Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement October 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed regulatory and statutory amendment to the Wyoming coal program (Wyoming program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). On March 2, 2016 the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council approved a number of revisions to the rules governing coal exploration by drilling under the Wyoming program. Specifically, the proposed revisions include more detailed instructions for plugging and sealing drill holes, incorporate best management practices, and make additional formatting and organizational changes. Additionally, between 1978 and 2007 the Wyoming state legislature enacted a number of revisions to the statutes governing coal exploration by drilling. The proposed statutory revisions reflect organizational updates at the Wyoming Land Quality Division, correct a typographical error, provide more detailed instructions for plugging and sealing drill holes, incorporate provisions for the awarding of attorney fees and other litigation costs, and include more detailed instructions for bond release. Accordingly, the State submitted this proposal to OSMRE at its own initiative. This document gives the times and locations that the Wyoming 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, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are notifying the public that the recent decisions of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in Hogner v. Oklahoma, 2021 WL 958412 (Okla. Ct. Crim. App. March 11, 2021), and Sizemore v. Oklahoma, 2021 WL 1231493 (Okla. Ct. Crim. App. April 1, 2021)which held that the historic Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Reservations, respectively, had not been disestablished necessarily foreclose 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 Cherokee Nation and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Reservations. This determination follows the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in McGirt v. Oklahoma, 140 S Ct. 2452 (2020), which legally recognized the ongoing existence of the historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation in the State of Oklahoma and necessarily foreclosed the State of Oklahoma's authority to implement SMCRA on Indian lands within the exterior boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation. As OSMRE stated in its recent notification regarding SMCRA jurisdiction on the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, SMCRA designates OSMRE as the sole regulatory authority over surface coal mining and reclamation operations on Indian lands where a tribe has not obtained primacy. Consistent with the Supreme Court's decision in McGirt, Oklahoma may not exercise its State program regulatory authority over surface coal mining and reclamation operations within the exterior boundaries of the Cherokee Nation and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Reservations. Accordingly, for lands within the exterior boundaries of the Cherokee Nation and Choctaw Nation Reservations, OSMRE is the sole agency with jurisdiction over the SMCRA Title IV abandoned mine land (AML) reclamation and Title V regulatory programs. The Cherokee Nation Reservation consists of lands, wholly or partially within the following counties: Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Mayes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Nowata, Ottawa, Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa, Wagoner, and Washington. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Reservation consists of lands, wholly or partially within the following counties: Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, Haskell, Hughes, Johnston, Latimer, Le Flore, McCurtain, Pittsburg, Pontotoc, and Pushmataha.