Division staff outlines schedule, process for 2026 construction materials and hard rock rules

Russ Greens, a division staff member, told the Mined Land Reclamation Board on Nov. 10 that the division has moved the concurrent rulemaking for construction materials and hard rock into the formal phase after several months of stakeholder engagement.

"For this particular rulemaking, staff, the attorney general's office, the stakeholders have spent close to 500 hours," Greens said, describing both individual and monthly virtual meetings held from June through September to build consensus on proposed language.

Greens said the division published the notice of rulemaking, the statement of basis and purpose, and draft rules with the Secretary of State on Nov. 10 and notified operators and stakeholders by email. The deadline for parties to register as formal stakeholders was Nov. 20; two parties registered for construction materials and four for hard rock.

He outlined the upcoming schedule. The division will hold formal stakeholder meetings Jan. 7 (separate morning and afternoon sessions). Non-party requests to address the board for construction materials are due Jan. 9; the board will hear and take comments on the construction materials rules on Jan. 21. For Hard Rock, staff plans an additional stakeholder meeting Feb. 4, a Feb. 6 deadline for non-party requests and written comments, and a Feb. 18 hearing to review Hard Rock rules.

To keep the two rule sets consistent, Greens said staff will ask the board to table the final vote on construction materials until February so any changes adopted for Hard Rock can be incorporated back into construction materials.

Greens described hearing mechanics: staff will display a live, editable version of the rules for the record, present highlights rather than read rules line-by-line, and invite board discussion on substantive points before moving to the next rule. He said edits will be visible in the redline (deletions struck through, additions underlined) and that staff will attempt to capture agreed changes in real time.

A staff member and board participants noted that draft redlines, stakeholder letters and the senate bill that prompted some changes are posted on the division's rulemaking web tab and in the board packet for review.

Greens cautioned that suggested wording changes should be weighed against statutory constraints and the cumulative work already completed by staff and stakeholders. "Statute controls all," he said, urging careful consideration of whether edits could conflict with statute or create unintended consequences.

The board adjourned after a brief closing, following a motion and second and a voice approval.

What happens next: the division will circulate the detailed change log (the "cheat sheet") to board members, and the board will take the scheduled hearings and votes in January and February as outlined by staff.