BLM Proposes Suspension of "3809" Surface Management Regulations

The Bureau of Land Management announced that it will publish a proposal in the Federal Register on Friday, March 23, to suspend the agency's recently adopted "3809 "surface management regulations. BLM has requested public input over a 45-day comment period. If adopted as a final rule, the proposal would suspend the current regulations governing surface management of hardrock mining operations on public lands, which became effective on January 20, 2001. It would also reinstate the regulations that were in place on January 19, 2001. The current rule, which became effective January 20, 2001, will continue in effect until a final rule is published. BLM anticipates publishing a final rule in July. In developing the final rule, the BLM will consider comments received in response to the proposed suspension.

"People have raised concerns about the new rules on both policy and legal grounds. If there are legitimate issues which need to be addressed, we should do so sooner rather than later," said acting BLM Director Nina Rose Hatfield. There are four lawsuits challenging the current rules and creating uncertainty that the rules will remain in place in their current form. "It would be better to address these concerns now in a thorough review rather than have a partial implementation which may be delayed or subsequently stopped. We want to avoid creating disruption and uncertainty for the industry, the states and the BLM which jointly regulate the mining industry, and the public."

Today's proposal gives the BLM the flexibility to review public comments before issuing a final rule resulting in the agency (1) suspending the current rules completely and reinstating the former rules, as is proposed; (2) retaining parts of the current rule while suspending others; or (3) retaining the current rules in their present form. If the BLM ultimately suspends the current rule, in whole or in part, a new rule will supersede it at that time.

Until earlier this year, the BLM's "3809 " regulations – found in subpart 3809 of the agency's rules in Title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations – had not changed since 1980. The BLM initiated a regulatory upgrade effort in 1991, but then held up further 3809 work for several years while Congress considered changes to the General Mining Law, which governs mining on Federal lands for such minerals as gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, and molybdenum. In early 1997, the BLM resumed the rulemaking process.

Copies of the 3809 proposal can be obtained from any of the BLM's State Offices or accessed from the Bureau's national Internet Web site (www.blm.gov/nhp/news/regulatory/index.htm) or the Federal Register Web site (www.access.gpo.gov).

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land -- 264 million surface acres -- than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western States, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1.8 billion and a workforce of some 9,000 full-time, permanent employees, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM preserves open space by managing the public lands for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mining, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources found on the public lands.