30 CFR Chapter VII - OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is amending the regulations regarding oil and natural gas production safety systems. After a thorough reexamination of the current regulations, and consideration of recent experiences from implementation of those regulations and of public comments on the proposed rule to amend those regulations, BSEE is revising or removing certain regulatory provisions that create unnecessary burdens on stakeholders, and clarifying other provisions, while ensuring safety and environmental protection.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is announcing the dates and locations of public stakeholder meetings on the Agency's Request for Information on Safety Improvement Technologies for Mobile Equipment at Surface Mines, and for Belt Conveyors at Surface and Underground Mines.

On May 1, 2014, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) published a final rule, “Lowering Miners' Exposure to Respirable Coal Mine Dust, Including Continuous Personal Dust Monitors” (Dust rule). In the preamble to the Dust rule, MSHA stated its intent to take the lead in conducting a retrospective study beginning February 1, 2017. In this Request for Information (RFI), MSHA is soliciting stakeholder comments, data, and information to assist the Agency in developing the framework for this study to assess the impact of the Dust rule on lowering coal miners' exposures to respirable coal mine dust to improve miners' health. In addition, as part of the Agency's ongoing effort to provide compliance and technical assistance to mine operators and miners, MSHA is soliciting information and data on engineering controls and best practices that lower miners' exposure to respirable coal mine dust.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is extending the comment period of the Proposed Rule: Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf—Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control-Revisions, which published in the Federal Register on May 11, 2018. BSEE is also correcting the ADDRESSES section of the preamble to the proposed rule to clarify how to submit public comments and how to view the documents proposed for incorporation by reference.

Mining safety could be substantially improved by preventing accidents that involve mobile equipment at surface coal mines and metal and nonmetal mines and belt conveyors at surface and underground mines. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is taking a number of actions related to mobile equipment and belt conveyors to improve miners' safety, including providing technical assistance, conducting awareness campaigns, and developing best practices and training materials. MSHA is also considering the role of engineering controls that would increase the use of seatbelts, enhance equipment operators' ability to see all areas near the machine, warn equipment operators of potential collision hazards, prevent equipment operators from driving over a highwall or dump point, and help prevent entanglement hazards related to working near moving or re-energized belt conveyors. MSHA is seeking information and data on engineering controls that could reduce the risk of accidents and improve miner safety. MSHA is also seeking suggestions from stakeholders on: Best practices, training materials, policies and procedures, innovative technologies, and any other information they may have to improve safety in and around mobile equipment, and working near and around belt conveyors. MSHA will hold stakeholder meetings to provide the mining community an opportunity to discuss and share information about the issues raised in this notice. A separate notice announcing stakeholder meetings will be published in the Federal Register at a later date.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are approving an amendment to the Alabama Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation (AMLR) Plan (hereinafter, the Plan) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Alabama proposed updates to their Plan with changes required by the 2006 Amendments to SMCRA.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are approving, in part, an amendment to the Missouri regulatory program (Missouri program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Missouri proposed revisions to its coal Ownership and Control Rules. Missouri intends to revise its program to be no less effective than the Federal regulations and to improve operational efficiency.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is proposing to revise existing regulations for well control and blowout preventer systems. This proposed rule would revise requirements for well design, well control, casing, cementing, real-time monitoring (RTM), and subsea containment. These revisions modify regulations pertaining to offshore oil and gas drilling, completions, workovers, and decommissioning in accordance with Executive and Secretary of the Interior's Orders to ensure safety and environmental protection, while correcting errors and reducing certain unnecessary regulatory burdens imposed under the existing regulations. Accordingly, after thoroughly reexamining the original Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control final rule (WCR), experiences from the implementation process, and BSEE policy, BSEE proposes to amend, revise, or remove current regulatory provisions that create unnecessary burdens on stakeholders while ensuring safety and environmental protection. The proposed regulations would also address various issues and errors that were identified during the implementation of the recent rulemaking on these issues.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are approving an amendment to the Alabama regulatory program (Alabama program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Alabama proposed revisions clarifying that the venue for appeals of Alabama Surface Mining Commission decisions resides in the Circuit Court of the county in which the agency maintains its principal office. Alabama is revising its program to be no less effective than the Federal regulations and to improve operational efficiency.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is announcing the dates and locations of additional public stakeholder meetings on the Agency's standards for Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines.

In response to requests from the public, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is reopening the rulemaking record for public comments on the Agency's request for information on Exposure of Underground Miners to Diesel Exhaust.

This final rule implements the 2018 adjustment of the level of the maximum civil monetary penalties contained in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regulations pursuant to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (FCPIA of 2015), and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance. The 2018 adjustment multiplier of 1.02041 accounts for one year of inflation spanning the period from October 2016 through October 2017.

The Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) is publishing this rule to repeal a 2013 direct final rule and restore the former regulatory language governing service of official correspondence.