General Comments
Procedural Comments
A number of comments were received on various procedural aspects of this rulemaking.
These comments and the Department's response to them follow.
Comment
Requests for Administrative Hearing.
Approximately 79 respondents requested
an administrative hearing on the proposed rule. Specifically, one respondent commented
that the average person who might be affected by the rulemaking might not otherwise know
about itfeel comfortable commenting. Another respondent cited Hagar v. Reclamation Dist.
No. 108, 111 U.S. 701 (1884), for the proposition that due process requires a judicial
proceeding when life, liberty, or property are at stake.
One respondent stated that the agency had failed to give timely notice of the
proposed rule to those who had notified the agency of their interest. Another respondent
stated that Forest Service correspondence about the status of the proposed rule sent
before it was published constitutes an ad hoc, unpublished decision issued at the same
time as the proposed rule in violation of the APA.
Response.
When a rule is promulgated under the notice and comment provisions of the
APA at 5 U.S.C. 553(c), an administrative hearing is not required and is seldom
provided.
By publishing the proposed rule in the Federal Register, by accepting comments
on the proposed rule for 90 days, and by analyzing and addressing the comments received
during that period in the preamble to this final rule, the Department has fully complied
with the notice and comment provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(c).
For informal rulemaking, an agency satisfies the APA's notice requirement by
publishing in the Federal Register. The Forest Service published the proposed rule in
the Federal Register on May 6, 1993. In addition, the agency gave direct notice to
numerous interested parties and invited their comments. The timeliness of the agency's
notice is in fact supported by the actions of the respondent who stated that the agency
had failed to give timely notice. That respondent submitted a comment on the proposed
rule dated June 24, 1993, which was received on July 7, 1993, nearly a month before the
end of the comment period. Correspondence sent by the agency concerning the status of
the proposed rule before it was published has no legal bearing on this rulemaking and
does not violate the APA.
Extension of the Comment Period
Listing of Comments
FS Regulation Page