Montana Regulatory Program

We are approving, with certain exceptions and additional requirements, a proposed amendment to the Montana regulatory program (the "Montana program") under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Montana proposed revisions to and additions of rules and statutes about: definitions; ownership and control; baseline information; maps; prime farmland; reclamation plan; ponds and embankments; transportation facilities plan; coal processing plants and support facilities; permit applications, conditions, revisions, and renewal; backfilling and grading; small depressions; burial and treatment of exposed mineral seams; storage and disposal of garbage; disposal of off-site generated waste and fly ash; contouring; buffer zones; thick overburden and disposal of excess spoil; permanent cessation of operations; roads and railroad loops; soil removal; blasting schedule; sealing of drilled holes; water quality performance standards; reclamation of drainages; sedimentation ponds and other treatment facilities; discharge and outflow structures; permanent and temporary impoundments; groundwater and surface water monitoring; wells and underground operations; redistribution and stockpiling of soil; establishment of vegetation; soil amendments and other management techniques; other revegetation comparison standards; vegetation production, cover, diversity, density, and utility requirements; measurement standards for trees, shrubs, and half-shrubs; postmining land use; alternate reclamation; general performance standards; subsidence controls; disposal of underground development waste; disposal of coal processing waste; information and monthly reports; renewal and transfer of prospecting permits; prospecting drill holes; prospecting roads and other transportation facilities; removal of prospecting equipment; prospecting test pits; prospecting bond release procedures; notice of intent to prospect; bonding; reassertion of jurisdiction; areas where coal minin