Laserfiche WebLink
• ~ •.. <br />In any event, all Federal lands, wherever they lie, are <br />governed by the Federal lands program. Nothing in SMCRA provides <br />an exception to that rule. The Federal lands program merely <br />provides that the particular set of regulations used to enforce <br />those operations--namely, 30 C.F.R. Chapter VII, Subchapter D, <br />or, in addition, an approved State program--is determined by <br />whether the lands lie within or outside of a State with an <br />approved State program. Certainly, the "whichever is applicable" <br />language of SMCRA § 523(b), discussed by Kerr in its statement <br />above, refers to the exercise of that determination and does not, <br />as asserted by Kerr, imply that either the Federal lands program <br />or the approved State program applies to operations on Federal <br />lands, but not both. <br />Kerr also asserts that the cooperative agreement entered <br />into between Colorado and OSM pursuant to SMCRA § 523(c) provides <br />that only the Colorado program applies to operations on Federal <br />lands in Colorado. That assertion is without merit. On the <br />contrary, the introductory language of the cooperative agreement <br />states in relevant part: <br />This Agreement provides for State regulation, <br />consistent with the Act, the Federal lands program <br />(30 CFR part 745) and the Colorado State Program <br />(Program) for surface coal mining and reclamation <br />operations on Federal lands. <br />Article I of the cooperative agreement at 30 C.F.R. § 906.30 <br />(emphasis added). <br />Clearly, the cooperative agreement provides for the regula- <br />tion of operations on Federal lands within Colorado consistent <br />13 <br />