Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.
Proposed rule.
We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the West Virginia regulatory program (hereinafter, the West Virginia program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) seeks to amend its regulatory provisions related to entities authorized to issue surety bonds and the repair and compensation of damage resulting from subsidence.
This document gives the times and locations that the West Virginia program and this proposed amendment to that program are available for your 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.
We will accept written comments on this amendment until 4:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (e.s.t.), January 15, 2021. If requested, we may hold a public hearing or meeting on the amendment on January 11, 2021. We will accept requests to speak at a hearing until 4:00 p.m., e.s.t. on December 31, 2020.
You may submit comments, identified by SATS No. WV–127–FOR, by any of the following methods:
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Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Director, Charleston Field Office. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 1027 Virginia Street East, Charleston, West Virginia 25301, Telephone: (304) 347–7158, Email:
In addition, you may review a copy of the amendment during regular business hours at the following location: West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 601 57th Street SE, Charleston, West Virginia 25304, Telephone: (304) 926–0490.
Mr. Ben Owens, Acting Director, Charleston Field Office, Telephone: (304) 347–7158. Email:
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 and non-Indian lands within its borders by demonstrating that its approved State 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.
By letter dated May 5, 2020 (Administrative Record No. 1640), West Virginia sent us an amendment to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201
House Bill 4217 (HB 4217) was signed by the Governor on March 25, 2020. HB 4217 proposes to modify language relating to companies that execute surety bonds. HB 4217 also proposes to modify language relating to owner compensation of material damage from subsidence to an owner's structures or facilities.
West Virginia seeks to revise its language relating to the existing requirements for any company that executes surety bonds in the State to be included on the United States Department of the Treasury's listing of approved sureties or to be diligently pursuing such listing. The proposed revision would remove the requirement to be diligently pursuing listing on the Treasury Department's listing of approved sureties for any surety company that submits proof to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection that it holds a valid license issued by the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner, and agrees to submit on at least a quarterly basis a certificate of good standing from the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner and such other evidence from the insurance regulator of its domiciliary state, if other than West Virginia, demonstrating that it is also in good standing in that state.
West Virginia seeks to revise its language relating to compensating owners for material damage to any structures or facilities resulting from subsidence. The proposal alters the existing requirement of either repairing the damage or compensating the owner for the full amount of diminution in value resulting from the subsidence, by eliminating the option to repair and replacing that option with compensating the owner in the amount of the cost to repair the damage not to exceed one hundred and twenty percent of the premining value of the structure or facility. The proposal clarifies that the election of options, for either compensation in the amount of the repair or compensation in the full amount of diminution in value resulting from the subsidence, is at the owner's election. The proposal also inserts new language clarifying that this section does not create additional property rights, nor can it be construed as vesting in the secretary the jurisdiction to adjudicate property rights disputes.
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.
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
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.
If you wish to speak at the public hearing, contact the person listed under
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.
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
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 and is exempted from OMB review under Executive Order 12866. Executive Order 13563, which reaffirms and supplements Executive Order 12866, retains this exemption.
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
Intergovernmental relations, Surface mining, Underground mining.