Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2000/12/08/00-31324/pennsylvania-regulatory-program
Timestamp: 2018-04-25 05:38:44
Document Index: 547268647

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A Proposed Rule by the Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Office on 12/08/2000
Written comments must be received on or before 4:00 p.m. (local time), on December 26, 2000.
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/00-31324 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/00-31324
OSM is reopening the public comment period on Pennsylvania's responses to comments we made in regard to a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania permanent regulatory program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1997 (SMCRA). The amendment, submitted on July 29, 1998, (Administrative Record No. PA-841.07), proposed changes to the Pennsylvania program with regard to the mine subsidence control, subsidence damage repair or replacement, and water supply replacement provisions of SMCRA. The amendment submission included changes to the Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act (BMSLCA) made through Act 54 and changes to regulations at 25 PA Code Chapter 89. After reviewing the amendment, we sent two letters to Pennsylvania requesting clarification of numerous issues. The letters were sent on June 21, 1999, (Administrative record number PA 841.32) and June 23, 2000, (Administrative record number PA 841.40). Pennsylvania responded to the first letter on June 1, 2000, (Administrative record number PA Start Printed Page 76955841.39) and to the second on July 14, 2000, (Administrative record number PA 841.41). We are reopening the comment period to allow public input into Pennsylvania's responses to the two letters.
Mail, hand-deliver or e-mail your written comments to Mr. Robert J. Biggi, Director, Harrisburg Field Office, at the address listed below.
You may review copies of the Pennsylvania program, the proposed amendment, 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.
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Harrisburg Field Office, Third Floor, Suite 3C, Harrisburg Transportation Center, 415 Market Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101, Telephone: (717) 782-4036, e-mail: 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
Robert J. Biggi, Director, Harrisburg Field Office, Telephone: (717) 782-4036.
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). Subsequent actions concerning the Pennsylvania program and previous amendments are codified at 30 CFR 938.11, 938.12, 938.15 and 938.16.
By letter dated July 29, 1998 (Administrative Record Number PA 841.07), the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (PADEP) submitted an amendment to its approved permanent regulatory program pursuant to the Federal regulations at 30 CFR 732.17(b).
The proposed rulemaking was published in the August 25, 1998, Federal Register (63 FR 45199). The first public comment period closed on September 24, 1998. In response to requests from several people, the comment period was reopened on September 25, 1998, (63 FR 51324).
This second comment period closed on October 19, 1998. A public hearing was held on October 13, 1998, at Washington, Pennsylvania (Administrative record numbers PA 841.21, 841.22, and 841.31). After reviewing the public comments and the information received at the public hearing and conducting our own review of the amendment, we sent Pennsylvania the two letters described above to request clarification of numerous issues. The sections of the BMSLCA that we asked Pennsylvania for additional information on are: 5.1(a)(1)—(3), 5.1(b), 5.2(a)(1) and (2), 5.2(a)(2), 5.2(b)(2), 5.2(d), 5.2(e)(1)—(3), 5.2(g), 5.2(g)(1), 5.2(h), 5.2(i), 5.2(k), 5.3(a), 5.3(c), 5.4(a)(1), 5.4(a)(2), 5.4(a)(3), 5.4(c), 5.5(a), 5.5(b), 5.5(c), 5.5(e), 5.5(g), 5.6(a), 5.6(c), and 9.1(b).
The sections of Pennsylvania's regulations at 25 PA Code Chapter 89 that we asked Pennsylvania for additional information on are: § 89.5, definitions of the terms, “de minimis cost increase,” “permanently affixed appurtenant structures,” and “public buildings and facilities,” § 89.35, § 89.67(b), § 89.141(d), § 89.141(d)(2), § 89.141(d)(3), § 89.141(d)(6), § 89.141(d)(9), § 89.142a(a)(3), § 89.142a(b)(1), § 89.142a(b)(2), § 89.142a(c)(2), § 89.142a(c)(3), § 89.142a(e), § 89.142a(f)(1), § 89.142a(f)(2), § 89.142a(g)(2)—(4), § 89.143a(b), § 89.145a(a)(1), § 89.145a(a)(3), § 89.145a(b), § 89.145a(d), § 89.145a(e), § 89.145a(e)(2), § 89.145a(f)(1), § 89.145a(f)(3), § 89.146a(a), § 89.146a(b)(4), § 89.152(b), § 89.154(a), § 89.154(a)(5) and (6).
The full text of our letters and Pennsylvania's responses can be obtained at the Harrisburg Field Office at the address listed above.
In accordance with the provisions of 30 CFR 732.17(h), OSM is seeking comments only on Pennsylvania's responses to our two letters.
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-122-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.
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 Start Printed Page 76956operations.” 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.
[FR Doc. 00-31324 Filed 12-7-00; 8:45 am]