Excess Spoil, Coal Mine Waste, Diversions, and Buffer Zones for Perennial and Intermittent Streams

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE or OSM), are amending our regulations concerning stream buffer zones, stream-channel diversions, excess spoil, and coal mine waste to comply with an order issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on February 20, 2014, which vacated the stream buffer zone rule that we published December 12, 2008. The court remanded the matter to us for further proceedings consistent with the decision. In relevant part, the Memorandum Decision stated that vacatur of the 2008 stream buffer zone rule resulted in reinstatement of the regulations in effect before the vacated rule took effect. Therefore, the rule that we are publishing today removes the provisions of the vacated 2008 rule and reinstates the corresponding regulations in effect before the effective date of the 2008 rule (January 12, 2009).