Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Office December 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are approving two proposed amendments to the West Virginia regulatory program related to the State's cumulative hydrologic impact assessment (CHIA) process and regarding material damage to the hydrologic balance. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) proposed to delete its existing definition of ``cumulative impact.'' The WVDEP also proposed to amend its regulation outlining CHIA requirements by adding a sentence defining ``material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area.'' We are approving both proposed amendments.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), are providing opportunity for the public to comment on a request for a determination of valid existing rights (VER) to use an existing Forest Service road as a coal mine access and haul road across Federal lands within the boundaries of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Leslie County, Kentucky. The remainder of the mine would be located on privately owned land.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), are amending our regulations concerning stream buffer zones, stream-channel diversions, siltation structures, impoundments, excess spoil, and coal mine waste. Among other things, this rule requires that surface coal mining operations be designed to minimize the creation of excess spoil and the adverse environmental impacts of fills constructed to dispose of excess spoil and coal mine waste. We have revised the stream buffer zone rule to more closely reflect the underlying provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA), to adopt related permit application requirements, to require that disturbance of perennial and intermittent streams and their buffer zones generally be avoided unless it is not reasonably possible to do so, to identify exceptions to the requirement to maintain an undisturbed buffer zone for perennial and intermittent streams, and to clarify the relationship between SMCRA and the Clean Water Act.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) is announcing that the information collection request for 30 CFR Part 772Requirements for Coal Exploration has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This information collection request describes the nature of the information collection and the expected burden and cost for 30 CFR Part 772.

We are approving an amendment to the Pennsylvania regulatory program (the Pennsylvania program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). The revisions relate to blasting for the development of shafts for underground mines and to blasting regulations in 25 Pa. Code Chapters 87, 88, 89, and 210.