Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 9 / Friday, January 12, 2001 / Proposed Rules 2869

audience who wish to speak have been

heard.

Any disabled individual who has

need for a special accommodation to

attend a public hearing should contact

the individual listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT.

Public Meeting

If only one person requests an

opportunity to speak at a hearing, a

public meeting, rather than a public

hearing, may be held. If you wish to

meet with OSM representatives to

discuss the proposed amendment, you

may request a meeting by contacting the

person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. All such meetings

will be open to the public and, if

possible, notices of meetings will be

posted at the locations listed under

ADDRESSES. A written summary of each

meeting will be made a part of the

Administrative Record.

IV. Procedural Determinations

Executive Order 12866—Regulatory

Planning and Review

This rule is exempted from review by

the Office of Management and Budget

under Executive Order 12866.

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 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 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, to the extent

allowed by law, 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

since each such 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

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.

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 (NEPA) (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 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 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

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.

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 regulation.

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.

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 948

Intergovernmental relations, Surface

mining, Underground mining.

Dated: January 5, 2001.

Michael K. Robinson,

Acting Regional Director, Appalachian

Regional Coordinating Center.

[FR Doc. 01–1059 Filed 1–11–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–05–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

40 CFR Part 2

[FRL–6933–1]

Public Information and Confidentiality:

Rescheduling of a PreviouslyAnnounced Public Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: EPA is rescheduling the

public meeting on its advance notice of

proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) and

potential revision of the confidential

business information (CBI) regulations

scheduled for January 18, 2001, as

advertised in the December 21, 2000

Federal Register (65 FR 80394).

DATES: This meeting has been

rescheduled for Wednesday, March 7,

2001 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the EPA

Auditorium, 401 M Street, SW.,

Washington, DC. The meeting has been

rescheduled based on requests from the

public to allow additional time for

stakeholder participation and to avoid

2870 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 9 / Friday, January 12, 2001 / Proposed Rules

potential travel difficulties in the

Washington, D.C. area the week of

January 20, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Alan Margolis, Office of Information

Collection, Office of Environmental

Information, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania

Ave., NW, Mail Code 2822, Washington,

DC 20460; Phone, 202–260–9329; Fax,

202–401–4544; Email,

margolis.alan@epa.gov.

Dated: January 8, 2001.

Mark Luttner,

Director, Office of Information Collection.

[FR Doc. 01–1178 Filed 1–11–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs

Administration

49 CFR Parts 174 and 177

[Docket No. RSPA–01–8587; Notice No. 01–

02]

Regulatory Flexibility Act Section 610

and Plain Language Reviews

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs

Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of regulatory review;

request for comments.

SUMMARY: RSPA requests comments on

the economic impact of its regulations

on small entities. As required by the

Regulatory Flexibility Act and as

published in DOT’s Semi-Annual

Regulatory Agenda, we are analyzing

the rules on Carriage by Rail and

Carriage by Public Highway to identify

rules that may have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities. We also

request comments on ways to make

these regulations easier to read and

understand.

DATES: Comments must be received by

April 12, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Address written comments

to the Dockets Management System,

U.S. Department of Transportation,

Room PL–401, 400 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20590–0001. Identify

the docket number RSPA–99–5143 at

the beginning of your comments and

submit two copies. If you want to

receive confirmation of receipt of your

comments, include a self-addressed,

stamped postcard. You can also submit

comments by e-mail by accessing the

Dockets Management System on the

Internet at ‘‘http://dms.dot.gov’’ or by

fax to (202) 366–3753.

The Dockets Management System is

located on the Plaza Level of the Nassif

Building at the Department of

Transportation at the above address.

You can review public dockets there

between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,

Monday through Friday, except Federal

holidays. In addition, you can review

comments by accessing the Dockets

Management System at ‘‘http://

dms.dot.gov.’’

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan Gorsky, Office of Hazardous

Materials Standards, Research and

Special Programs Administration, U.S.

Department of Transportation,

telephone (202) 366–8553; or Donna

O’Berry, Office of Chief Counsel,

Research and Special Programs

Administration, U.S. Department of

Transportation, telephone (202) 366–

4400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Section 610 of the Regulatory

Flexibility Act

A. Background and Purpose

Section 610 of the Regulatory

Flexibility Act of 1980 (Public Law 96–

354), as amended by the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of

1996 (Public Law 104–121), requires

agencies to conduct periodic reviews of

rules that have a significant economic

impact on a substantial number of small

business entities. The purpose of the

review is to determine whether such

rules should be continued without

change, amended, or rescinded,

consistent with the objectives of

applicable statutes, to minimize any

significant economic impact of the rules

on a substantial number of such small

entities.

B. Review Schedule

The Department of Transportation

(DOT) published its Semiannual

Regulatory Agenda on November 30,

2000, listing in Appendix D (65 FR

74138) those regulations that each

operating administration will review

under section 610 during the next 12

months. Appendix D also contains

DOT’s 10-year review plan for all of its

existing regulations.

The Research and Special Programs

Administration (RSPA, we) has divided

its Hazardous Materials Regulations

(HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171–180) into 10

groups by subject area. Each group will

be reviewed once every 10 years,

undergoing a two-stage process—an

Analysis Year and Section 610 Review

Year. For purposes of these reviews, a

year will coincide with the fall-to-fall

publication schedule of the Semiannual

Regulatory Agenda. Thus, Year 1 began

in the fall of 1998 and ended in the fall

of 1999; Year 2 began in the fall of 1999

and ended in the fall of 2000; and so on.

During the Analysis Year, we will

analyze each of the rules in a given

year’s group to determine whether any

rule has a significant impact on a

substantial number of small entities

and, thus, requires review in accordance

with section 610 of the Regulatory

Flexibility Act. In each fall’s Regulatory

Agenda, we will publish the results of

the analyses we completed during the

previous year. For rules that have a

negative finding, we will provide a short

explanation. For parts, subparts, or

other discrete sections of rules that do

have a significant impact on a

substantial number of small entities, we

will announce that we will be

conducting a formal section 610 review

during the following 12 months.

The section 610 review will

determine whether a specific rule

should be revised or revoked to lessen

its impact on small entities. We will

consider: (1) the continued need for the

rule; (2) the nature of complaints or

comments received from the public; (3)

the complexity of the rule; (4) the extent

to which the rule overlaps, duplicates,

or conflicts with other federal rules or

with state or local government rules;

and (5) the length of time since the rule

has been evaluated or the degree to

which technology, economic conditions,

or other factors have changed in the area

affected by the rule. At the end of the

Review Year, we will publish the results

of our review.

The following table shows the 10-year

analysis and review schedule:

RSPA SECTION 610 REVIEW PLAN

[1999–2009]

Title Regulation Analysis

year Review year

Incident reports ............................................................................................... §§ 171.15 and 171.16 ........................ 1998 N/A

Hazmat safety procedures .............................................................................. Parts 106 and 107 ............................. 1999 N/A