(a) The Regional Director may approve on a temporary basis:
(1) Access on, across or through federally-owned or controlled lands or waters for the purpose of collecting basic information necessary to enable timely compliance with these regulations. Such temporary approval shall be for a period not in excess of sixty (60) days.
(2) The continuance of existing operations, if their suspension would result in an unreasonable economic burden or injury to the operator; provided that such operations must be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws, and in a manner prescribed by the Regional Director designed to minimize or prevent significant environmental damage; and provided that within sixty (60) days of the granting of such temporary approval the operator either:
(i) Submits an initial substantially complete plan of operations; or
(ii) If a proposed plan of operations has been submitted, responds to any outstanding requests for additional information.
(b) The Regional Director may approve new operations on a temporary basis only when:
(1) The Regional Director finds that the operations will not cause significant environmental damage or result in significant new or additional surface disturbance to the unit; and either
(2) The operator can demonstrate a compelling reason for the failure to have had timely approval of a proposed plan of operations; or
(3) The operator can demonstrate that failure to grant such approval will result in an unreasonable economic burden or injury to the operator. [43 FR 57825, Dec. 8, 1978, as amended at 44 FR 37914, June 29, 1979]