Agency Information Collection Activities: Permanent Program Performance Standards-Surface and Underground Mining Activities

AGENCY:

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of information collection; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is announcing its intention to request renewed approval for the collection of information for the permanent program performance standards—surface mining activities and underground mining activities.

DATES:

Comments on the proposed information collection must be received by October 16, 2017, to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES:

Comments may be mailed to John Trelease, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 1951 Constitution Ave. NW., Room 203—SIB, Washington, DC 20240. Comments may also be submitted electronically to jtrelease@osmre.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To receive a copy of the information collection request contact John Trelease, at (202) 208-2783, or by email at jtrelease@osmre.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR 1320, which implement provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13), require that interested members of the public and affected agencies have an opportunity to comment on information collection and recordkeeping activities [see 5 CFR 1320.8 (d)]. This notice identifies an information collection that OSMRE will be submitting to OMB for renewed approval. This collection is contained in 30 CFR parts 816 and 817—Permanent Program Performance Standards—Surface and Underground Mining Activities. OSMRE will request a 3-year term of approval for this information collection activity.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for parts 816 and 817 is 1029-0047. Responses are required to obtain a benefit for this collection.

OSMRE has revised burden estimates, where appropriate, to reflect current reporting levels or adjustments based on reestimates of burden or respondents and costs.

Comments are invited on: (1) The need for the collection of information for the performance of the functions of the agency; (2) the accuracy of the agency's burden estimates; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to minimize the information collection burden on respondents, such as use of automated means of collection of the information. A summary of the public comments will accompany OSMRE's submission of the information collection request to OMB.

Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment-including your personal identifying information-may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

This notice provides the public with 60 days in which to comment on the following information collection activity:

Title: 30 CFR parts 816 and 817—Permanent Program Performance Standards—Surface and Underground Mining Activities.

OMB Control Number: 1029-0047.

Summary: Sections 515 and 516 of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 provide that permittees conducting coal mining operations shall meet all applicable performance standards of the Act. The information collected is used by the regulatory authority to monitor and inspect surface coal mining activities to ensure that they are conducted in compliance with the requirements of the Act.

Bureau Form Number: None.

Frequency of Collection: Once, on occasion, quarterly and annually.

Description of Respondents: Coal mining operators and State regulatory authorities.

Total Annual Responses: 391,081.

Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,963,782.

Total Annual Burden Cost: $8,662,409.

Authority: The authorities for this action are the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, as amended (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.), and the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).