Ohio Regulatory Program

Published date28 April 2021
Citation86 FR 22370
Record Number2021-08736
SectionProposed rules
CourtSurface Mining Reclamation And Enforcement Office
Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 80 (Wednesday, April 28, 2021)
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 28, 2021)]
                [Proposed Rules]
                [Pages 22370-22372]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2021-08736]
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                DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
                Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
                30 CFR Part 935
                [SATS No. OH-263-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2021-0002; S1D1S SS08011000
                SX064A000 212S180110 S2D2S SS08011000 SX064A000 21XS501520]
                Ohio 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.
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                SUMMARY: We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
                (OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Ohio
                regulatory program (Ohio program) under the Surface Mining Control and
                Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Ohio seeks to amend its
                regulatory program in order to remove the requirement that a resident
                agent's tax ID number or the last four digits of a resident agent's
                social security number must be provided in a coal mining application
                and to make a non-substantive administrative change to a paragraph
                reference.
                 This document gives notice of the times when and locations where
                the Ohio program and this proposed Ohio program amendment will be
                available for public 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 4:00
                p.m., Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), May 28, 2021. If requested, we will
                hold a public hearing on the amendment on May 24, 2021. We will accept
                requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., EDT on May 13, 2021.
                ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. OH-263-FOR,
                by any of the following methods:
                 Mail/Hand Delivery: Mr. Eric Cavazza, Field Office
                Director, Pittsburgh Field Office, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation
                and Enforcement, 3 Parkway Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15220.
                 Fax: (412) 937-2177.
                 Federal eRulemaking Portal: The amendment has been
                assigned Docket ID: OSM-2021-0002. If you would like to submit comments
                go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for
                submitting comments.
                 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 Ohio
                program, this amendment, a listing of any scheduled public hearings,
                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 Pittsburgh Field Office or
                the full text of the program amendment is available for you to read at
                www.regulations.gov.
                Mr. Eric Cavazza, Field Office Director, Pittsburgh Field Office,
                Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 3 Parkway Center,
                Pittsburgh, PA 15220, Telephone: (412) 937-2827, Email:
                [email protected]
                 In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular
                business hours at the following location:
                Mr. Dave Crow, Chief, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of
                Mineral Resources Management, 2045 Morse Road, Building H2, Telephone:
                (614) 265-1020, Email: [email protected]
                FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Eric Cavazza, Field Office
                Director, Pittsburgh Field Office, 3 Parkway Center, Pittsburgh, PA
                15220. Telephone: (412) 937-2827, Email: [email protected].
                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
                I. Background on the Ohio Program
                II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
                III. Public Comment Procedures
                IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
                I. Background on the Ohio Program
                 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
                [[Page 22371]]
                and non-Indian lands within its borders by demonstrating that its
                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 conditionally approved the Ohio program on August 16,
                1982. You can find background information on the Ohio program,
                including the Secretary's findings, the disposition of comments, and
                conditions of approval of the Ohio program in the August 10, 1982,
                Federal Register (47 FR 34717). You can also find later actions
                concerning the Ohio program and program amendments at 30 CFR 935.10,
                State Regulatory Program Approval; and 935.11, Conditions of State
                Regulatory Program Approval; and 935.15, Approval of Ohio Regulatory
                Program Amendments.
                II. Description of the Proposed Amendment
                 By letter dated January 8, 2021, Ohio sent us a proposed amendment
                to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). Submitted pursuant
                to 30 CFR 732.17, the proposed amendment would revise Ohio
                Administrative Code (OAC) 1513-4-03 and 1501:13-5-01.
                 Ohio is proposing to amend its regulations at OAC 1501:13-4-
                03(B)(1) and (B)(4) to remove the requirement that a resident agent's
                tax ID number or the last four digits of a resident agent's social
                security number (SSN) must be provided in a coal mining application
                because this information is not necessary for the Ohio Department of
                Natural Resources' purposes. Resident agents were removed from the list
                of persons who must provide this information in section (B)(1).
                However, section (B)(1) also includes requirements regarding the
                submission of names, addresses and telephone numbers, and this
                information will still be required for the applicant's resident agent.
                Therefore, section (B)(4) was amended to require that each application
                other than a single proprietorship contain the name, address, and
                telephone numbers of the resident agent of the applicant who will
                accept service of process.
                 Ohio is also proposing to make a non-substantive change to a
                reference contained within OAC 1501:13-5-01(E)(6). In response to a
                rule passed by Ohio's state legislature (HB64) on June 28, 2018, a new
                paragraph (D)(2) was added to OAC 1501:13-4-03. This addition is the
                subject of a program amendment (OH-260-FOR), which is pending approval
                with OSMRE. If approved by OSMRE, the provision currently known as
                1501:13-4-03(D)(2) will become 1501:13-4-03(D)(3). In anticipation of
                this approval and subsequent renumbering, Ohio is proposing to revise
                an existing reference to the renumbered section that is located in OAC
                1501:13-5-01(E)(6).
                 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.
                Electric 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 4:00 p.m., EDT on May
                13, 2021. 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. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
                Executive Order 12866--Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive
                Order 13563--Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
                 Executive Order 12866 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 amendments is exempted from OMB
                review under Executive Order 12866. 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
                [[Page 22372]]
                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.
                List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 935
                 Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.
                Thomas D. Shope,
                Regional Director, North Atlantic--Appalachian Region.
                [FR Doc. 2021-08736 Filed 4-27-21; 8:45 am]
                BILLING CODE 4310-05-P
                

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