Abandoned Mine Posts

by Andy McAllister, Watershed Coordinator

By the mid-19th century, coal mining became important enough as an industry for the federal government to begin keeping statistics on annual production. In spite of the government’s interest in the industry during those early years, reclamation of mined sites was not required by law. As surface mining in particular became more commonplace in the early parts of the 20th century, states started seeing a need for mandatory reclamation. By the mid-1940s, many states were enacting laws regulating the coal mining industry but unfortunately, the need for coal was great during World War II and reclamation took a back seat.

After World War II, the need for coal to supply electric generation facilities increased and by the early 1970s, the increased need for coal impelled many states to begin setting up reclamation legislation. Unfortunately, there was a lack of uniformity between those individual state surface mining programs. Pennsylvania, for example, was a bit ahead of the curve compared to the rest of the coal mining states and had some of the most progressive and comprehensive state coal mining laws and regulations in the country prior to any federal legislation. However, the increase in mining-related water pollution and un-reclaimed land across the coal regions as a whole prompted a growing demand for the federal government to step in.

In 1974 and 1975, the US Congress sent mining regulations bills to President Ford. Those bills were vetoed due to concerns that they would harm the coal industry and restrict the nation’s energy supply. While campaigning in the coal regions of Appalachia in 1976, then-presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter promised to sign a mining regulation bill. On August 3, 1977, President Carter signed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA).

The main thrust of the SMCRA legislation consists of two parts; regulation and reclamation. SMCRA not only covers the regulation and reclamation of active mining but also the reclamation of abandoned coal mine sites. Of course, those of us in the abandoned mine reclamation community are familiar with a part of SMCRA called Title IV. That section deals with reclamation of coal mine sites abandoned prior to the original passing of SMCRA in 1977.

Additionally, the passage of SMCRA resulted in the creation of a new agency within the Department of Interior, the Office of Surface Mining (OSM). The OSM has oversight of state programs and has the responsibility of preparing federal regulations and assisting the states in carrying out their regulatory activities. Under SMCRA and with oversight by OSM, Pennsylvania and other Appalachian states except for Tennessee administer their own laws and regulations as well as Abandoned Mine Land programs.

Over the years, SMCRA had to be re-authorized periodically by Congress but those reauthorizations were little more than stop-gap measures in order to keep SMCRA alive. There was a growing need for positive changes to SMCRA. Those changes came in the form of the amended SMCRA passed by Congress in December of 2006.

This week, WPCAMR marks the 30th anniversary of the passage of the original SMCRA legislation and congratulates OSM on 30 years of service!

For more information :

The Office of Surface Mining

For Abandoned Mine Reclamation in Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania DEPs Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation

For Active Mining in Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania DEPs Bureau of District Mining Operations