Understanding SMCRA

A quick review of the 1977 federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act

What SMCRA Promises:
•    To protect society & the environment.
•    To assure the rights of landowners.
•    To prohibit surface mining where reclamation is not possible.
•    To assure public participation.

Key provisions of SMCRA:
•    Sets up the Office of Surface Mining.
•    Gives enforcement power to states.
•    Establishes Abandoned Mine Lands Fund.
•    Requires companies to get mining permits and reclamation bonds.

More Provisions of SMCRA:
•    Establishes performance standards for reducing environmental and water damage.
•    Requires one complete inspection per quarter WITHOUT advance notice.
•    Sets up a procedure for declaring lands “unsuitable for mining.”
•    Allows for citizen intervention in permit and enforcement decisions.

Permit Requirements according to SMCRA:
•    Publish notice in local papers.
•    File a map showing land to be affected.
•    Show effects of mining on quantity and quality of surface and ground water.
•    Offer residents a pre-blast survey.
•    Submit a blasting plan, reclamation plan and proof of reclamation bond.

SMCRA’s Reclamation Promises:
•    Requires that reclamation plans restore the land to its prior condition, or to a condition that supports “higher and better uses.”
•    Even those “higher and better uses” are only (supposed to be) allowed if they don’t pose a threat to water quality or quantity.

Approximate Original Contour Rules: 
•    Except in a few cases, SMCRA says that reclamation plans must replace the slope to its “approximate original contour.”
•    Companies may request a waiver from this rule if they submit “post-mining land use plans” showing that the land will be used for specific, approved purposes.

Blasting Requirements:
•    The law says companies must “Limit the type of explosives…size, timing and frequency of blasts…to prevent injury to persons, damage to public and private property…and availability of water.”
•    Blasting regulations, however, are totally inadequate to do the job.

Citizen Participation in SMCRA:
•    Any person who has “an interest or may be adversely affected” may object to a mine permit application, revision or bond release.
•    Citizen objections follow a 3-step process: informal hearing, formal hearing, lawsuit.
•    Citizens may also intervene in “pattern of violations” proceedings and “lands unsuitable” declarations.

Citizen Complaints & Inspection:
•    SMCRA allows citizens to request and receive a mine inspection.
•    Inspections must be completed by the state within 15 days of the request.
•    If not satisfied with the outcome, citizens may request an inspection by the OSM and/or a review by the head of the state agency.
•    The OSM must give states “10 days notice.”

Abandoned Mine Lands:
•    Coal companies pay $.35 per ton for surface coal ($.15 for underground coal) into the AML fund to address pre-1977 problems.
•    AML money is given back to the states each year for reclamation and water projects.
•    More than $1 billion of unspent AML money sits in Washington D.C.

Clean Water Act:
•    In addition to SMCRA, coal companies must also comply with the Clean Water Act.
•    The CWA says the Corps of Engineers may give permits to fill in waterways IF environmental impacts are minimal and IF the fill is for a specific, useful purpose.
•    The Corps violates the CWA by giving permits to bury streams under “valley fills.”

Conclusions:
•    The law isn’t perfect, but it has many strong provisions that should be enforced and obeyed.
•    Two of the most important parts of SMCRA are the role for citizen participation and the oversight role of the OSM.