Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement June 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

OSM is announcing the receipt of a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania regulatory program (the ``Pennsylvania program'') under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). The proposed amendment (Administrative Record Number PA 837.111) consists of a recent statutory amendment to Pennsylvania's Coal Refuse Disposal Control Act (CRDA), 52 Pennsylvania Statute Section 30.51 et seq. Section 4.1(a) of the CRDA was amended by adding subsection (6) to section 4.1(a), which added another category of sites to the list of ``preferred sites'' currently found in section 4.1.

On April 30, 2010,\1\ we, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), published a Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement. This new Notice of Intent supersedes the April Notice of Intent, expands the scoping opportunities to include open houses, and outlines possible alternatives to the proposed action. OSM intends to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to analyze the effects of potential rule revisions under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act) to improve protection of streams from the adverse impacts of surface coal mining operations. We are requesting comments for the purpose of determining the scope of the EIS.