OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING
     RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release January 5, 1998             Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719
                                                                            jchildre@osmre.gov

          REGISTRATION OPEN FOR PRIME FARMLAND FORUM  
                                
     The Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement
(OSM) today announced that registration is open for participants in a Prime Farmland
Interactive Forum to be held at the University of Southern Indiana (USI) in Evansville
March 3-4, 1998.

     Registration for the interactive forum should be sent to USI Evansville by
February 1, 1998, in order to assure processing, but applications will be accepted up to
the date of the forum.  People interested in participating should contact state surface
coal mining regulatory agencies.  In Illinois, the contact is Dean Spindler, (217)
782-4970.  The Indiana contacts are David Kiehl and Steve Wade, (812) 665-2207. 
OSM's point of contact is Kimery Vories, call (618) 463-6463 extension 103,
FAX (618) 463 6470, or E-Mail kvories@osmre.gov.

     According to OSM Director Kathy Karpan,  the two-day forum, co-sponsored by
USI, Southern Illinois University, state regulatory agencies, industry and citizen groups,
is intended to provide an organized format for discussion of issues concerning prime
farmland restoration following both surface and underground coal mining operations. 

     "The forum will include summary talks by knowledgeable speakers who can
explain the voluminous information and research results now available on prime
farmland," Karpan said. The summaries and all discussions will be published in a formal
proceedings available  to all participants."  
       
     "August of 1997 marked 20 years of reclaiming prime farmland under the
Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA)," Karpan said. " With its
promise of post-mining agricultural productivity, prime farmland restoration has been a
topic of intense interest, both before and after passage of SMCRA."

     "The importance of prime farmland soils to U.S. agriculture has made that area
of reclamation one of the most heavily researched topics associated with surface coal
mining," Karpan said.  "Volumes of new information have been written on
interrelationships among crop production, soil compaction, fertility, texture, and
management."

     Karpan pointed out that the potential impacts of coal mining on prime farmland
today are very much different from when SMCRA was first introduced.

     "Many coal mine operators are successfully attaining their revegetation goals
and obtaining reclamation bond release," Karpan said.  "In some parts of the country,
mine operators may be creating prime farmland soils where none existed before. 
Meanwhile, the total acreage of prime farmland being disturbed by surface coal mining
is rapidly diminishing because of the reduction of surface coal mining in the Midwest."

     Although surface coal mining in the Midwest is on the decrease, Karpan noted,
underground coal mining in the region has increased, with potential impacts on prime
farmland due to subsidence that are unknown and that were largely unanticipated by
SMCRA.

     Meanwhile, soils and reclamation experts are continuing to research the
complexities associated with projecting actual crop yields based on measurement of
existing soil qualities.  Considerable difference of opinion still exists on the long-term
success of surface mining reclamation on the potential agricultural productivity of prime
farmland soils. 

     OSM officials added that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)  has yet to formally publish detailed guidance
on the reconstruction of prime farmlands, as originally required by SMCRA.  NRCS also
is just beginning to remap and reevaluate the "man made prime farmland soils" now
being returned to agricultural production so that essential information related to land
values, crop production capabilities, and tax assessments can be accurately
established.

                              -DOI-