Administrative Rule Review Report #AR09-064
Legislative Service Office
10-Nov-09
AGENCY: Department of Environmental Quality.
DATE SUBMITTED: November 10, 2009.
SUBJECT: Chapter 1, Authorities, Definitions & General Provisions; Chapter 2, Rights of Entry for Studies, Exploratory Work or Reclamation; Chapter 3, Land Acquisition, Management and Disposal; Chapter 4, Liens for Reclamation on Private Lands; Chapter 5, Eligibility and Priority of Reclamation Projects; Chapter 6, Public Facilities Projects; and Chapter 7, Mine Subsidence Insurance Program; Chapter 8, Nomination of Public Facility Projects.
NATURE OF RULES: Legislative, Procedural
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: W.S. 35-11-1201, 35-11-1207(a) and 35-11-1302(b).
DETERMINATION OF PROCEDURAL COMPLIANCE BASED UPON INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY THE AGENCY TO LSO: The LSO has no record of receiving notice of the Agency's intended rulemaking action regarding the repeal of Chapter 8 as required by W.S. 16‑3‑103(a). However, while the repeal of Chapter 8 was not included in the notice of Intent to Adopt rules, the strike out of Chapter 8 was included in the packet of rules attached to the Notice of Intent as Chapter 6, Section 5. In addition, instead of Chapter 6, Section 5 showing the language as new language, it only identifies the changes made to Chapter 8.
Otherwise, procedural compliance is apparently complete to date.
SUMMARY OF RULES: Generally, these rules are being promulgated to incorporate changes resulting from the 2006 amendments to the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation law and Executive Order #1997-3 which revised the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) advisory board.
More specifically:
Chapter 1 – provides changes in definitions, provides conformation with statutory changes made since 1991 and clarifies mine subsidence mitigation provisions regarding repairs.
Chapter 2 – Includes editorial changes.
Chapter 3 – Includes editorial changes and reformatting.
Chapter 4 – Includes citation references.
Administrative Rule Review Report #AR09-064
Legislative Service Office
10-Nov-09
Page 2
Chapter 5 – [Original Chapter 5 is renumbered as Chapter 7.] Changes in this Chapter 5 include projects for reclamation when the reclamation mining bond is forfeited and the forfeited bond is insufficient to pay for the total cost of reclamation, provides clarification of reclamation priorities as a result of changes in federal regulations and moves the public facility references to Chapter 6.
Chapter 6 – Provisions relating to public facilities have been incorporated into this Chapter. Chapter 6 defines how the Agency will address applications, the reviews and recommendations of eligible projects to its Advisory Board, (State Lands and Investment Board) and makes conformation changes to comply with the federal regulations. Section 5 of Chapter 6 is language from the original Chapter 8 with only topic headings removed and corrections to citations to reflect the new chapter and section numbers.
Chapter 7 – [Original Chapter 7 is renumbered as Chapter 5.] Changes in this Chapter 7 are to clarify changes in the mine subsidence insurance program, to provide for notice to property owners before mine subsidence mitigation work is initiated, to provide for inspections prior to beginning work, to require a pre-inspection before obtaining mine subsidence insurance and to clarify coverage limits and claims procedures.
Chapter 8 – is moved to Chapter 6, Section 5 and Chapter 8 is repealed.
FINDINGS: The rules appear to be within the scope of statutory authority and legislative intent.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: That the Council request the Governor to caution the Agency concerning the need to comply with statutory procedural requirements for adoption of rules, as noted in the rule review report, but that the rules be placed on the Consent List and be approved by the Council as submitted by the Agency.
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Maxine R. Weaver
Staff Attorney
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Lynda G. Cook
Staff Attorney
MRW/