

four new entries to 82–4–203 MCA— 

Definitions: (5) Amendment, (28) 

Incidental Boundary Revision, (33) 

Major Revision, and (39) Minor 

Revision. Due to the new definitions, 

Montana also proposes to update the 

numbers listed for existing definitions. 

Third, Montana proposes to amend 

82–4–221 MCA—Mining Permit 

Required. Here, Montana proposes to 

remove language that gives direction to 

a permittee when it files an application 

to revise its permit. It also removes 

language that outlines DEQ’s timeline 

for reviewing minor revision 

applications. 

Fourth, Montana proposes to amend 

82–4–225 MCA—Application for 

increase or reduction in permit area 

amendment. Montana amends the title 

of this section to be ‘‘Application for 

permit amendment.’’ Montana then 

removes two occurrences of the phrase 

‘‘area of land affected,’’ replacing one 

with ‘‘permit area’’ and the other with 

‘‘permit boundary.’’ Montana also 

removes language that allows a 

permittee to apply to ‘‘reduce’’ its 

permit area, and removes language that 

allows an operator to apply, at any time, 

to increase or reduce its area of land 

affected. Lastly, Montana adds ‘‘minor 

revisions’’ to the list of permit revision 

applications that do not follow the same 

procedures as original permit 

applications. 

Finally, HB 656 adds two 

contingencies that affect the amended 

sections above, but that are not codified 

into the MCA. Section 5 of HB 656 

states that the changes proposed 

through HB 656 are intended to be 

codified into title 82, chapter 4, part 2 

of the MCA. Section 6 of HB 656 states 

that HB 656 will terminate if OSMRE 

disapproves the proposed changes made 

in the bill. The date of termination 

would be the date DEQ certifies to the 

Montana code commissioner that 

OSMRE disapproved the proposed 

changes. 

The full text of the program 

amendment is available for you to read 

at the locations listed above under 

ADDRESSES or at www.regulations.gov. 

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. 

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 

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. 

Public Hearing 

If you wish to speak at the public 

hearing, contact the person listed under 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by 4 

p.m., M.D.T. on November 7, 2023. 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 only one person requests an 

opportunity to speak, 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 12866—Regulatory 

Planning and Review, Executive Order 

13563—Improving Regulation and 

Regulatory Review, and 14094— 

Modernizing Regulatory Review 

Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, as 

amended by E.O. 14094, provides that 

the Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs in the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) will review all significant 

rules. Pursuant to OMB guidance, dated 

October 12, 1993, the approval of State 

program and/or AML plan amendments 

is exempted from OMB review under 

Executive Order 12866, as amended by 

E.O. 14094. Executive Order 13563, 

which reaffirms and supplements 

Executive Order 12866, retains this 

exemption. 

Other Laws and Executive Orders 

Affecting Rulemaking 

When a State submits a program 

amendment to OSMRE for review, our 

regulations at 30 CFR 732.17(h) require 

us to publish a notice in the Federal 

Register indicating receipt of the 

proposed amendment, its text or a 

summary of its terms, and an 

opportunity for public comment. 

We conclude our review of the 

proposed amendment after the close of 

the public comment period and 

determine whether the amendment 

should be approved, approved in part, 

or not approved. At that time, we will 

also make the determinations and 

certifications required by the various 

laws and Executive orders governing the 

rulemaking process and include them in 

the final rule. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 203 / Monday, October 23, 2023 / Proposed Rules 72701 

1On October 26, 2001, the President signed into 

law the Uniting and Strengthening America by 

Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept 

and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, Public Law 

107–56 (USA PATRIOT Act). Title III of the USA 

PATRIOT Act amended the anti-money laundering 

(AML) provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to 

promote the prevention, detection, and prosecution 

of international money laundering and the 

financing of terrorism. The BSA, as amended, is the 

popular name for a collection of statutory 

authorities that FinCEN administers that is codified 

at 12 U.S.C. 1829b, 1951–1960 and 31 U.S.C. 5311– 

5314, 5316–5336, and includes other authorities 

reflected in notes thereto. Regulations 

implementing the BSA appear at 31 CFR Chapter 

X. 

2Pursuant to Treasury Order 180–01 (Jan. 14, 

2020), the authority of the Secretary to administer 

the BSA, including, but not limited to, 31 U.S.C. 

5318A, has been delegated to the Director of 

FinCEN. 

3 31 U.S.C. 5318A(b)(1). 

4 31 U.S.C. 5318A(b)(2)–(b)(4). 

5 31 U.S.C. 5318A(b)(5). 

6 31 U.S.C. 5318A(c)(1). 

7 31 U.S.C. 5318A(c)(2)(B). 

8 31 U.S.C. 5318A(a)(4)(A). 

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. 2023–23034 Filed 10–20–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

31 CFR Part 1010 

RIN 1506–AB64 

Proposal of Special Measure 

Regarding Convertible Virtual 

Currency Mixing, as a Class of 

Transactions of Primary Money 

Laundering Concern 

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network (FinCEN), Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: FinCEN is issuing a notice of 

proposed rulemaking (NPRM), pursuant 

to section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, 

that proposes requiring domestic 

financial institutions and domestic 

financial agencies to implement certain 

recordkeeping and reporting 

requirements relating to transactions 

involving convertible virtual currency 

(CVC) mixing. 

DATES: Written comments on the notice 

of proposed rulemaking must be 

submitted on or before January 22, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Comments must be 

submitted by one of the following 

methods: 

• Federal E-rulemaking Portal: 

https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Refer to Docket Number FINCEN–2023– 

0016 in the submission. 

• Mail: Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 

22183. Refer to Docket Number 

FINCEN–2023–0016 in the submission. 

Please submit comments by one 

method only, and note that comments 

submitted in responses to this NPRM 

will become a matter of public record. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The 

FinCEN Regulatory Support Section at 

1–800–767–2825 or electronically at 

frc@fincen.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Statutory Provisions 

Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act 

(section 311), codified at 31 U.S.C. 

5318A, grants the Secretary of the 

Treasury (Secretary) authority, upon 

finding that reasonable grounds exist for 

concluding that one or more classes of 

transactions within or involving a 

jurisdiction outside of the United States 

is of primary money laundering 

concern, to require domestic financial 

institutions and domestic financial 

agencies to take certain ‘‘special 

measures.’’ 1 The authority of the 

Secretary to administer section 311 and 

the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) has been 

delegated to FinCEN.2

The five special measures set out in 

section 311 are prophylactic safeguards 

that may be employed to defend the 

United States financial system from 

money laundering and terrorist 

financing risks. The Secretary may 

impose one or more of these special 

measures in order to protect the U.S. 

financial system from such threats. 

Through special measure one, the 

Secretary may require domestic 

financial institutions and domestic 

financial agencies to maintain records, 

file reports, or both, concerning the 

aggregate amount of transactions or 

individual transactions.3 Through 

special measures two through four, the 

Secretary may impose additional 

recordkeeping, information collection, 

and reporting requirements on covered 

domestic financial institutions and 

domestic financial agencies.4 Through 

special measure five, the Secretary may 

prohibit, or impose conditions upon, the 

opening or maintaining in the United 

States of correspondent or payablethrough accounts for or on behalf of a 

foreign banking institution, if the class 

of transactions found to be of primary 

money laundering concern may be 

conducted through such correspondent 

account or payable-through account.5

Before making a finding that 

reasonable grounds exist for concluding 

that a class of transactions is of primary 

money laundering concern, the 

Secretary is required to consult with 

both the Secretary of State and the 

Attorney General.6 The Secretary is also 

required to consider such information as 

the Secretary determines to be relevant, 

including the following potentially 

relevant factors: 

• The extent to which such class of 

transactions is used to facilitate or 

promote money laundering in or 

through a jurisdiction outside the 

United States, including any money 

laundering activity by organized 

criminal groups, international terrorists, 

or entities involved in the proliferation 

of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) 

or missiles; 

• The extent to which such class of 

transactions is used for legitimate 

business purposes in the jurisdiction; 

and 

• The extent to which such action is 

sufficient to ensure that the purposes of 

section 311 are fulfilled and to guard 

against international money laundering 

and other financial crimes.7

Upon finding that a class of 

transactions is of primary money 

laundering concern, the Secretary may 

require covered financial institutions to 

take one or more special measures. In 

selecting one or more special measures, 

the Secretary ‘‘shall consult with the 

Chairman of the Board of Governors of 

the Federal Reserve System, any other 

appropriate Federal banking agency (as 

defined in section 3 of the Federal 

Deposit Insurance Act), the Secretary of 

State, the Securities and Exchange 

Commission, the Commodity Futures 

Trading Commission, the National 

Credit Union Administration Board, and 

in the sole discretion of the Secretary, 

such other agencies and interested 

parties as the Secretary may find 

appropriate.’’ 8

In addition, the Secretary is required 

to consider the following factors when 

selecting special measures: 

• Whether similar action has been or 

is being taken by other nations or 

multilateral groups; 

• Whether the imposition of any 

particular special measure would create 

a significant competitive disadvantage, 

including any undue cost or burden 

associated with compliance, for 

financial institutions organized or 

licensed in the United States; 

• The extent to which the action or 

the timing of the action would have a 

significant adverse systemic impact on 

the international payment, clearance, 

and settlement system, or on legitimate 


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