Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement May 18, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are notifying the public that the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in McGirt v. Oklahoma, 140 S. Ct. 2452 (2020), which legally recognized the on-going existence of the historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation in the State of Oklahoma, necessarily forecloses the State of Oklahoma's authority to implement the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) on Indian Lands within the exterior boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation. SMCRA designates OSMRE as the regulatory authority over surface coal mining and reclamation operations on Indian lands where a tribe has not obtained primacy. OSMRE has thus determined that Oklahoma cannot exercise its State program regulatory authority over surface coal mining and reclamation operations within the exterior boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation. Accordingly, for lands within the exterior boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, OSMRE is assuming jurisdiction over the SMCRA Title IV reclamation and Title V regulatory programs. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation consists of lands, wholly or partially within the following counties: Creek, Hughes, Seminole, McIntosh, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Tulsa, Rogers, Mayes, and Wagoner.