Ohio Regulatory Program

Document 2026-16136 is a Final Rule published by the Department of Interior in the Federal Register on August 7, 2026, with an effective date of September 8, 2026. The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), is approving, in part, two amendments to the Ohio regulatory program (the Ohio program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). As proposed by Ohio, the amendment involves statutory and regulatory changes to its bonding program (i.e., revising Ohio's alternative bonding system and providing the option for an applicant to post full-cost performance securities) and also includes statutory and regulatory changes pertaining to other subjects, such as abandoned mine land program funding, permitting standards, valid existing rights, remining, blasting, and topsoil handling. Ohio submitted this amendment, in part, to satisfy a program condition related to bonding inadequacies. We are removing this program condition. View the original at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/07/2026-16136/ohio-regulatory-program.

No. Document 2026-16136 is not classified as economically significant under Executive Order 12866. Economically significant rules require OIRA review and are estimated to have impacts of $100 million or more per year.