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

7393 

Vol. 80, No. 27 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Mine Safety and Health Administration 

30 CFR Part 100 

[Docket No. MSHA–2014–0009] 

RIN 1219–AB72 

Criteria and Procedures for 

Assessment of Civil Penalties 

AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health 

Administration, Labor. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of 

comment period; close of record. 

SUMMARY: This document corrects 

§ 100.3(e) in a proposed rule published 

in the Federal Register on July 31, 2014, 

regarding criteria and procedures for 

assessment of civil penalties. This 

correction also clarifies selected 

proposed provisions in the preamble to 

facilitate public understanding and to 

obtain more useful responses. 

DATES: Post-hearing comments must be 

received or postmarked by midnight 

Eastern Standard Time on March 31, 

2015. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, 

informational materials, and requests to 

speak, identified by RIN 1219–AB72 or 

Docket No. MSHA–2014–0009, by one 

of the following methods: 

• Federal E-Rulemaking Portal: 

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

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Email: zzMSHA-comments@

dol.gov. Include RIN 1219–AB72 or 

Docket No. MSHA–2014–0009 in the 

subject line of the message. 

• Mail: MSHA, Office of Standards, 

Regulations, and Variances, 1100 

Wilson Boulevard, Room 2350, 

Arlington, Virginia 22209–3939. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: MSHA, 

1100 Wilson Boulevard, Room 2350, 

Arlington, Virginia, between 9:00 a.m. 

and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. Sign in at the 

receptionist’s desk on the 21st floor. 

• Fax: 202–693–9441. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

include ‘‘MSHA’’ and ‘‘RIN 1219– 

AB72’’ or ‘‘Docket No. MSHA–2014– 

0009.’’ Do not include personal 

information that you do not want 

publicly disclosed; MSHA will post all 

comments without change to http://

www.regulations.gov and http://

www.msha.gov/currentcomments.asp, 

including any personal information 

provided. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read comments received, go to http://

www.regulations.gov or http://

www.msha.gov/currentcomments.asp. 

To read background documents, go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Review the 

docket in person at MSHA, Office of 

Standards, Regulations, and Variances, 

1100 Wilson Boulevard, Room 2350, 

Arlington, Virginia, between 9:00 a.m. 

and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, 

except Federal Holidays. Sign in at the 

receptionist’s desk on the 21st floor. 

Email notification: To subscribe to 

receive an email notification when 

MSHA publishes rules, program 

information, instructions, and policy, in 

the Federal Register, go to http://

www.msha.gov/subscriptions/

subscribe.aspx. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sheila McConnell, Acting Director, 

Office of Standards, Regulations, and 

Variances, MSHA, at 

mcconnell.sheila.a@dol.gov (email); 

202–693–9440 (voice); or 202–693–9441 

(facsimile). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On July 31, 2014, MSHA published a 

proposed rule (79 FR 44494) to amend 

its civil penalty regulation to simplify 

the criteria, which will promote 

consistency, objectivity, and efficiency 

in the proposed assessment of civil 

penalties and facilitate the resolution of 

enforcement issues. The proposal would 

place a greater emphasis on the more 

serious safety and health conditions and 

provide improved safety and health for 

miners. This proposed rule involves 

changes to MSHA’s regular assessment 

penalty formula, including changes to 

the citation/order form [MSHA Form 

7000–3]. The comment period was 

scheduled to close on September 29, 

2014; however in response to requests 

from the public for additional time to 

prepare comments, MSHA extended the 

comment period until December 3, 

2014. 

On November 7, 2014 (79 FR 66345), 

MSHA announced two public hearings 

which were held on December 4, 2014, 

in Arlington, VA, and on December 9, 

2014 in Denver, Colorado. The posthearing comment period was extended 

until January 9, 2015. 

In response to requests from the 

public, MSHA announced on December 

31, 2014 (79 FR 78749) two additional 

public hearings on the proposed rule. 

The hearings will be held on February 

5, 2015 in Birmingham, Alabama, and 

on February 12, 2015 in Chicago, 

Illinois. The post-hearing comment 

period and rulemaking record will close 

on March 31, 2015. 

II. Request for Comments and Close of 

Record 

MSHA clarifies that under the 

Negligence criterion, MSHA proposed to 

combine the existing categories of Low, 

Moderate, and High Negligence into a 

single category of Negligent. 

Commenters have expressed concern 

that violations assessed as High 

Negligence under the existing rule 

would be assessed as Reckless Disregard 

under the proposed rule, resulting in 

higher penalties. As stated in public 

hearings to date, MSHA intends that 

determinations of Low, Moderate, and 

High Negligence under the existing rule 

would be placed in the proposed 

Negligent category and assigned 15 

penalty points. ‘‘Negligent’’ would mean 

that the operator ‘‘knew or should have 

known of the violative condition or 

practice.’’ The definitions of Reckless 

Disregard and No Negligence (‘‘Not 

Negligent’’ in the proposal) would not 

change. ‘‘Reckless Disregard’’ would 

continue to mean conduct exhibiting 

‘‘the absence of the slightest degree of 

care’’ and is distinguishable from the 

proposed definition of ‘‘Negligent.’’ It is 

also distinguishable from the existing 

definition of ‘‘High Negligence,’’ which 

is that the operator ‘‘knew or should 

have known of the violative condition 

or practice, and there are no mitigating 

circumstances.’’ ‘‘Not Negligent’’ would 

continue to mean that the operator 

‘‘exercised diligence and could not have 

known of the violative condition or 

practice.’’ 

Under the Gravity criterion for 

Likelihood, MSHA clarifies that the 

Agency proposes to combine the 

existing categories of No Likelihood and 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
7394 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 27 / Tuesday, February 10, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

Unlikely to a single category of 

Unlikely. Violations assessed as 

Unlikely under the existing rule would 

remain Unlikely under the proposed 

rule, but would be assigned zero penalty 

points. The existing categories of 

Reasonably Likely and Highly Likely 

would be combined to a single category 

of Reasonably Likely in the proposed 

rule and assigned 14 penalty points. 

MSHA is clarifying that the proposed 

definition of ‘‘Unlikely’’ should read 

‘‘Condition or practice cited has little or 

no likelihood of causing an injury or 

illness.’’ MSHA is also clarifying that 

the proposed definition of ‘‘Reasonably 

Likely’’ should read ‘‘Condition or 

practice cited is likely to cause an injury 

or illness.’’ In addition, the proposed 

definition of ‘‘Occurred’’ should read 

‘‘Condition or practice cited has caused 

an injury or illness.’’ 

MSHA also would like to clarify that 

the Good Faith reduction in penalties 

would not be affected by a request for 

pre-assessment conferences on 

violations. MSHA discussed an 

alternative in the preamble to the 

proposed rule of an additional 20 

percent reduction in the penalty for 

Good Faith if the violation is not 

contested and the penalty is paid before 

it becomes a final order of the 

Commission. Under this alternative, 

only penalties that are either not paid 

within 30 days or are contested would 

be ineligible for the additional 20 

percent Good Faith penalty reduction. 

MSHA clarifies that if an assessment 

grouping includes multiple citations 

and only one is not paid within 30 days 

or is contested, the remaining citations 

would be eligible for the Good Faith 

penalty reduction. 

MSHA solicits comments from the 

mining community on all aspects of the 

proposed rule. Commenters are 

requested to be specific in their 

comments and to provide sufficient 

detail in your responses to enable 

proper Agency review and 

consideration. All comments must be 

received or postmarked by March 31, 

2015. 

III. Correction 

In proposed rule FR Doc. 2014–17935, 

beginning on page 44517 in the issue of 

July 31, 2014, make the following 

corrections. 

PART 100—CRITERIA AND 

PROCEDURES FOR ASSESSMENT OF 

CIVIL PENALTIES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 100 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 30 U.S.C. 815, 820, 957. 

■ 2. Amend § 100.3 paragraph (e) by 

revising the first two sentences in the 

introductory paragraph, Table XI, and 

the heading for the first column in 

Tables XII and XIII to read as follows: 

§ 100.3 Determination of penalty amount; 

regular assessment. 

* * * * * 

(e) Gravity. Gravity is an evaluation of 

the seriousness of the violation. Gravity 

is determined by the likelihood of an 

injury or illness, the severity of the 

anticipated or occurred injury or illness, 

and whether or not persons are 

potentially affected by the condition or 

practice cited. * * * 

TABLE XI—GRAVITY: LIKELIHOOD

Likelihood of occurrence Penalty 

points 

Unlikely: Condition or practice 

cited has little or no likelihood of causing an injury or 

illness. ................................... 0 

Reasonably Likely: Condition or 

practice cited is likely to 

cause an injury or illness ...... 14 

Occurred: Condition or practice 

cited has caused an injury or 

illness. ................................... 25 

TABLE XII—GRAVITY: SEVERITY

Severity of anticipated or 

occurred injury or illness 

Penalty 

points 

* * * .......................................... * * * 

* * * .......................................... * * * 

* * * .......................................... * * * 

TABLE XIII–GRAVITY: PERSONS

POTENTIALLY AFFECTED

Persons potentially affected by 

the condition or practice cited 

Penalty 

points 

* * * .......................................... * * * 

* * * .......................................... * * * 

* * * * * 

Dated: February 3, 2015. 

Joseph A. Main, 

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety 

and Health. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02399 Filed 2–9–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–43–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

33 CFR Part 165 

[Docket Number USCG–2014–1019] 

RIN 1625–AA00 

Safety Zone; Memphis Port Area 

Multiagency Mass Rescue Operations 

and Medical Surge Full-Scale Exercise, 

Lower Mississippi River, Mile Marker, 

(MM) 745.0 to (MM) 736.0, Memphis, TN 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is proposing 

to establish a temporary Safety Zone for 

all waters of the Lower Mississippi 

River, from MM 745.0 to MM 736.0. 

This safety zone is needed to protect 

persons and vessels from the potential 

safety hazards associated with a fullscale multiagency mass rescue exercise. 

Entry into this zone is prohibited to all 

vessels, mariners, and persons unless 

specifically authorized by the Captain of 

the Port (COTP), Lower Mississippi 

River or a designated representative. 

DATES: Comments and related material 

must be received by the Coast Guard on 

or before February 25, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by docket number using any 

one of the following methods: 

(1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

(2) Fax: 202–493–2251. 

(3) Mail or Delivery: Docket 

Management Facility (M–30), U.S. 

Department of Transportation, West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. Deliveries 

accepted between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except federal 

holidays. The telephone number is 202– 

366–9329. See the ‘‘Public Participation 

and Request for Comments’’ portion of 

the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

below for further instructions on 

submitting comments. To avoid 

duplication, please use only one of 

these three methods. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If 

you have questions on this rule, call or 

email LT Tyrone Conner, Sector Lower 

Mississippi River Waterways 

Management Division, U.S. Coast 

Guard; telephone (901) 521–4725, email 

Tyrone.L.Conner@uscg.mil. If you have 

questions on viewing or submitting 

material to the docket, call Cheryl F. 

Collins, Program Manager, Docket 

Operations, telephone (202) 366–9826. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 


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