Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement September 20, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are approving an amendment to the Missouri Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fund and Abandoned Mine Reclamation and Restoration regulations under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). The amendment was submitted in response to two executive orders by the Governor of Missouri. Each State agency was directed to review and amend their regulations to ensure that they were efficient, effective, and necessary, and to significantly reduce the volume of regulations. Missouri's amendments to their regulations will replace text to improve clarity and remove redundant sections already addressed under their Abandoned Mine State Reclamation Plan or elsewhere in their statutes and regulations (hereinafter, the Missouri Plan).

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are reopening the public comment period due to a request for an extension of the public comment period to a proposed amendment to the Montana regulatory program (hereinafter, the Montana program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Montana proposed this amendment to OSMRE, on its own initiative, following its passing of Montana House Bill 576 (2023), which amends the Montana Code Annotated and proposes changes to the definition of material damage and changes to permit requirements related to hydrologic information. HB 576 also adds four contingencies to the proposed amendments of the MCA: a severability clause, a contingent voidness clause, an effective date clause, and a retroactive applicability clause. This document gives the times and locations that the Montana program and this revised proposed amendment to that program are available for your inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written comments on the revised 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 approving an amendment to the Ohio regulatory program (the Ohio program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Ohio's proposed amendment is prompted by requirements within the Ohio statute that all agencies must review their administrative rules every five years. Consistent with this requirement, the Ohio Reclamation Commission (the Commission), proposes an amendment to its procedural rules in order to ensure an orderly, efficient, and effective appeals process.