Logical Mining Units in General; LMU Application Procedures; LMU Approval Criteria; LMU Diligence; and Administration of LMU Operations

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is amending the regulations that pertain to formation and administration of logical mining units (LMUs) by limiting the inclusion in an LMU of Federal coal leases that have not produced commercial quantities of coal in the first 8 years of their 10-year diligent development periods, setting forth the factors BLM will consider in reviewing an LMU application, and narrowing the range of possible starting dates for an LMU's 40-year mine-out period. BLM is also modifying the definition of ``producing'' to limit the circumstances in which it considers a Federal coal lease ``producing'' and the leaseholder thereby qualified to acquire additional Mineral Leasing Act leases and limit the aggregate duration of temporary interruptions in coal severance. BLM is taking this action to ensure that LMUs are approved and administered only for the purpose of developing Federal coal reserves consistent with the goals of the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act. This action will prevent the use of LMUs to extend the diligent development period of a Federal coal lease unless the operator or lessee demonstrates measurable and prudent progress toward production of the Federal coal reserves. BLM is also implementing a ruling by the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia that struck down a provision allowing extension of the 3-year submission requirement for resource recovery and protection plans.