Zasoby i środowisko · 7/19/2004

Alaska Regulatory Program

We are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Alaska regulatory program (hereinafter, the "Alaska program") under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Alaska proposes revisions to and additions of rules about the description of hydrology and geology; protection of fish and wildlife; protection of the hydrologic balance; the requirement that certain plans be designed, constructed, and/or certified by a registered professional engineer; the small operator assistance program; bonding; topsoil protection; the western alkaline mine initiative; design precipitation events; stream channel protection; impoundment design and construction; water monitoring; blasting; coal mine waste, refuse piles and excess spoil; thick and thin overburden; auger mining; inspection of abandoned sites; administrative procedures for civil penalties; individual civil penalties; petitions to designate areas unsuitable for mining; underground mining, subsidence, and replacement of drinking water supplies; extraction of coal incidental to extraction of other minerals; and definitions. Alaska also proposed to demonstrate that a reference to the Alaska Dam Safety rule