Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 43 / Monday, March 5, 2001 / Proposed Rules 13277

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 917

Intergovernmental relations, Surface

mining, Underground mining.

Dated: February 21, 2001.

Allen D. Klein,

Regional Director, Appalachian Regional

Coordinating Center.

[FR Doc. 01–5225 Filed 3–2–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–05–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation

and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 938

[PA–133–FOR]

Pennsylvania Regulatory Program

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining

Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM),

Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment

period and opportunity for public

hearing.

SUMMARY: OSM is announcing receipt of

a proposed amendment to the

Pennsylvania regulatory program

(Pennsylvania program) under the

Surface Mining Control and

Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). The

proposed amendment references

Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal mining

regulations when describing conditions

for meeting Stage 2 bond release where

prime farmlands were present prior to

mining. The amendment is intended to

satisfy the conditions of the required

regulatory program amendment at 30

CFR 938.16(p) and make the

Pennsylvania program consistent with

the corresponding federal regulations.

DATES: If you submit written comments,

they must be received by 4:00 p.m.

(local time), April 4, 2001. If requested,

a public hearing on the proposed

amendment will be held on March 30,

2001. Requests to speak at the hearing

must be received by 4:00 p.m. (local

time), on March 20, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand-deliver your

written comments and requests to speak

at the hearing to Mr. Robert J. Biggi, at

the address listed below.

You may review copies of the

Pennsylvania program, the proposed

amendment, a listing of any scheduled

public hearings, and all written

comments received in response to this

document at the addresses listed below

during normal business hours, Monday

through Friday, excluding holidays. You

may receive one free copy of the

proposed amendment by contacting

OSM’s Harrisburg Field Office.

Robert J. Biggi, Director, Office of

Surface Mining Reclamation and

Enforcement, Harrisburg Field Office,

Harrisburg Transportation Center,

Third Floor, Suite 3C, 4th and Market

Streets, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

17101, Telephone: (717) 782–4036, email: bbiggi@osmre.gov.

Pennsylvania Department of

Environmental Protection, Bureau of

Mining and Reclamation, Rachel

Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box

8461, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

17105–8461, Telephone: (717) 787–

5103.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robert J. Biggi, Director, Harrisburg

Field Office, Telephone: (717) 782–

4036.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on the Pennsylvania

Program

On July 31, 1982, the Secretary of the

Interior conditionally approved the

Pennsylvania program. You can find

background information on the

Pennsylvania program, including the

Secretary’s findings, the disposition of

comments, and the conditions of the

approval in the July 31, 1982, Federal

Register (47 FR 33050). You can find

subsequent actions concerning the

conditions of approval and program

amendments at 30 CFR 938.11, 938.12,

938.15 and 938.16.

II. Description of the Proposed

Amendment

By letter dated January 3, 2001,

(Administrative Record No. PA–875.00),

Pennsylvania submitted a proposed

amendment to its program at 25 PA

Code 86.174(b)(3). The full text of this

section as proposed is:

If prime farmlands are present, the soil

productivity has been returned to the

required level when compared with

nonmined prime farmland in the

surrounding area, to be determined from the

soil survey performed under the reclamation

plan approved in Chapters 87–90.

This amendment was submitted to

satisfy a required regulatory program

amendment at 30 CFR 938.16(p). The

Director required this amendment in the

May 31, 1991, Federal Register (56 FR

24687) as our review of Pennsylvania’s

proposed amendment submitted on

December 22, 1989 (Administrative

Record Number PA 790.00) showed that

Pennsylvania had inadvertently omitted

the cross reference to Chapter 88 in

section 86.174(b)(3) dealing with prime

farmlands. If prime farmlands are

present, the soil productivity must be

returned to the required level of yield

when compared with nonmined prime

farmland in the surrounding area as

determined from the soil survey

performed under the approved

reclamation plan prior to approval for

Stage II bond release. Through the

required amendment, Pennsylvania was

to amend its program to include the

omitted cross reference to Chapter 88. In

the current amendment, Pennsylvania

believes it addressed the omitted cross

reference by inserting the reference to

Chapters 87–90 at 25 Pa Code

86.174(b)(3).

III. Public Comment Procedures

In accordance with the provisions of

30 CFR 732.17(h), OSM is seeking

comments on whether the proposed

amendment satisfies the applicable

program approval criteria of 30 CFR

732.15. If the amendment is deemed

adequate, it will become part of the

Pennsylvania program.

Written Comments: If you submit

written or electronic comments on the

proposed rule during the 30-day

comment period, they should be

specific, should be confined to issues

pertinent to the notice, and should

explain the reason for your

recommendation(s). We may not be able

to consider or include in the

Administrative Record comments

delivered to an address other than the

one listed above (see ADDRESSES).

Electronic Comments: Please submit

Internet comments as an ASCII,

WordPerfect, or Word file avoiding the

use of special characters and any form

of encryption. Please also include ‘‘Attn:

SPATS NO. PA–133–FOR’’ and your

name and return address in your

Internet message. If you do not receive

a confirmation that we have received

your Internet message, contact the

Harrisburg Field Office at (717) 782–

4036.

Availability of Comments: Our

practice is to make comments, including

names and home addresses of

respondents, available for public review

during regular business hours at the

OSM Administrative Record Room (see

ADDRESSES). Individual respondents

may request that we withhold their

home address from the rulemaking

13278 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 43 / Monday, March 5, 2001 / Proposed Rules

record, which we will honor to the

extent allowable by law. There also may

be circumstances in which we would

withhold from the rulemaking record a

respondent’s identity, as allowable by

law. If you wish us to withhold your

name and/or address, you must state

this prominently at the beginning of

your comment. However, we will not

consider anonymous comments. We

will make all submissions from

organizations or businesses, and from

individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of

organizations or businesses, available

for public inspection in their entirety.

Public Hearing: If you wish to speak

at the public hearing, you should

contact the person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by 4:00

p.m. (local time), on March 20, 2001.

The location and time of the hearing

will be arranged with those persons

requesting the hearing. If no one

requests an opportunity to speak at the

public hearing, the hearing will not be

held.

To assist the transcriber and ensure an

accurate record, we request, if possible,

that each person who testifies at a

public hearing provide us with a written

copy of his or her testimony. The public

hearing will continue on the specified

date until all persons scheduled to

speak have been 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 all persons scheduled to

speak and persons present in the

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.

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

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 43 / Monday, March 5, 2001 / Proposed Rules 13279

on any governmental entity or the

private sector.

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 938

Intergovernmental relations, Surface

mining, Underground mining.

Dated: February 21, 2001.

Allen D. Klein,

Regional Director, Appalachian Regional

Coordinating Center.

[FR Doc. 01–5226 Filed 3–2–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–05–P

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 51

[CC Docket No. 96–98; DA 01–501]

Common Carrier Bureau Grants Motion

for Limited Extension of Time for Filing

Comments and Reply Comments on

the Use of Unbundled Network

Elements To Provide Exchange Access

Service

AGENCY: Federal Communications

Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: The Commission issued a

public notice granting a limited

extension of time for filing comments

and reply comments on issues raised in

conjunction with the use of unbundled

network elements to provide exchange

access service.

DATES: Comments are due April 5, 2001

and reply comments are due April 30,

2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jodie Donovan-May or Tom Navin,

Attorney Advisors, Policy and Program

Planning Division, Common Carrier

Bureau, (202) 418–1580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a

summary of the Commission’s Public

Notice regarding CC Docket No. 96–98,

released on February 23, 2001. The

complete text of this document is

available for inspection and copying

during normal business hours in the

FCC Reference Information Center,

Courtyard Level, 445 12th Street, SW.,

Washington, DC, and also may be

purchased from the Commission’s copy

contractor, International Transcription

Services (ITS, Inc.), CY–B400, 445 12th

Street, SW., Washington, DC. It is also

available on the Commission’s website

at http://www.fcc.gov.

Synopsis of Public Notice

1. On January 24, 2001, the

Commission released a Public Notice in

CC Docket No. 96–98 inviting comment

on issues raised in conjunction with the

use of unbundled network elements to

provide exchange access service. Based

on publication of the Public Notice in

the Federal Register (66 FR 8555)

parties were required to file comments

on March 5, 2001 and reply comments

on March 19, 2001. On February 22,

2001, BellSouth, SBC, Qwest and

Verizon (Movants) filed a motion to

extend the dates for filing comments to

April 5, 2001 and reply comments to

April 30, 2001 in order to submit joint

factual data and economic analysis

addressing alternatives to incumbent

facilities and the degree to which

carriers are using those alternatives.

They also state that an extension is

necessary to account for substantial

market developments over the last year,

and that an extension will speed

resolution of this proceeding by

avoiding piecemeal submissions of data

and arguments.

2. Although requests for extension of

time are not routinely granted, in this

instance, the Commission finds that the

Movants have shown good cause for an

extension of time in this proceeding.

This matter shall continue to be treated

as a ‘‘permit-but disclose’’ proceeding in

accordance with the Commission’s ex

parte rules. All other requirements

discussed in the January 24, 2001 Public

Notice remain in effect.

Federal Communications Commission.

Michelle Carey,

Chief, Policy and Program Planning Division,

Common Carrier Bureau.

[FR Doc. 01–5227 Filed 3–2–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–U

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Parts 600 and 648

[Docket No. 010220043–1043–01; I.D.

120400D]

RIN 0648–AN65

Foreign Fishing and Fisheries of the

Northeastern United States; Proposed

2001 Specifications for the Atlantic

Herring Fishery and Foreign Fishing

Restrictions

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed 2001 specifications for

the Atlantic herring fishery; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes specifications

for the 2001 Atlantic herring fishery.

The intent of the specifications is to

conserve and manage the herring

resource and provide for sustainable

fisheries, and to comply with the

provisions in the Fishery Management

Plan for Atlantic Herring (FMP), which

require annual specifications for the

fishery.

DATES: Comments must be received no

later than 5 p.m., Eastern Standard

Time, on April 4, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Copies of supporting

documents, including the

Environmental Assessment, Regulatory

Impact Review, Initial Regulatory

Flexibility Analysis (EA/RIR/IRFA), and

the Essential Fish Habitat Assessment

are available from Patricia A. Kurkul,

Regional Administrator, Northeast

Region, National Marine Fisheries

Service, One Blackburn Drive,

Gloucester, MA 01930–2298. The EA/

RIR/IRFA is accessible via the Internet

at http:/www.nero.gov/ro/doc/nr.htm.

Written comments on the proposed

specifications should be sent to the

Regional Administrator at the above

address. Mark on the outside of the

envelope: ‘‘Comments-2001 Herring

Specifications.’’ Send comments on any

ambiguity or unnecessary complexity

arising from the language used in these

proposed specifications to the Regional

Administrator. Comments may also be

sent via facsimile (fax) to (978) 281–

9371. Comments will not be accepted if

submitted via e-mail or the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Myles Raizin, Fishery Policy Analyst,

(978) 281–9104, e-mail at

M.A.Raizin@noaa.gov, fax at (978) 281–

9135.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulations implementing the FMP

appear at 50 CFR part 648, subpart K.

Regulations governing foreign fishing

appear at 50 CFR part 600, subpart F.

The FMP requires the New England

Fishery Management Council’s

(Council) Atlantic Herring Plan

Development Team (PDT) to meet at

least annually, no later than July each

year, with the Atlantic States Marine

Fisheries Commission’s (Commission)

Atlantic Herring Plan Review Team

(PRT) to develop and recommend the

following specifications for

consideration by the Council’s Atlantic

Herring Oversight Committee:

Allowable biological catch (ABC),

optimum yield (OY), domestic annual

harvest (DAH), domestic annual

processing (DAP), total foreign

processing (JVPt), joint venture

processing (JVP), internal waters

processing (IWP), U.S. at-sea processing

(USAP), border transfer (BT), total

allowable level of foreign fishing