On  November  15,  2010,  a  Memorandum  to  Regional  Office  of  Surface  Mining  
Reclamation  and  Enforcement  (OSMRE)  Directors  from  OSMRE  Director  Pizarchik  
was  issued.  The  subject  of  the  memorandum  was  the  application  of  the  Ten-­‐Day  
Notice  (TDN)  Process  –  notices  to  states  -­‐  and  Federal  Enforcement  to  Permitting  
Issues  under  Approved  Regulatory  Programs.  This  memorandum  reversed  a  
previous  long  standing  OSMRE  policy  (the  October  21,  2005,  Assistant  Interior  
Secretary  Watson  letter)  of  not  using  TDNs  for  permitting  issues.  The  new  OSMRE  
policy  allowed  for  TDNs  and  direct  federal  enforcement  actions,  not  only  on  
violations  of  performance  standards  or  permit  conditions,  but  on  the  vague  term  
"permitting  requirements."  Permitting  is  a  major  pillar  of  state  primacy;  Congress  
intentionally  left  permitting  exclusively  to  the  states.  
One  result  of  the  reversal  of  the  Watson  Letter  was  the  issuance  of  a  Notice  of  
Violation  (NOV)  to  Farrell  Cooper  (FCMC)  by  OSMRE  on  Liberty  5.  OSMRE  admits  
that  the  company  is  in  compliance  with  that  issued  permit,  but  OSMRE  believes  
that  the  permit  doesn’t  meet  SMCRA  requirements  for  AOC.  
  
Throughout  the  AOC  debate,  the  Oklahoma  Department  of  Mines  consistently  
contended  that  the  approved  reclamation  plan  for  the  Liberty  5  permit  not  only  
met  the  AOC  standard  set  forth  in  Oklahoma’s  approved  program,  it  was  also  
consistent  with  previously  issued  permits  that  had  received  OSMRE’s  approval.  
  
The   federal   NOV   was   appealed   by   Farrell-­‐Cooper   using   OSMRE's   administrative  
appeals   process.  An  Administrative   Law   Judge   found  this   NOV   to   be   invalid.   The  
Federal  Administrative  Law  Judge  found  that  OSMRE  had  no  authority,  in  a  primacy  
state,  to  issue  the  subject  NOV   to  FCMC.     The  Federal  Administrative  Law  Judge  
went  on  to  vacate  the  subject  NOV.  
OSMRE  subsequently  appealed  the  ruling  to  the  Interior  Board  of  Land  Appeals  
where  it  currently  resides.