Wyoming Regulatory Program

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 September 25, 2018 the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council approved a number of revisions to rules governing permitting, operation, and abandonment of Class III underground injection and recovery wells associated with in situ mining of coal. Specifically, the proposed revisions update regulations to be consistent with Environmental Protection Agency Underground Injection Control regulations for class III wells, reorganize the chapter to better correlate with other key Land Quality Division (LQD) regulations and to reference existing LQD regulations and definitions, update regulations to be consistent with other Wyoming regulations pertaining to well construction, well abandonment, and aquifer exemptions, and update regulations to include current best management practices specific to in situ coal mining. 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.